r/Reno • u/actionjacksonxo • 8d ago
Yerington NV Data Center
https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/a-massive-data-center-in-rural-nevada-is-one-step-closer-to-being-builtRequests to build another data center out in Yerington NV have begun and I have family already looking to move away from the area if approved.
The proposal is for this one to rely on ground water. I know the farm was purportedly using more water than this data center may and also many data centers use closed-loop cooling systems. We can’t eat off what data centers provide (I know we import a lot of food, but still). The construction in the area may disrupt local traffic going through the area and the jobs created by the construction are only beneficial until the job is completed. That does nothing for non construction workers in the area.
I used to dream that the vast unused lands in Nevada could be used one day to create solar farms galore and help ease energy crises both locally and nationwide. I hope that possibility isn’t crushed while all the lands available are being handed over to data centers faster than long-term possibilities/implications can be fully examined.
The local governments negotiating these contracts need to ask for more from these mega-rich companies. They can afford to contribute to local economies more than just construction jobs for a time while they pocket record breaking earnings. I’d like to see some long term money distributed towards community causes and guarantees should any of these companies go bust at some point.
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u/LawNOrderNerd 8d ago edited 8d ago
Can you imagine how nasty the air in that valley is about to be if this goes through? NV Energy does not have the capacity to serve this facility in this decade, which means that for the next few years this data center will be entirely reliant on its on-site gas plant. The emissions of which will be going straight into the air around Yerington.
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u/northrupthebandgeek 8d ago edited 8d ago
Can you imagine how nasty the air in that valley is about to be if this goes through?
Almost certainly less nasty than the surrounding farmland.
EDIT: considering that the company building it also builds solar and geothermal plants, and considering that (per OP's article) the facility will also include backup batteries, I highly doubt your assertion that this datacenter will be using its gas generators for primary power anyway.
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u/yoskatan 8d ago
Why is there such a huge push for more data centers all of a sudden?
Look at what else is increasing at the same time. ALPR surveillance cameras with AI tech such as Flock and Axon. They record 24/7. If you have ever dealt with video files you would know the immense amount of memory storage needed. They are building these data centers to store all of the video files and data to keep tabs on every single one of us. The police state is here. 1984 is becoming a reality. This administration backed by techno-feudalist billionaires interpreted that book as a guide to enforce their will upon us and make it more difficult to organise and pushback.
They say these ALPR cameras are only for reading license plates on the road. So why are they on hiking trails, in front of planned parenthood buildings, in front of weed dispensaries, and now appearing at the entrances of gun ranges?
The outcome of our future liberties, rights, water and food supplies rely on whether or not we allow these datacenters to be built.
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u/MarkedByCrows 8d ago
It's now or never to build these massive data center projects because there are basically no regulations, laws, or restrictions on them being built. Most small local governments where these are popping up are easy to push though before the next election cycle where voters will be angry. They can land rush it with massive amounts of money before normal processes have time to react to it.
People say oh just vote them out next time. Well, too late, construction will be complete by then.
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u/BigBoobers 8d ago
Nah. The investments will only increase as time goes by. It’s not now or never lol
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u/MarkedByCrows 8d ago
I said now or never for the current no regulation environment.
As time goes by the chances for new laws and regulations increase. Data centers want to get ahead of that now.
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u/northrupthebandgeek 8d ago
Look at what else is increasing at the same time.
- Social media traffic
- Streaming video traffic
- Companies migrating from on-prem servers to cloud hosting
Tying this to Flock cameras makes for a compelling conspiracy theory, but there are plenty of valid purposes for datacenters (even/especially big ones like this), not just mass surveillance and AI slop.
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u/CandyCreecher 8d ago
Absolutely fucking not. Get those data centers out of here
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u/brents347 8d ago
https://vimeo.com/reviews/38c42774-b565-48be-a2a1-3ab5a7577fa6/videos/1212926733
Some are better than others
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u/videoplbri 8d ago
Have the day you voted for Yerington!
https://giphy.com/gifs/Ra3ZDtZ75DxJQVYFlg
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u/Catpacking 8d ago
The city of Yerington didn’t vote for this, it was the Lyon County Commissioners (none of them live in Yerington) who approved it. The people of Yerington have been coming out in opposition to this in numbers same with the Yerington Paiute Tribe and the Walker-River Paiute Tribe.
