City of TD to sue Oregonian Writer over Google 'trade secret' request
The Dalles City Attorney Jonathan Kara
By Tom Peterson
The Dalles City Council authorized City Attorney Jonathan Kara to file a public records complaint against Oregonian Business Writer Mike Rogoway and Oregonian company Advance Local Media Group over issues of Google’s water use on Tuesday, Oct. 26.
The legal battle comes on the heels of Google’s request to build two new data centers in The Dalles, which would require billions of gallons of water from the City’s surface and groundwater reservoir sources over the length of the 15-year deals.
Some locals are concerned that water usage could drain wells and local water resources as the area is experiencing extreme drought and record high temperatures.
The City’s Public Works Director David Anderson maintains there is plenty of water to go around. Anderson said the two new data centers would use less than Google’s water rights of 3.88 million gallons per day. At full use of those rights, it comes to 1.4 billion gallons, annually.
However, Google and the City have refused to release the exact amounts of water needed, arguing the numbers are trade secrets that could be used to reverse engineer Google’s data centers by competitors. The City signed non-disclosure agreements in regard to the information.
Whether it is legal or not, remains to be seen. A local judge will soon decide.
On Sept. 24, The Oregonian sought historical Google water usage information. Rogoway submitted the public records request seeking water usage of Google’s current data plants for all of 2020 as well as water use records for the preceding five years.
And it was denied by City Attorney Kara.
The Oregonian subsequently appealed the decision, which went to Wasco County District Attorney Matthew Ellis for consideration.
On Oct. 15, Ellis found in favor of the Oregonian and ordered the information be released.
“Water use does not fall under the Definition of Trade Secret in the Plain Language of the Uniform Trade Secrets Act,” Ellis wrote in his decision.
On Oct. 22, Kara filed a notice with Ellis and Rogoway stating the City intended to file a complaint against Rogoway and the Oregonian in Wasco County Circuit Court. That allowed the City to keep the water usage information confidential until a new ruling.
“The City Respectfully disagrees with Mr. Ellis’ ruling. Accordingly, the City intends to institute proceedings for injunctive or declaratory relief against Mr. Rogoway/The Oregonian…,” Kara wrote on Oct. 22.
The City must now file a suit against Rogoway and the Oregonian on or before Friday, Oct. 29th in Wasco County Circuit Court.
CCCNews will bring you additional information about the suit as it becomes available.
Initial Public Information Request
“The city says Google will transfer water rights to The Dalles for incorporation into its municipal water system. But the public is unable to assess whether this is a good deal or a bad one unless they also know how much of that water, a public resource, Google plans to consume,” according to the Oregonian’s public record’s request.
In Kara’s initial response to the record request, he said Oregon Revised Statute “categorically exempts information submitted to the City in confidence and not otherwise required by law to be submitted, where such information should be reasonably be considered confidential, the City has obliged itself in good faith not to disclose the information, and when the public interest would suffer by the disclosure.”
To read the entire public record request, Kara’s response and Ellis’ ruling click here.
