OPB’s First Look: Data centers, diesel generators and air quality

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Good morning, Northwest.

Tech companies across the nation use traincar-sized diesel generators to keep their data centers alive during power outages.

Diesel exhaust contains carcinogens that can cause cancer, asthma and heart disease.

OPB used pollution permits to calculate possible diesel emissions if there were a large-scale blackout in the Lower Umatilla Basin. That’s where 14 “hyperscale” data centers owned by Amazon are located. The results are bleak – though Amazon says our blackout scenario is unlikely.

Data centers offer economic opportunity and growth in small rural Eastern Oregon communities. Are the financial benefits worth the environmental risks?

Reporter April Ehrlich begins today’s newsletter with this investigation.

Here’s your First Look at Wednesday’s news.

— Sukhjot Sal

Top story

OPB investigation: Why data centers pose an outsized threat to Eastern Oregon’s air quality

As the risk of major blackouts grows in the Northwest, backup diesel generators for data centers could generate a massive amount of air pollution. Yet Oregon air regulators haven’t modeled the potential risk from the state’s growing data center market, and policymakers haven’t asked them to.

To measure the potential harm, OPB used pollution permits to calculate emissions based on a possible blackout scenario and then checked those estimates with experts for accuracy. We focused on the Lower Umatilla Basin because that is where Oregon’s largest, most power-hungry data centers are clustered. All are owned by Amazon.

We found the company has amassed enough diesel generators to cloud small, rural towns along the Columbia River with smog. Amazon says a large-scale power outage is unlikely, and notes that future data centers will have cleaner backup generators.

But if there were a major outage today, the company’s existing diesel generators would emit about twice as much pollution as all of the exhaust from cars and trucks on Oregon roads over the same period of time. (April Ehrlich)

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3 things to know

• Wildfires burning in Central and Eastern Oregon have upended life for people in those regions, with more than 1,000 people evacuated from their homes statewide and air quality rapidly deteriorating as smoke spreads from the biggest blazes. (April Ehrlich, Kathryn Styer Martínez and Elena Neale-Sacks)
• Smoky skies have made parts of Eastern Oregon particularly apocalyptic this week, and the Department of Environmental Quality has issued air quality advisories until at least tonight across the state, from the Portland metro area and Salem to Hermiston and Ontario. (Monica Carrillo-Casas)
• Faculty and staff layoffs are still looming at Portland State University, but they’re not as severe as initially projected, according to a plan released by the university yesterday morning. Union leaders say the school’s overall financial sustainability plan lacks vision and could backfire if cuts continue. (Tiffany Camhi)

Northwest headlines

• A Deschutes sheriff candidate sent the SWAT Team over a $700 theft. Now he’s under investigation for misconduct (Jen Baires)
• Who is leading Portland’s Moda Center negotiations with the Blazers? (Alex Zielinski)
• The feds no longer protect endangered species habitat. States say they can’t pick up the slack (Alex Brown, Stateline)
• Portland Timbers hire new head coach (Bryce Dole)

Listen in on OPB’s daily conversation

“Think Out Loud” airs at noon and 8 p.m. weekdays on OPB Radio, opb.org and the OPB News app. Today’s planned topics (subject to change):

• Ladies Up Project announces expansion of Portland street art program
• BLM rule changes to allow more cattle grazing on public lands in Oregon and the West
• Oregon musicians on why they perform in tribute bands

One more look

Portland author and investigator Rene Denfeld releases new thriller, ‘The Talking Bone’

Author Rene Denfeld got the inspiration for her latest book, “The Talking Bone,” while taking a walk in her North Portland neighborhood, thinking about a case she was investigating at the time. Her work as a licensed investigator had her looking into the process of having bones tested for DNA.

“And this sentence kind of popped into my mind,” Denfeld said. “I wonder if people bury bones so they don’t have to listen to what they have to say.”

The thriller, out yesterday, follows Ruby Spencer, also known as “the exonerator,” as she investigates the case of a man on death row.

Denfeld spoke with OPB “Morning Edition” host Jess Hazel on the top of Mount Tabor ahead of her book release event at Powell’s Books in downtown Portland. (Jess Hazel)

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