AMARILLO, Texas — Data centers are popping up across the state, and they are receiving mixed reviews from people who live near the sites. Those who support the centers say they bring economic opportunity, while those who oppose them say they deplete natural resources. One data center campus that’s under construction near Amarillo has the community divided.
Construction for Fermi America and Texas Tech’s 18-million-square-foot data center campus approximately 20 minutes outside of Amarillo is underway. Developers say this will be the largest of its kind in the world, and Amarillo residents have mixed feelings about it.
Construction at the site of Fermi America’s data center campus. (Spectrum News 1/Geraldine Torrellas-Piñero)
Recent Amarillo City Council meetings have been centered on discussions surrounding the data center campus. It is expected to span across nearly 6,000 acres to help support the growing demands of artificial intelligence and computer programs, relying on a private grid to power the operations.
“I think this is an existential threat for the Panhandle and our water,” said Josiah West, who lives in Amarillo.
Dozens of residents have created a coalition against the data center campus.
“Where are we going to get the resources if we don’t even have the resources for the places that we have right now?” asked Lupe DeSantiago, who also lives in Amarillo.
The concerned group of Amarillo residents is particularly worried about their new neighbor tapping too deep into the water supply, the Ogallala Aquifer.
“We only have 30 years left with how we are going now,” said Madison Boyle, another Amarillo resident. “With Fermi America being here, it’s estimated by Ogallala experts, we have five more years left.”
According to the City of Amarillo, there is enough water for the data center campus without affecting the community’s water supply.
Trent Sisemore is the community lead of the Fermi project and also the former mayor of Amarillo. He says that annually the company will use less than half the amount of water it takes to fill an Olympic-sized pool.
“Fermi’s going to use closed-loop cooling, so the water will be recirculated, used over and over again,” Sisemore said. “In the power production, the same situation. That water is used over and over again.”
City officials passed a water supply agreement with Fermi in October, triggering more questions for people worried about the sustainability of their community.
“What I expect is for them to have lied to us,” West said. “That’s my expectation and that we’re going to be screwed.”
“There were questions asked,” Sisemore said regarding last month’s city council meetings. “Fermi answered those.”