Aaron Matson

On concerns about hyperscale data centers

It seems that hyperscale data centers are incredibly resource-intensive and use a lot of a community's resources without putting much back into the community. In other words, from what I understand, they are bad neighbors. They can strain energy grids and raise utility prices for everyone, require a great deal of water to operate, straining local water resources, increase pollution, and have a huge land footprint. In addition, they are noisy; a friend with a hyperscale data center in her community has told me that people struggle to sleep at night because of the noise. Further, it appears they don't provide much economic development for the communities where they are located, and they can be placed in communities without much transparency or public input, even when the tech companies behind them receive tax benefits from those communities.

How they’d address those concerns

I am not against technological advancement or economic development. But growth cannot outpace accountability, nor should it come at the expense of local communities or existing ratepayers. If elected, I would support legislation to ensure transparency, accountability, and local control. I would also support protections against shifting infrastructure and utility costs onto residents and small businesses, and a temporary pause on their development to fully evaluate impacts on electricity demand, water use, infrastructure, and communities before moving forward with projects of this scale. As a sign of my commitment to finding solutions, I have signed on to the Data Center Accountability Pledge, available at https://dcapsd.org/, which includes pledges to work on legislation to bills to protect everyday South Dakotans from data center costs, unfair utility burdens, and environmental harms caused by data centers, promote transparency, and defend local control.