Comment by ianm218

14 days ago

We’re talking about rural Wisconsin - there is no world where you need to make a trade off between having school and a data center. Put a school in one field and a data center in a field further away. It just seems like you should tax the data center and then build a school or whatever else you think would help the local economy.

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ianm218

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ModernMech  14 days ago

A data center turns the whole town into an industrial zone because of the sound and water pollution. No one wants to live near one, especially not doctors and teachers with young families who can choose to live anywhere.

  • ianm218  14 days ago

    Data centers don’t cause water pollution generally or turn entire towns into industrial zones. There is more than enough room in rural WI towns for industrial and non industrial parts.

    > No one wants to live near one, especially not doctors and teachers with young families who can choose to live anywhere.

    Northern Virginia is one of the top locations for the kind of people who “can live anywhere” and is the world capital of data centers. And part of that appeal in NoVA is low property taxes due to data centers paying taxes.

    There is some real aspects of the data center debate but I don’t think your engaging with them

    • sliken  14 days ago

      What do you call it when they install 100s of generators outside the building to provide power, create an amazing amount of noise, and a fair bit of pollution, while they claim they are temporary and turn them off 1 day out of 365?

      Not to mention consuming quite a bit of water to provide cheaper cooling, instead of using closed loop systems.

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    • ModernMech  14 days ago

      I mean, how do you explain the backlash then if their byproducts don't generally bother people?

      > Northern Virginia is one of the top locations for the kind of people who “can live anywhere” and is the world capital of data centers.

      People live in NoVa despite data centers, not because of them. Its proximity to DC makes it intrinsically attractive. Towns in rural nowhere don't have the same innate draw and I don't see how datacenters provide it.

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