Data center protesters rally outside Amazon open house near Tri-Cities
Amazon Web Services held an open house for its proposed data center complex at Wallula Gap in Walla Walla County, Washington. The project faces significant opposition from the Walla Walla Anti Data Center League, which is pushing for a one-year moratorium and a full environmental impact statement due to concerns about water usage, power, and transparency. The county is currently reviewing Amazon's application, which was initially deemed incomplete.
Amazon Web Services hosted an open house in Burbank, Washington, to discuss its proposed data center complex at Wallula Gap within the Port of Walla Walla’s Wallula Gap Business Park. Hundreds of residents attended, including members of the Walla Walla Anti Data Center League, who actively oppose the project and rallied outside the event.
The League is lobbying Walla Walla County to enact a one-year moratorium on data center development and require a comprehensive Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). Opponents, including Ben Mattice, co-founder of the opposition group, raised concerns about transparency, citing Amazon's initial use of an alias, "Advance Phase LLC," for the land deal. Jessica Hansen, a resident, expressed worries about groundwater impacts and requested details on process water treatment.
Amazon representatives emphasized the company's commitment to self-sufficiency and clean energy goals, stating the project would use about 14 million gallons of water annually and secure its own power, which would be transmitted by Columbia Rural Electric. However, they provided no new details beyond what was in environmental review documents submitted to Walla Walla County. The county previously deemed Amazon's application incomplete, requesting a traffic impact analysis, which Amazon officials stated would be submitted after the open house. The project envisions three single-story data centers on 134 acres to support AI operations, with a larger, four-phase plan for 16 data centers under the code name "Project Tree."
Beyond Amazon, other developers like Trammell Crow Co., Atlas Agro North America, and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory are also considering data center projects in the wider Tri-Cities area.