inclementimmigrantOhio EPA weighs allowing data centers to dump wastewater into rivers
OhStopYellingAtMeBurning River is back, baby!
DevolutionConservatives. Ruin. Everything.
Ay, oh, way to go Ohio
I have worked in environmental consulting for the past decade and have routinely dealt with Ohio EPA on both hazardous waste investigation/remediation and NPDES permitted discharges. I have been part of teams preparing and submitting antidegradation and NPDES permit renewals, as well as maintaining compliance with existing permits. After reading through the news article and then the actual draft permit, the news article is very sensationalized. I am in no way defending the data centers or operators. The news article correctly states the discharges are untreated but fails to mention the strict monitoring requirements that would in place to maintain antidegradation and conform with Ohio Water Quality Standards and public water supply standards. There is also a Notice of Intent that requires the applicant to meet a list of requirements to even be considered for discharging under the general permit. NPDES permitting is a federal program that is also administered by the states. Ohio EPA is setting some pretty stringent limits under their authority in their draft permit, and the public and news organizations are cherry picking and/or don’t have the background to understand the permit requirements.
I don’t know what ‘wastewater’ people were imagining. It’s a datacenter, it’s not like it’s some crazy industrial process with chemical waste. They’re not grinding servers up in a blender and dumping it down the drain.
I think it’s the overall consensus that no normal person wants the data centers in the first place, and we want any justification possible to stop them. It’s not the actua reality that’s the issue. Cool water goes through pipes. Warmer water goes out back into the river. Sure. There’s a whole list of potential issues depending on the execution, but they can be properly and legally mitigated. It’s public sentiment that is the real issue. And I agree with that sentiment.
I agree with the sentiment as well. The unfortunate part of this is people pointing fingers at Ohio EPA when the agency can only act within their legal authority. Ohio EPA cannot grant or deny a business’s ability to operate up front like that. In this scenario they can only set limits for contaminants and enforce them. If bad actors violate those limits, then they can issue violations, assess fines, and refer cases to the AG for criminal prosecution. In extreme cases they can force a company to stop operating until violations are resolved.
As someone using a web app right this moment and also making websites at other times, I do want datacenters.
Thoughtful evil is the best kind of evil.
Why can’t these data centers just recirculate most of this water? Obviously there is some loss which requires more water over time but why do they require constant fresh water?
PikaI feel like it’s mostly temperature. I expect that they want to continue using untreated water to be able to have cooler temperature. That way they’re not having to spend money and time cooling their coolant down.
That’s my expectation anyway.
Reading the datasheet that someone else posted earlier on, it seems like that’s the case while they’re going to be doing temperature control. They’re making sure that the temperature stays within the criteria that they currently are required to do. And as such, means that they’re not having too cool it as much.
THEY FUCKING BETTER NOT! All those rivers are Source rivers. They ALL run off into the Mississippi, or The Great Lakes, and St. Lawrence.
“Environment Poisoning Agency”
Ohio missing the “good old days” when their rivers were flamable.
SpiceDealerWait, they have to weigh the option of having their rivers poisoned? How about just rejecting it out right?
I forget what state this was in but they allowed pork farmers to dump pig effluent into the local rivers. This killed many fish and local wildlife. Why a state’s local EPA chapter would allow such blatant environmental hazards to happen is beyond me.