The expansion of Amazon’s three data centers in Aragon will have a “strong impact on the environment” that can cause havoc in the region and that is not duly reflected in the documentation processed by the technology company to the Government of Aragon. This is stated by a group of environmental organizations in the allegations presented to the Aragonese Institute of Environmental Management (Inaga) about the project, which has the status of Project of General Interest of Aragon (PIGA), which has expedited the procedures and would allow undertaking land expropriations if necessary. The document, to which Morning Express has had access, argues, among other things, that the employment promises are not credible, that the electricity consumption of these data centers will exceed the current energy capacity of Aragon and that its high water consumption ( used in equipment cooling) is “unacceptable” in a context of increasing water stress.
The company is now summoned to respond to the brief presented by SEO/Bird Life, the Platform in Defense of the Landscapes of Teruel, Ecologistas en Acción, WWF, Tu Nube Seca Mi Río, Red Aragonesa por el Agua Pública and Ingenierías Sin Fronteras, among others. others. It is the first time that so many and varied allegations have been presented regarding a data center project in Spain. Nor has it happened before that several organizations coordinate to offer a joint response on this issue, which indicates that data centers are emerging as a relevant issue on the activism agenda.
Ecologistas en Acción, in fact, has just created a specific working group on data centers, from which they intend to assist the organization’s local branches in processing allegations against this type of projects. “We are just starting out, but colleagues from Aragon and other territories have already joined the group. I think that soon we will present allegations against projects from other parts of the country,” says Luis García Valverde, promoter of this new division of the NGO.
AWS, Amazon’s cloud computing services subsidiary, announced in May last year an investment of 15.7 billion euros until 2033 in the Community of Aragon to expand the three data centers that the technology company already operates there (in El Burgo de Ebro, Villanueva de Gállego and Huesca), as well as an operational building in Zaragoza. Aragon has become one of the great poles of attraction in the sector: Microsoft has also announced the construction of three data centers there. The community has closed 2024 with an announced investment figure of 33.5 billion euros in this type of infrastructure alone.
From noise to energy or water
The allegations document denounces, first of all, that the project “lacks adequate corrective measures” to address the environmental impact derived from expanding the data centers, facilities that involve high electrical consumption and that also need water to cool the data centers. systems. “The suspension of the activity for scenarios of high water consumption or drought” should be considered and measures should be established if the permitted CO₂ emission thresholds are exceeded and they disagree with whether the noise impact of these facilities is considered “compatible.”
Secondly, the allegations specify that a study of the joint impact of data centers in the region is missing. “An integrated study of water consumption, impact on landscapes and land occupation should be carried out for the entire region.” The document also emphasizes that the predicted energy consumption is so high that Aragon’s new energy plan (2024-2030) estimates that half of the demand will be in 2030 only for this industry, which “may pose a danger to the economic development of other sectors or populations given the risk of consuming more energy than expected, leading to blackouts” and is incompatible with the region’s decarbonization plan.
Regarding the expected water consumption, environmentalists believe that “it is too much, given the context of water stress in the region” in a territory where “it is being necessary to give ordinary and extraordinary aid to farmers due to the drought.” Likewise, given that the water consumption of data centers includes raw water, but also potable water, the signatories of the allegations fear that “such excessive use could affect the population in drought contexts.” They also denounce that the Government of Aragon authorizes Amazon to extract water from the Gállego and Ebro aquifers in nine wells “in which there will be no public control.”
Regarding the employment that the project will generate, “the promise of jobs is unfounded,” they maintain. They draw that conclusion from observing what has happened in countries like France. “External sources quantify this volume of direct labor at between 50 and 75 employees per center, that is, from 150 to 225 in total,” which is far from the 1,300 jobs announced when the project was presented.
Environmentalists also believe that it has not been well justified that the project is of interest to the region, since “the environmental and social impacts exceed the possible benefits”, which “only correspond to private companies.” Despite being declared as PIGA, the project “does not correct territorial inequalities” and involves investments “of little use to the Aragonese population”, in addition to entailing “tax exemptions”.
Summary of the allegations
“We reject the narrative that these megainfrastructures are benign for the territories. Quite the opposite: the ecological and social damages of the massive implementation of data centers can already be observed in other territories such as Virginia (United States), Mexico, Ireland or the Netherlands,” say the signatories of the allegations.
What path can the allegations take now? The environmental organizations that have presented them are aware that it is difficult to change a project of these dimensions. But, despite this, they believe they have a lot to gain. “Even if they push it back, now they have to give us the information we request, and that is important because the processing of this project has been very opaque,” explains Aurora Gómez, one of the promoters of the association. Your Cloud Dry My River and coordinator of the allegations. “This has forced us to join forces with other organizations, and that seed is already there for future occasions.”