No. of Recommendations: 15
Bribing the local pol's seems to be relatively cheap, but gotta think
there are going to be a lot of costly lawsuits coming from grassroot opposition.
My wife is on the data center construction team for a big tech company. Coincidently, one of her jobs is to bribe the local politicians. And yes, in the grand scheme it isn't that much. Drop a few grants on the local school system, some bike paths, maybe a conservation easement or two. But tech companies are very cognizant of the impact they have on these small towns and really want it to be a positive experience for the locals. After all, once they finish this one, they'll want to build five more right next to it and they need the town to be on board. And they want the next town over to hear good things and sign on as well.
So for example, they do things like take over road maintence for the town during construction. That way there is no contention about construction vehicles causing potholes or anything like that. They also bring in their own fueling stations and grocery stores because they don't locals to walk in the A&P and find empty shelves or be unable to buy gas. But they let the locals decide how much of that they do. They get a little sales boost but not so much it disrupts the town. Lots of stuff like that. They don't want to cause any problems.
The real pinch point though is lack of skilled workers. The number of workers they think they will need in the next few years is several multiples more than actually exist. Besides paying great wages, this has lead to an arms race between companies of who can provide the best job site. For example, the first thing they do is pave the site, so no one is parking in the mud or tripping over rocks. No porta-potties on site. They provide bathrooms with hot running water for everybody, not just the bosses. Some sites cater lunch for everybody on Fridays. That's just the tip of the iceberg. Because again, after this site is done, they have five more they need workers for.
While water can be an issue, they know exactly how much water they need for construction and operation so that all gets worked out ahead of time. The real problem is lack of power. There are lots of locations where they'd like to build, but they can't because there is no extra juice. They are desperate for power and can't wait for the utility companies to provide it. That's why you hear these crazy stories of tech companies investing in unproven tech like small modular reactors. I don't know how this ends but I expect it to get a lot wilder before it is over.
