Texas Firm Buys 1,000 Acres for $264 Million Data Center as Washington Backlash Intensifies
Updated
Updated · The Seattle Times · Sep 5
Texas Firm Buys 1,000 Acres for $264 Million Data Center as Washington Backlash Intensifies
1 articles · Updated · The Seattle Times · Sep 5
Summary
$264 million bought about 1,000 acres at West Richland’s Lewis and Clark Ranch this week, setting up what could become Washington state’s biggest data center project and triggering organized local resistance before plans are public.
Opponents say the projects swallow farmland, strain water and power systems, and symbolize lightly regulated AI expansion; Washington data centers’ electricity use jumped 37% from 2021 to 2024.
The fight is spilling into 2026 politics, with candidates in Central Washington pressed to take sides as unions back construction jobs but activists threaten to unseat officials who approve new sites.
Washington already trimmed data-center tax breaks after excusing $196 million in sales and use taxes last year, even as supporters point to Quincy, where top landowners’ property-tax payments rose from $4.2 million to $54.3 million since 2006.
Republicans and Democrats alike are recalibrating, from proposals to make data centers fund their own infrastructure to calls for a moratorium, underscoring how a local land deal has become a statewide election issue.