Linn County officials announced Google has decided to pursue data center development in the city of Palo through annexation, rather than abiding by the terms set out in the county’s recently passed ordinance regulating large-scale data center development.
The ordinance requires developers like Google to complete a water balance study and sign agreements with the county regulating water use and supporting local economic development if they are looking to build a data center. By building one in Palo, Google would no longer be bound by those regulations.
County officials previously said the tech giant had inquired about building a data center in unincorporated Linn County, near the Duane Arnold Energy Center. As part of those considerations, Google had previously agreed to finance a county-led water balance study to assess whether the area could support large-scale data center development.
“Because the funding for this study was tied to that proposed development framework, the water balance study is not moving forward at this time,” said Linn County Planning and Development Director Charlie Nichols. “At this time, staff will continue evaluating potential options for advancing this regional water planning study in the future, should alternative funding, methods or partnerships become available. But at this time, the water balance study is on pause.”
The development marks a shift in the county’s posture, with supervisors urging the City of Palo to consider a similar approach — regulating natural resource use, setting economic development expectations and adding mandatory 1,000-foot setbacks from residential structures, among other protections — to the one adopted by the county.
“Google has decided to bypass the protections that we put in place in our ordinance for the residents, for our water, for their protection and noise pollution, light or otherwise, and work with Palo to annex the land and move the data centers forward under Palo’s jurisdiction,” said County Chair Kirsten Running-Marquardt, who emphasized the county’s commitment over the past seven months in drafting its data center ordinance.
“We took this process seriously from day one. We invested significant time and resources to create an ordinance with strong protections for our residents and our water resources, all while having Google — a trillion-dollar-company — pay their fair share," she said.
The other supervisors said they were disappointed by the company’s decision.
“I can’t speak to their state of mind or their thoughts, but if I had to take a guess, I assume — as they’ve done across the country — they’re looking for less regulation when it comes to water specifically, and to pay less money to provide a larger return to their shareholders, which is the whole point of existing as a company like Google does,” said Supervisor Sami Scheetz.
He emphasized that data center projects have regional impacts on natural resources.
“It’s unfortunate that a huge company like Google is trying to pit jurisdictions against each other for their own favor.”Linn County Supervisor Sami Scheetz
“I just want the public to remember that this board of supervisors and this body worked diligently to ensure that there are water protections for residents, basically as much as we could, given state code, in terms of reporting requirements,” Scheetz added. “It’s unfortunate that a huge company like Google is trying to pit jurisdictions against each other for their own favor.”
Running-Marquardt said when Google first approached the county about its plans for development in unincorporated Linn County, a representative told her that the data center buildings would use roughly 12 million gallons of water per day. She said the new plan doesn’t change the fact that the data center would pull water from the Cedar River, which is prone to drought conditions, though it’s unclear if the water use estimate is still accurate.
“You get to this point of putting forth an ordinance that you think protects residents and protects the county as much as we can within our jurisdiction, and then [Google] walks away at the end, is always disappointing,” said Supervisor Brandy Meisheid.
“I understand that Palo’s seen an opportunity, and I don’t necessarily fault them for doing that,” she added.
Google is already building a $576 million data center in southwest Cedar Rapids. Last year, the company announced a two-year, $7 billion investment in Iowa. It’s also behind the project to recommission the Duane Arnold Energy Center nuclear plant, which would supply Google with over 90% of its power — roughly 565 megawatts — if it comes back online.
The City of Palo and Google have not responded to requests for comment from IPR News.
