The specter of “data centers” taking up and casting long shadows over Iowa’s hallowed farmland is kindling a wildfire of citizen activism in Dubuque County...
I thought I could get away from the conflagration for a while by flying to Texas to visit family and take in the World Cup. But nooooo! What I learned on my summer vacation: You can run but you can’t hide.
Turns out my nephew works for an electrical company doing engineering work for data centers. Although he works on hospital design, he said his firm will be focusing solely on data centers in the future. So my nephew is full of opinions he was eager to share.
We listened to some live music with friends at the Truck Yard in Colony (home to The Toilet Seat Art Museum). Turned out one of the friends works for an electrical supply company serving data centers.
I have been a connoisseur of newspapers since grade school (when I published my own), so I was compelled to pay $4.99 every day for the Dallas Morning News. What did I find on page 8A as I waited for my plane to board? “Texas needs better framework for data centers.” ::::sigh::::
In Iowa, data centers are the new carbon pipelines. They would generate more controversy if they could be fueled by ethanol. (Many DO rely on diesel generators for backup power.)
I guess I can now claim a tax deduction for half the cost of my trip as “research” for this post.
Texas is struggling with most of the same issues as Iowa. Land use does not seem to be the top concern. Texas has a lot of it. Less than four percent is tilled for farming. Over half of Texas is used for pasture and grazing. The cattlemen have an axe to grind over water. One-third of the state is in active drought.
North Texas, where I visited, is an epicenter of data center debate. In June, Texas Governor Greg Abbott proposed sweeping legislation. As Laura Huffman and Steven Pedigo of CivilSol described in their analysis for the Morning News: “Data centers should add their own power generation to the grid, pay their own interconnection costs, use closed-looped water systems, and report electricity and water use annually.”
Abbott also wants to repeal state sales tax exemptions for data centers. Very interesting for a governor who touts Texas as the most business-friendly state for 22 years. One reason, if not the main one: Polling data showing collapsing public support for data centers, a sure-fire way to get an elected official’s attention.
But Abbott does not want to give local governments the power to say “no.” Even if they wanted to say no, Texas cities and counties are in a bind due to tax policies that may sound familiar to Iowans, where our governor considers Texas a state to emulate and support with Natioinal Guard and state trooper deployments.
According to Huffman and Pedigo: “The Texas Legislature has steadily stripped local governments of the tools they need to raise revenue. In 2019, lawmakers capped annual property tax revenue at 3.5 percent. In 2025, they tried to push it to one percent.” Sound familiar?
City councilors and county supervisors everywhere notice the tax dollar potential in data center projects, even though they bring relatively few new jobs to communities after construction. That’s the usual measuring stick for local economic developers.
No wonder local officials are conflicted. No wonder so many are turning to moratoriums, extensive public input processes and special ordinances for data centers, hoping vocal citizen-voters are willing to help identify and support a “consensus” that will bail them out of taking tough votes. In reality, many think “no” is the only option that should be on the multiple-choice test.
I put data centers in “parentheses” on purpose. If you’ve seen one, you’ve seen one. There is no commonly-accepted legal definition for regulatory purposes. Every community is is challenged to make one up. The federal government definition: Any facility that primarily contains electronic equipment used to process, store, and transmit digital information that uses environmental control equipment to maintain the proper conditions for operation.
That could include the “back office” of a company that maintains its own servers. Such firms are now outsourcing such “non-core competencies” to the Metas, Amazons and Googles of the world offering “cloud computing solutions” that require….data centers. “Crypto-currency mining” is responsible for numerous smaller digital dens.
At the beginning of the data center craze, Iowa reflexively decided the state had to “compete” with other states by offering sales tax and property tax exemptions, followed by other incentives such as tax-increment financing, local tax abatements and job training.
This post is public. Share it and restack it!
This year, the Iowa Legislature doubled down with House File 960, which passed the House 86-3 and the Senate 33-11. DataCenters.com tells the complete story on what the “$150 million annual package” includes and how the “Iowa Data Infrastructure Act” expands incentives for “hyperscale” cloud computing investments.
Debi Durham has been director of the Iowa Economic Development Authority since 2011. She has been the architect for all of Terry Branstad’s and Kim Reynolds’ business incentive programs. Some of those bills were assigned to me to manage for House Democrats. Rarely were we successful in putting tighter guardrails on such legislation.
As a member of the Economic Growth and Economic Development Appropriations subcommittees in the Iowa House, I was invited by Durham to tour Google’s data center in Council Bluffs several years ago, an invitation I regret not accepting.
Not until 2025 did I see the handiwork for the first time. I visited western Iowa on a water quality fact-finding mission for the Dubuque Area Land and Water Legacy. I decided to swing from Council Bluffs toward the small city of Glenwood to find the troubled Glenwood Resource Center, a state-run facility for Iowans with severe disabilities that was closed in 2024.
Emerald City? Heaven? No, it’s Council Bluffs, in Iowa — Google data center.
On the way, in the distance, along the Missouri River, I spied what looked like Emerald City. As it happened, the road took me past the entrance and under the power lines to the massive Google data center that was in the process of becoming more massive. I realized then that data centers would intrude on my consciousness again in the future.
In Dubuque County, that consciousness came with a sign on Olde Davenport Road across from a farm field coveted by a data center developer who has offered to purchase the land. The sign: “Honk if you against the data center.” The now-confirmed rumor led to a one-year moratorium by county supervisors so they can come up with an ordinance to regulate them.
The public outcry prodding the supervisors to act included 7,000 signatures on a virtual petition. Some 500 people showed up to a zoning meeting, in person and online, objecting to the proposal.
The moratorium pushes final decisions well past the November 5 elections. That guarantees that “data centers” will be a campaign lightning rod. One candidate for county supervisor calls the issue “political plutonium.” The Democrat on the three-member Board who recommended 12 months for the moratorium instead of four is retiring. The Republican running for re-election initially opposed a moratorium, which has since been updated and tightened.
In the meantime, the cities of Dubuque, Peosta and Cascade have decided they need to get on the stick and craft their own ordinances. Surrounding counties are doing the same. Maquoketa, in nearby Jackson County, is taking a different approach. No moratorium. No special ordinance. In fact, the city has retained a firm to help recruit a data center for their industrial park.
Why “data centers” are sparking such public attention and blowback is a phenomenon I will return to in a future post. Spoiler alert: The letters A and I will be prominently featured. You may want to review your Sesame Street lessons.
As a public policy egghead, I also feel compelled to dig further into the nitty-gritty issues, illuminating for myself the actors and the moving parts they control.
What new monuments are on the horizon for Iowa’s landscape? Who will ultimately decide?
I’ll make the popcorn. You want butter?
No posts
Comments
Nothing yet. Say the first thing.
Sign in to join the conversation.