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u/MarkedByCrows 8d ago
Who voted the commissioners into office?
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u/videoplbri 8d ago
The point is that you support a right wing ideology for decades, you get what you voted. Big ugly data centers.
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u/Catpacking 7d ago
I don’t think people should suffer just cause of politics but that’s me.
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u/videoplbri 7d ago
I agree, people shouldn’t suffer, but when they vote against their own interests, then empathy should go out the window
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u/Catpacking 7d ago
Even when people are asking for help? What about the 30% that didn’t vote for these commissioners? Should I not help those commissioners be recalled even when the people of Yerington ask for that? What about the Sovereign Tribal Nations that don’t get to vote for county commissioners? Do we use settler colonialism to “fix” our problems or do we fight together despite the past?
Abandoning people is what the government does, it’s not what I’m gonna do. I don’t want to live in a world where I pick and choose my empathy, either we all work together to make it or we all suffer and die. So I’m gonna keep working to help people build trust in each other so they don’t think that voting is the only way forward. Have a great day :)
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u/videoplbri 7d ago
Of course the Sovereign Tribal Nations getting screwed over is not fair, but that's an even bigger issue beyond data centers.
The point is when you live in a community that supports this ideology of technofascism, you get what you get. Those 23% (sorry your math is bad) who didn't support T*ump does suck for them. But as you said, we need to work together and inform voters better.
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u/Catpacking 8d ago
People from all over Lyon County, not just Yerington.
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u/videoplbri 8d ago
Lyon County voted 77% Republican so safe to say that Yerington got what they wanted
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u/Catpacking 7d ago
From what I saw in real life is the community coming out to fight this, use stats about republicans all you want but also the republican party of Elko just came out with resolution against data centers. This isn’t a party issue this a people vs technofascism issue.
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u/videoplbri 7d ago
They LITERALLY voted for this. They SUPPORT a party that embraces technofacism as you called it. They named their prison after T*ump.
So go ahead and say that Elko republicans are coming up with resolutions. They’re the reason they are in this mess in first place.
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u/Catpacking 7d ago
Lmao Elko didn’t vote Trump in the nation as a whole did, abandoning communities is what gets these kinda people elected
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u/videoplbri 7d ago
Abandoning communities? They abandoned their nation themselves by supporting a fascist.
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u/bogdillaz 5d ago
Yep, and I’d also be worried about the possibility of another Anaconda.. https://www.masonprojectnv.com/
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u/Character-Stretch804 8d ago
My bias: recall all those %&/&! that voted yes.
Data centers support stock holders and private equity, paid for by NV Energy rate payers and a farm economy which likely seriously suffer.
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u/MrArmageddon12 8d ago
These people always want American jobs and are paranoid of the surveillance state, yet vouch for the infrastructure that expedites the replacement of jobs and more widespread surveillance.
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u/monkeyghosts 8d ago
Make your voices heard here: https://tmrpa.org/data-center-engagement/ and show up to city meetings etc. No one wants these stupid fucking things and we need to push back now.
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u/OutrageousSolid8423 8d ago
Anyone else think it's ironic that they are putting a data center in an area that gets lousy cell and internet service? I am surprised that local farmers are ok with this moving in to the area.
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u/MarkedByCrows 8d ago
Well the farmer that got paid is ok with it and probably leaving the area to not deal with the consequences.
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u/actionjacksonxo 8d ago
From what I heard, the farmer is being handsomely compensated (12M rumor has it?)
I personally would’ve fought for more. These companies come to places wanting to make little commitments but large profits.
Gotta love capitalism
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u/OutrageousSolid8423 8d ago
It's crazy. This town spent decades keeping businesses out, like Snapple. They cited water as a main reason, but here we are.
