Point-by-Point Refutation

Refuting EHP: "The Dangers of Data Centers"

Separating Pennsylvania-centric scare tactics from the reality of Texas energy, ERCOT grid rules, and local development.

May 21, 2026 12 min read

A Quick Orienting Note

Before diving into EHP's claims, it is critical to note that the Environmental Health Project (EHP) document was clearly written with Pennsylvania in mind. It repeatedly cites Pennsylvania Governor Shapiro, PA local rate forecasts, and PJM grid dynamics.

Texas is a fundamentally different state on a completely different grid (ERCOT) with different laws. Most importantly, Texas Senate Bill 6, signed by Governor Abbott in June 2025, fundamentally changes the entire cost-allocation argument by placing transmission upgrade costs squarely on large-load builders instead of residential taxpayers.

Original Document Source: Environmental Health Project - The Dangers of Data Centers

Claim 1

"Data centers generate noise levels that may exceed 90 decibels."

What EHP Claims

The document implies neighbors live with a constant 90+ decibel roar, inducing immediate stress and severe hearing danger to surrounding communities.

What Is Actually True

The 90+ dB figure is measured INSIDE server halls. That is worker-exposure data inside server rooms (often sourced from Sensear, which sells hearing protection for technicians working direct-to-rack). Within the active server racks, noise levels can reach up to 96 dB(A). Nobody lives inside a server hall.

The number that actually matters for local residents is the noise level measured at the property line:

Independent acoustical analyses find that continuous noise from cooling fans and transformers reaches 60 to 80 dB at the property line for an unmitigated hyperscale facility—before any standard mitigation is built.
With standard modern sound mitigation, these levels drop dramatically to meet strict local limits.

🔊

Standard Mitigation is Real & Enforceable

Typical residential property line limits set boundaries around 45–55 dBA. Smart counties enforce this: Rush County, Indiana, established ordinances setting limits at 60 dBA during the day (7 AM – 10 PM), 45 dBA at night, a 200-foot setback abutting residential zones, and a 100-foot landscape buffer. In Northern Virginia, where local concern was high, Amazon retrofitted its facilities with engineered acoustical shrouds to dramatically quiet cooling equipment.

Tactical Takeaway: The conversation Bastrop County should have isn't "block data centers." It is "what is the right noise ordinance, landscape buffer, and setback requirement?" Modern data centers are significantly quieter than industrial gravel mines, rail yards, or gas compressor stations which counties already regularly permit.

Claim 2

"Hyperscale facilities require all-night lighting that disrupts circadian rhythms..."

What EHP Claims

Hyperscale data centers generate massive, skyward glow all night long, destroying dark skies and disrupting local human and wildlife circadian rhythms.

What Is Actually True

This is a highly generic claim that applies to literally any modern commercial structure: retail warehouses, grocery distribution centers, Amazon fulfillment depots, the Tesla Gigafactory, or even a local high school football stadium.

Modern data center projects routinely use International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) compliant fixtures. Because data centers require minimal external foot traffic (mostly security checks and shift transitions), external lighting can easily be kept low-profile, downward-directed, shielded, and motion-activated.

🌌

Dark-Sky Compliance is a Local Requirement

Light pollution is only an issue for poorly designed facilities of any kind. Bastrop County already holds the full legislative authority to require Dark-Sky compliant lighting in conditional use permits (CUP) and development agreements.

Claim 3

"600,000 asthma symptom cases and 1,300 premature deaths... exceeding 1/3 of asthma deaths in the U.S."

What EHP Claims

The document's primary scare statistic attributes over 600,000 asthma cases and 1,300 deaths directly to data centers and their highly toxic localized emissions.

What Is Actually True

This is the most misleading statistic in the entire EHP document. It represents three distinct logical and scientific errors:

1. The Source Paper points to Upstream Power Plants: The source is a December 2024 paper from UC Riverside and Caltech, "The Unpaid Toll: Quantifying the Public Health Impact of AI." The authors specify that the air pollution comes from regional fossil fuel power plants supplying grid power, not the data center itself. The data center is an electrified building with zero local emissions. If Bastrop's data center uses Texas's grid mix (which is high-wind, high-solar, and natural gas, with very little coal), its emission footprint is completely different from the coal/gas-heavy grids modeled in PA or VA.

