Good day for journalism: The Dalles, Google abdicate in water fight with Oregonian

The tech giant’s bankrolling of the City of TD’s legal fees continues to blur the line between public and private interests

Water world: Google data center in The Dalles. Photo Credit: Jurgenhessphotography

Republished with permission from Columbia Insight

By Chuck Thompson with additions by Tom Peterson

January 3, 2023 - In a time when newspapers often seem on the ropes—attacked by government officials, abandoned by readers—chalk up a big win for journalism.

And take a moment to thank The Oregonian and its dogged reporter Mike Rogoway.

Ending a 13-month legal battle with the newspaper, the City of The Dalles agreed to make records of Google’s water consumption at data centers in the city available to the public.

Some quick background:

In November 2021, The Dalles City Council voted unanimously to approve a $28.5 million deal with Google to provide water for the tech company to cool two new data centers there.

Google and The Dalles refused to disclose, however, just exactly how much water the company’s three existing data centers use and how much more it wanted for the two new ones.

From Tom Peterson:

In an interview with CCCNews, City of The Dalles Public Works Director Dave Anderson while not disclosing Google’s amount of requested water, said this plan has Google using less than 1.4 billion gallons of water annually for the two new data centers.

Google purchased water rights of 3.88 million gallons of water per day from Northwest Aluminum and gave them to the City in the deal. The City intends to capture more water in the Dog River Watershed and then store it in the Google wells.

Anderson said The City will gain an actual net increase of water supply through the agreement and build-out of the system as Google does not intend to use the full amount of the water rights they purchased, he said.

Records Request

The Oregonian filed a public records request for the current water usage of the three already-established data centers in The Dalles during the past decade.

In response, the city sued the paper to prevent the information’s release, claiming Google’s use of water amounted to a “trade secret.”

In the settlement, announced by The Oregonian on Dec. 14, The Dalles agreed to provide public access to 10 years of data on Google’s water use at its first three data center and to honor future records requests.

The Dalles’ Mayor Richard Mays said Google ultimately changed its position and agreed to release the records.

“That’s why we backed off,” Mays told The Oregonian.

Turns out, a lot of water

Google may have had good reason to want to keep locals in the dark in the drought-stricken region, where Tribes, farmers, ranchers, environmentalists and others are increasingly nervous about future water supplies.

According to records released in December, the company’s water usage in The Dalles more than tripled over a decade.

In 2010, Google used 104.3 million gallons in The Dalles.

In 2020, it used 355.1 million gallons, or 29% of the city’s total water consumption. 

Barring major technology improvements, Google’s water consumption is only expected to climb. The company reportedly plans to construct two more data centers along the Columbia River.

“If the data center water use doubles or triples over the next decade, it’s going to have serious effects on fish and wildlife on source water streams, and it’s potentially going to have serious effects for other water users in the area of The Dalles,” John DeVoe, executive director of the nonprofit WaterWatch, told The Oregonian.

Google cuts the checks

According to The Dalles, Google will pay all of the city’s legal fees associated with the case, which have risen to $153,000.

Beyond water usage, Google footing the city’s legal bill is a concern.

“That arrangement raises questions about governments’ willingness to defer to large companies on matters of transparency, in addition to the underlying issue of how public utilities manage their water,” wrote The Oregonian.

“The private money funding public litigation distorts the entire public process and harms the public interest,” said Tim Gleason, former dean of the University of Oregon’s School of Journalism and Communication, now a professor emeritus at the university.

Gleason is right.

Google’s continuing influence over local affairs—and voracious consumption of a precious public resource—makes it all the more worth applauding The Oregonian’s refusal to back down from an intimidating legal challenge.

Chuck Thompson is the editor of Columbia Insight.

The views expressed in this article belong solely to its author and do not reflect the opinions of anyone else associated with Columbia Insight.

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