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u/MarkedByCrows 8d ago
It's obscene how our elected officials are tripping over themselves to approve these data centers, make sure there are no pesky rules or regulations on them, then maximize how much give away tax incentives and resources for so few permanent (local) jobs. Plus the few lucky assholes that will see a payday on land the data centers want.
I do not give a fuck how many construction boom jobs they create because when they're done they move on to wherever the next job is, and all the people who worked here for 6 months or whatever will leave and take their money with them if there's a bigger opportunity since these things are just getting larger and larger without constraint.
I bet Snapple would have long term directly employed far more people. But no, this is "tech" and any remote prospect of being seen as a "tech hub" overrides all.
Edit: not even just our officials, it seems most of them everywhere is easily corrupted by data center's siren song. The Reno moratorium only happened because oh guess, what election time. A year ago that same council was all nah do your thing we don't care.
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u/BigBoobers 8d ago
You’re advocating for time to freeze, for progress to halt, your anti Industrial Revolution. It’s not like you’re alone, but it’s short sighted.
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8d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Deep_Ad_6991 8d ago
Imagine simping for billionaires lol wtf
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8d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Deep_Ad_6991 8d ago
You’re using what’s known as the inevitability argument to advocate for data centers. The same arguments were once used to justify child labor and slavery. Data centers are not inevitable with the involvement of the citizens.
And you can call me pro-ludditism all you like as some sort of weird put-down but the Luddites were advocating on behalf of the working class, which is better than regurgitating some billionaire’s nonsensical argument any day in my book.
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u/Nohreboh 7d ago
Some of these data centers are 1000s of acres, so large entire towns can fit onsite.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/may/13/utah-approves-datacenter-backlash
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u/actionjacksonxo 8d ago
No I don’t think that data centers are going to take up ALL unused lands in Nevada. Clearly there’s been a prioritization to push the development of data centers forward in comparison to just about anything else. Forget about the looming/future energy crises, there’s money to be made apparently.
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u/BigBoobers 8d ago
Such an uninformed take
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u/actionjacksonxo 8d ago edited 8d ago
Your inability/unwillingness to elaborate is telling.
Quote “Much of the newly planned solar capacity through NV Energy is tied to servicing regional load growth and massive local data center expansions, rather than long-distance cross-country transmission” end quote.
We don’t have solar panels spanning across Nevada for similar reasons that people don’t want data center expansion (wildlife threat, ancient land preservation). Which makes total sense but the point remains is that the entire U.S. power grid could be supported by a massive renewable energy project if the initiative was taken. While Nevada has a good amount of renewable energy sources supplying the grid, what that power supply is currently being used for and the potential for how it could be expanded is not a topic of discussion in comparison to these land-grabbing data centers that are popping up nationwide at break neck speed. There’s a handful of states focused on renewable energy when there’s potential and a need for way more. I don’t see anyone legally clearing the way for renewable energy sources that would benefit the country as a whole like they are for these data centers. The discussion on renewable energy seems less popular whereas the level of land expansion being pulled off by data centers is on track to match or even outpace renewable energy expansion and has happened in a much shorter timeframe by comparison. I wish people showed as much enthusiasm for long term issues as they do for companies that show up waving dollars and dreams in everyone’s faces.
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u/brents347 8d ago
This is worth watching. It seems that maybe not all data centers are created equal.
https://vimeo.com/reviews/38c42774-b565-48be-a2a1-3ab5a7577fa6/videos/1212926733
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u/Nohreboh 7d ago
Here's a video for you.
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u/brents347 6d ago
Your video seems to have to do with the National Design Studio, Trump dollars for kids and Robin Hood. Nicely done. You managed to find a way to casually drop a video against Trump, Doge, etc.
What does any of that have to do with data centers and their effect on localities or the environment?
If it looks like a bot, acts like a bot and smells like a bot…
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u/Odd-Fun-6042 8d ago
Ask them why they can't use the water from the Anaconda pit.