Information is showing that as Amazon expands in smaller towns in Oregon, regional carbon emissions are going up. While Amazon is not solely responsible for the increase, the additional power use matches the annual household power consumption of 200,000 homes.
In the past, Oregon lawmakers set ambitious climate goals with landmark legislation that sought to shift the state’s utilities to clean energy by 2040. The legislation is among the nation’s most aggressive, banning new fossil fuel power plants and requiring existing generators to begin cleaning up their electricity almost immediately.
Even as carbon emissions have soared along with power use, Amazon has accumulated tax breaks worth more than $160 million for its data centers in eastern Oregon. That’s created a disconnect between state policies designed to encourage clean energy and tax breaks that set no such requirements for major energy consumers.
Some want action. Environmental advocates say they may seek legislation that would require tech companies to power large server farms with clean power. An Amazon data center can be seen behind power lines outside of Boardman on July 12. When Amazon and its data centers arrived in Boardman, it brought big economic upside to the rural community, but not without a cost.
Oregon has long had some of the nation’s biggest tax breaks for data centers. And that’s a big part of the reason why many of the world’s largest tech companies have server farms in far-flung corners of the state. Carbon emissions per megawatt hour are up 543% since 2010, according to state data, shortly before Amazon’s arrival. So not only is power consumption way up – each megawatt of electricity has a far greater climate impact than before Amazon arrived.
Tax breaks are the prize but are they for the taxpayers? Given the huge amount of energy that data centers use, and the resources available to big companies like Amazon, Basonfin said Oregon should make sure tax break recipients aren’t working against the state’s climate goals. While Oregon’s tax breaks have attracted some major energy consumers, they have also helped finance major clean energy projects – including massive wind farms and solar projects
