Amazon sets aside about $200 million a year for the towns that host its data centers

This year people in 42 states have protested data centers over power bills, water use and secrecy, TNW reported ^[1]. In late August an Economist/YouGov poll found that 63% of Americans would oppose a data center in their own community ^[2]. Built Together is written for those residents and for the county boards they elect ^[3].

Amazon describes the same residents differently. Garman asserted that the opposition is stoked by "misinformation and outright lies," GeekWire reported ^[4]. He also pointed to "widespread reports of various countries intentionally seeding misinformation in the U.S. about data centers to trick us into slowing down" ^[5]. PolitiFact reported last month that the role of foreign influence in the opposition has been exaggerated, with little sign the accounts reached a wide audience ^[6]. On water and pollution, Garman wrote that Amazon's average data center uses less than 13,000 gallons a day and that its backup generators sit idle 99.9% of the time ^[7].

"We understand why there is apprehension in some communities where data centers are being built," Garman wrote ^[8]. The commitments in his post line up with the complaints protesters list ^[1][10]. Garman described them as a way to codify practices Amazon already follows ^[9].

Opposition already costs the industry time ^[11]. Data Center Watch, a group that tracks these disputes, counted at least 75 projects worth about $130 billion blocked or delayed in the first three months of this year ^[11]. Amazon's projected capital spending this year is more than the cash its business generates annually, according to GeekWire ^[22].

The headline figure is less itemized than it sounds. Amazon told GeekWire it expects to put more than $100 million into community college endowments and about another $100 million into its training centers ^[16]. Together those come to roughly a fifth of the $1 billion ^[1]. The company did not give a full breakdown, GeekWire reported ^[15]. Local nonprofits and community foundations will hand out the rest for projects such as roads, parks and fire equipment ^[14].

A county official weighing a project can sort the package with two tests. The first is whether an item leaves a figure the town can check a year later, such as enrollment counts or the annual energy and water report. The second is whether the item is written into this town's agreement or sits in a program Amazon runs and can resize. The reports do not say how Amazon would measure its pledge on local power bills ^[10]. I'd treat it as passing the first test only after the county and its utility agree a baseline. Foundation grants handed out later pass neither test until the county gets them in writing, and items that pass both are the ones worth trading a permit for. Pressing for written terms slows the deal, and Amazon has other counties to talk to ^[3].