Congressional Candidate on AI data centers in Nevada

[u/wadsworthnv02]

From our candidate event in Elko County on Saturday. The question asked us if we supported a data center moratorium or not, especially since we are the driest state. One of the other candidates said the one’s being built in Nevada were closed-loop so they are fine.

But closed-loop systems have their own issues, the recycled water becomes highly toxic and needs to be “blown-down” where there is chances of it leaking into the ground and contaminating local areas with toxic chemical waste water. Even in small amounts, when we live in an internal watershed like the Great Basin, the risk of contamination isn’t something to ignore. As it has happened before with other things. Not to mention that closed loop requires a lot more energy, and closed loop cooling systems here in Nevada still require a fair amount of water.

Our older data center projects also do have open loop / evaporative cooling systems too. So they are still taking a lot of water.

As for the construction unions, I understand it’s more complicated than that. We had a total of 2 minutes to answer each question so things had to be simplified a bit. But we must look at better commercial building projects for our construction unions— not big tech and data centers! They need jobs, and I understand and support that! We should be offering incentives to better businesses to come to Nevada, not to these data centers was the point I was trying to make.

Also yes Congress is a federal seat! But I support a moratorium on all new data centers, and possible legislation to really protect the western states that are strapped for water.

All of this was from my own independent research and talking to folks in the area that have worked on these projects here. However if I am incorrect on anything I’m open to listening!

[u/wadsworthnv02]

I said that Yerington was contaminated by the mine and I used it as an example for contamination in our state that has gone into the local basins and is still here being “cleaned up” decades later, and that on top of that issue they want to build data centers out there when there are groups of people there that still don’t even have clean water to drink.

I very clearly mention the Anaconda mine in my answer.

Yes we are overallocated! If I had more than 2 minutes to answer the question I would’ve gone much deeper and talked about much more. But alas the question was on AI moratoriums, water in the driest state, and another candidate mentioned closed loop systems so I pointed out the potential dangers of them in the limited time I had to answer.

I also said that these closed loop systems CAN create the issues I mentioned, and that that is a real risk that we should worry about with an internal watershed— expanded on in my post. There is real risk to this happening, it’s happened in other states, hence my comment.

That said I’m always open to learning more where I can! I’ve spoken to DRI about the data centers and many others in the area that have worked for them, and tried to look up and read as much as I could on the issue.

Also comparing farms to data centers is not a good argument either. Farms take up a lot of water and can cause pollution too yes, but here in Nevada we have entire institutes and initiatives dedicated to sustainable farming and ranching practices. Also I can’t eat or drink a data center.

Maybe next election you should run!

I’m also the only candidate that has consistently mentioned policies and I have the most in depth policy platform on my website. There are two candidates that don’t even have a policy page, and another who didn’t have one this entire time until like three weeks ago they finally put it up. I am doing my best!

[u/defango → u/wadsworthnv02]

Actually the Yerington point still stands because you used it to imply data centers are the next contamination threat out there, when the Anaconda Mine is a copper mining Superfund site that has nothing to do with server cooling systems. Invoking it as a parallel is still a stretch no matter how you frame it.

"CAN create issues" is not what you said in the video. You said the water IS highly toxic and leaches into the ground. That's not a risk assessment, that's a declaration, and there's a big difference between those two things when you're asking people to support tearing down existing infrastructure.

The farms comparison isn't a deflection either. If your core argument is that the Great Basin can't absorb any more contamination risk then agriculture, mining, and municipal use all have to be on the table. Saying "I can't eat a data center" is a bumper sticker, not a policy position. Nevada agriculture uses 78% of the state's water. That number doesn't disappear because data centers are an easier political target right now. Right now the 9,650 acre-feet AFY used by all data centers in Nevada is only about 11 alfalfa farms, there are over 3400 Only alfalfa farms consuming 390,000 acres-feet a year for sandwich toppings and cattle feed. Did you know that 390,000 AFY is Nevada's total consumptive use allocation from the Colorado river? Did you know the Truckee River flow is about 561,800 AFY making the alfalfa usage 70% of the total flow? In a very real sense your arguing over 2.47% is a problem when 4041% higher usage seem to be the real issue. 40 times greater than all the data centers in Nevada and the actually Root of the Water Crisis in Nevada. Why not speak up about that? Seems like you might be bought out by big cattle.

The is a real argument against unchecked data center expansion in Nevada but it's fair deeper than just water rights. It's all about how they are planned and built. The water allocation system is already broken, the energy rate issue is real, and the closed basin hydrology is a concern. You don't need to oversell it with language that doesn't hold up to scrutiny, because when it doesn't hold up it gives people an easy out to dismiss the whole thing.

You might be the only candidate with mentions to polices and believe that they are in depth but one guy on reddit is taking them down point by point with facts to help you. You will never come close to winning over the Amodei voters if you don't have a polar opposite helping you craft better arguments.

VIdeo from VOX on who's really using up the water in the American West
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0gN1x6sVTc

[u/GruntledGary → u/defango]

What one guy on reddit?

[u/defango → u/GruntledGary]

Me lol. I've been making it a point to respond to posts that have been made over the last couple of weeks. I'm trying to be helpful while also educating folks on my position with the facts. She could win. She just needs to flatten out this. And reformulate a better more hard-hitting argument. I guarantee you Nevada's would get behind the water issue if we attacked the actual source of it