2. The "1/3 of Asthma Deaths" is a Category Error: Annual U.S. asthma deaths total roughly 3,500 (CDC). The Caltech paper's 1,300 figure represents all-cause premature deaths from regional PM2.5 exposure (overwhelmingly cardiovascular/respiratory mortality in elderly populations), not asthma deaths. Comparing all-cause grid emissions mortality to U.S. asthma deaths is a classic denominator mismatch.

3. Diesel Generators Operate Under Strict Limits: The document implies backup diesel generators hum constantly. In reality, they operate fewer than 200 hours per year under tight federal EPA rules. Under EPA regulations, emergency engines are restricted to a 100-hour annual limit for non-emergency testing. They only run during critical grid blackouts or routine brief tests.

📑

Contractual Safeguards Work

To eliminate any local concern about diesel generators operating outside of emergency outages, Texas counties can simply require a contractual prohibition on participation in voluntary grid demand-response programs within the development agreement.

Claim 4

"A large data center will use up to 5 million gallons of water daily."

What EHP Claims

Every hyperscale facility is a massive drain on local water tables, evaporating millions of gallons of clean water daily and threatening the local water supply.

What Is Actually True

The 5-million-gallon figure applies to older evaporative cooling designs, not modern facilities. Modern industry standards have shifted dramatically to minimize or eliminate water usage.

Closed-Loop Systems: At Vantage Data Centers' Wisconsin campus using a closed-loop chilled water system, peak water use is only 22,000 gallons per day—a 99.6% reduction compared to evaporative systems of a similar scale, using only as much water as 65 standard homes.
Air-Cooled Designs: HostDime's SuperNova facility in Florida uses air-cooled chillers connected to a closed-loop chilled water system, rejecting heat entirely to the air with zero evaporative loss once the system is filled.
Zero Water AI Cooling: Microsoft recently introduced advanced AI data center cooling designs that use zero water, combining liquid-to-chip cooling with external air cooling, even in dry climates.
Recycled & Wastewater: Amazon Web Services (AWS) is committed to using recycled water in over 120 data centers by 2030, saving 530 million gallons of fresh water annually.

💧 Local Reality Check: Google Pflugerville

Look at our neighboring metro area. Google's Pflugerville, Texas facility utilizes a modern air-cooled design. In a full year of operation, that entire hyperscale facility consumed just 10,000 gallons of water—about as much as one average Texas household uses in just two months. Not 5 million gallons a day. Ten thousand gallons a year.

Tactical Takeaway: Bastrop County has every right to require closed-loop or air-cooled designs in development agreements. EdgeConneX has the engineering capability to meet these specifications. Water usage is a negotiation topic, not a reason to block progress.

Claim 5

"20% rate increase for Pennsylvania households... 37% more for electricity since 2020."

What EHP Claims

Residents face massive utility bill spikes to pay for transmission and grid capacity consumed entirely by multi-billion dollar data center operators.

What Is Actually True

Pennsylvania is on the PJM grid, while Texas is on the ERCOT grid. Different operator, different generation resources, different market structures, and completely different laws.

The 37% figure is also highly misleading as it is a nominal price (unadjusted for inflation). Inflation between 2020 and 2025 was roughly 23%, meaning the real, inflation-adjusted price increase was only about 13% over 5 years. An October 2025 Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) study confirms:

When adjusted for inflation, overall retail electricity prices actually fell in 37 states from 2019 to 2024.
The LBNL study isolated the cost drivers: utilities' inflation-adjusted spending on transmission and distribution (grid hardening, storm recovery, aging line maintenance) increased significantly, while overall generation costs declined. Data centers did not drive the rate hikes.
Importantly, the LBNL study found that load growth is associated with lower retail prices because it spreads utility fixed capital costs across a larger base of consumed megawatt-hours.

⚖️ The Texas Shield: Senate Bill 6 (SB-6)

Signed by Governor Abbott on June 20, 2025, SB-6 explicitly protects residential ratepayers from subsidizing industrial load growth. Under the law, large-load customers must bear their own grid interconnection costs:

Screening Fee Min. $100,000 Flat initial transmission study fee

MW Connection Fee $50,000 / MW Non-refundable fee for contracted peak demand

For the 240 MW EdgeConneX Bastrop campus: This law translates to roughly $12 million in non-refundable state fees plus 100% of all direct interconnection costs (Contribution in Aid of Construction) paid directly by the developer before they consume a single watt. Texas law ensures the developer pays for their own grid footprint.

Base Decisions on Verified Facts

Data centers represent a massive local economic opportunity. Enforcing smart local ordinances for setbacks, landscaping, noise limits, and closed-loop cooling ensures our community thrives without compromising our quality of life.

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