Photo credit:
Inside Climate News
Photo credit:
Inside Climate News
Mandating a water study provides, at minimum, a basic picture of nearby water supplies and how they behave around proposed data center sites. That information is something the state of Iowa generally lacks, said Cara Matteson, a former geologist and Linn County’s sustainability director.
DNR staff told Matteson that water information collected in Linn County by qualified researchers on behalf of a data center applicant would be factored into state permitting and enforcement decisions.
The department told Inside Climate News by email that it would make use of the extra local water data.
If a data center’s application is approved, developers would sign an agreement with Linn County specifying terms for water-use monitoring and reporting to both the county and the DNR. The pact could also contain drought contingency measures.
Still, the county’s ability to act on the water-monitoring data it seeks is limited. The DNR not only issues water-use permits but also imposes penalties for permit violations.
Nichols said Linn County’s zoning rule was revised several times in response to questions raised by people attending the first two public readings.
From its initial reading to final adoption, the ordinance expanded to add language setting light-pollution standards, requiring a waste-management plan, including the Iowa DNR in the water-use agreement to address possible well interference, and mandating an applicant-led public meeting before any zoning commission hearings.
“I am very confident that no ordinance for data centers in Iowa is asking for more information or asking for more requirements to be met than our ordinance right now,” Nichols said at the final reading.
The Cedar Rapids Metro Economic Alliance has stated it strongly supports current and future data center development in the region. Nichols said the new ordinance does not amount to an effective moratorium and that he “strongly believes” a data center can be built under the adopted framework.
Google spokespeople did not reply to requests for comment.
New rules may lead data centers to locate elsewhere, acknowledged Brandy Meisheid, a supervisor whose district includes many of Linn County’s smaller communities. But Meisheid said the ordinance is intended to protect residents, not developers. “If it’s too high a price for them to pay, they don’t have to come.”
Anika Jane Beamer reports on the environment and climate change in Iowa, concentrating on water, soil, and CAFOs. A lifelong Midwesterner, she writes about shifting ecosystems in one of the continent’s most altered landscapes. She earned a master’s degree in science writing from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a bachelor’s degree in biology and Spanish from Grinnell College. She is a former Outrider Fellow at Inside Climate News and was named a Taylor-Blakeslee Graduate Fellow by the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing.
This story first appeared on Inside Climate News.
