Residents and workers cite environmental concerns associated with the centers and distrust with developers as reasons for opposition.
A view of downtown and Lake Merritt are seen from this drone view in Oakland, California, on Nov. 21, 2019. Residents and workers cite environmental concerns associated with data centers and distrust with developers as reasons for the proposed data center in the downtown area. (Jane Tyska/Digital First Media/The East Bay Times via Getty Images)
Several Oaklanders say that Behring Companies can position its proposed data center as an outlier to the larger-scale facilities that’ve come under fire for high energy and water usage, but their feelings won’t change for the most part.
That’s largely because of distrust in the developer’s intentions and environmental impacts that centers have had on communities in other states.
“Keep data centers out of Oakland,” said Bryan Ortega, 30, who has been an Oakland resident for years. “I don’t like data centers, I don’t agree with them.”
The location of a proposed data center at 415 20th St. in Oakland on Aug. 14, 2026. Residents and workers cite the environmental concerns associated with the centers and distrust with developers as reasons for their opposition to the project.
Behring is in the early stages of what it calls an innovation hub on 20th Street that includes about 20,000 square footage dedicated to a data center. The project is a single piece in a four building project that would provide housing, office space and parking. Its addition could help bring jobs to the struggling downtown area, according to the developer and Oakland City Councilmember Carroll Fife.
Ortega doesn’t buy it.
“The intention is not good,” Ortega said. “I don’t think they’re opening data centers for any good reasons; it’s all capital gain.”
Ortega linked his opposition to other data centers popping up in the Bay Area that have drawn large pushback.
Colin Behring, CEO and founder of Behring Companies, addresses the media in front of 415 20th St. in Oakland on Friday, Aug. 14, 2026, as Councilmember Carroll Fife, to the right, listens in.
If part of the project in Oakland doesn’t happen, Behring Companies CEO Colin Behring says “the whole picture falls apart.” Possibilities of high water and energy usage at the site, he says, are not a concern because newer technology for water cooling wouldn’t waste water and California produces plenty of energy.
Areli Hernandez, an Oakland resident for about a decade, was alarmed to learn about the project.
“No, no,” Hernandez said about Behring’s reasoning behind the proposal not using large amounts of water or energy. “There should be something citizens of Oakland can sign to contest the data center.”
Fife said Friday that the circulating petition and other similar ones often go out because some people are not clear on what is being proposed. That’s why she said more information is needed — for everyone.
Varshneya said PSL will continue to oppose the project while raising awareness about it in the community. On Friday at 7 p.m., the group will host an organizing meeting about the data center at the Oakland Liberation Center.