Botetourt County Board of Supervisors Chair addresses Google concerns

Botetourt County, Virginia will be home to a new large data center being built by Google. Board of Supervisors Chair Dr. Mac Scothorn discussed the details of the deal in an exclusive interview, including the data center's water usage, infrastructure costs, tax revenue, and transparency concerns. Scothorn said the Google data center will draw up to 2 million gallons of water per day from Carvins Cove, but the Western Virginia Water Authority has confirmed the source can support this. Google will cover the majority of the county's future costs for a new water source, expected to be needed by the 2060s. Financially, Scothorn said the data center will generate at least $30 million per year in tax revenue for the county - over 2.5 times more than any other previous development. This revenue will benefit the school system, fire/EMS, and sheriff's office, including potentially funding a new high school. Despite concerns over a non-disclosure agreement with Google, Scothorn said this has been standard practice for all developments in the county's Greenfield Center since the 1990s.