It\u2019s time for Nevada to stop subsidizing an industry that gives us so little in return.<\/p>\n
As a physician, I look at data center growth and see a public health problem as much as an economic one. These facilities use large amounts of water in a state already stretched thin, and they draw enormous amounts of power \u2014 often generated by fossil fuel plants that add to the air pollution burdens driving up asthma and cardiovascular disease in nearby communities.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the jobs argument doesn\u2019t hold up: data centers employ large construction crews for a year or two, then settle into a handful of permanent technical positions once operational.<\/p>\n
Yet Gov. Joe Lombardo continues to support tax breaks that lure these facilities to Nevada, betting our water and air on promises of economic development that rarely materialize at the promised scale.<\/p>\n
Nevada doesn\u2019t have to look far for a model. Just this week, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott \u2014 no one\u2019s idea of an anti-business governor \u2014 ordered a halt on new data center approvals until regulators audit their water use, power draw, tax breaks, and community impact. If Texas can pump the brakes to ask basic questions, Nevada can too.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not asking Gov. Lombardo to ban data centers forever. I\u2019m asking him to stop handing out tax breaks blindly and instead demand the same accountability Texas just did \u2014 a real accounting of what these facilities cost our water, our air, and our communities before another one breaks ground.<\/p>\n
Dr. Sandra Koch<\/p>\n
Carson City<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s time for Nevada to stop subsidizing an industry that gives us so little in return. As a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":402267,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-402266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=402266"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402266\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/402267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=402266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=402266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=402266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}