By Amal Ahmed | May 3, 2026 | Sierra An Oregon lawmaker wants to commandeer water from the Mt. Hood National Forest to quench the growing thirst of Big Tech in The Dalles. An Oregon representative is trying to push through a bill in Congress that would cede federal public land to a local town […]
Feb. 18, 2026 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE For information, please contact on behalf of the coalition:Tommy Hough, tommy@waterwatch.org Coalition Urges Senators Wyden and Merkley to Oppose Public Land Giveaway for Data Center Water UseThe proposed giveaway of 150 acres of public land from the Mt. Hood National Forest to The Dalles in HR 655 would set
By April Ehrlich | Jan. 23, 2026 | Oregon Public Broadcasting Last week, OPB published an investigation into The Dalles’ efforts to expand its water reservoir in the Mount Hood National Forest at the same time that Google expands its footprint in the north-central Oregon city. OPB’s reporting covered two agreements signed between The Dalles
The Dalles’ Mayor Called OPB’s Data Center Story Inaccurate — Here Are the Facts Read More »
By April Ehrlich | Jan. 15, 2026 | Oregon Public Broadcasting The Dalles is trying to expand its water reservoir — and it’s turning to Congress in a quest to acquire part of the Mount Hood National Forest to do so. That’s prompting concerns from environmental groups and local residents. They’re worried both about the
By Alec del Pino Gil-Casares | Dec. 26, 2025 | Harvard Political Review While prompting your AI chatbot does not directly use water, many data centers rely on evaporative cooling to keep their computing chips, in charge of processing, manipulating, and transforming data, at a functioning temperature, consuming millions of gallons of potable water every day.
By Sebastian Moss | Dec. 19, 2022 | Data Center Dynamics The data centers use more than a quarter of The Dalles city, and consumption is rising. The Dalles has dropped its lawsuit against The Oregonian, which filed a public records request to see the water deal it signed with Google. That means that how
By Mike Rogoway | Dec. 18, 2022 | The Oregonian Google’s water use in The Dalles has nearly tripled in the past five years, and the company’s data centers now consume more than a quarter of all the water used in the city. That’s according to records released this week after the city settled a
Andrew Selsky | Dec. 15, 2022 | Associated Press Residents of The Dalles, Oregon, are learning how much of their water Google’s data centers have been using to cool the computers inside the cavernous buildings — information that previously was deemed a trade secret. Google says its data centers in the Oregon town consumed 274.5
The Dalles Drops Fight to Keep Google Water Use Private Read More »
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