Post and Courier
November 6, 2024
SC seeks feedback on Google permit request, but some key data is hidden from public
South Carolina environmental regulators want to hear from the public about Google’s latest application for a permit to build a second data center in Dorchester County, but much of the application is being withheld.
The Alphabet Inc. subsidiary, doing business under the alias Gannett Enterprises, is seeking permission to emit regulated pollutants from a data center to be built off Old Pecan Road near St. George. The S.C. Department of Environmental Services is reviewing the internet giant’s application for an air permit and is soliciting comments from the public through Dec. 3.
However, more than one-fifth of the application’s pages are marked confidential, including detailed emissions calculations for which state regulators are seeking public input.
Other pages have redacted sections that detail Google’s plans for the data center, such as the number of emergency diesel generators that will be installed and how much fuel their tanks will store.
The data center’s manufacturer specifications and data related to the use of renewable diesel is also marked confidential.
A single unredacted page shows Google wants permission to emit up to 250 tons per year of nitrogen oxide and up to 250 tons per year of carbon monoxide. Both are major sources of air pollution and contributors to climate change. The permit would also allow emissions of up to 65.4 tons of particulate matter and 48.4 tons of volatile organic compounds.
“The information currently on public notice includes facility-wide emissions estimates for all relevant pollutants and other information regarding the referenced facility for public review,” said a spokeswoman for the S.C. Department of Environmental Services. “Facilities are allowed to claim certain information as confidential and subject to protection as trade secrets.”
A Google spokesperson said the data center will be served by Edisto Electric Cooperative and the pollution limits are for emergency generators that would be used in case of a power outage.
“Edisto Electric Cooperative has a history of providing reliable electricity to its customers, so Google expects to use these standby generators only in rare, extraordinary circumstances,” Google said. “Emissions from Google’s data centers are typically well below the allowable emissions and in line with what we anticipate for standby generators at the Dorchester County facility.”
The Mountain View, Calif.-based company’s data center secrecy has come under scrutiny.
Google regularly seeks to have its electricity consumption, water usage and other data redacted from public documents. Dorchester County, for example, complied with the technology firm’s request to redact projected water needs from an agreement the two sides reached over the St. George project. That has led to a lawsuit alleging the redaction violates of the state’s open-records act.
Ben Townsend, Google’s head of infrastructure and sustainability, told state legislators during a hearing last week that the company is committed to transparency, adding: “We want to be very open with communities around how and why we use water, how much water we’re using.”
Frank Knapp, president and CEO of the S.C. Small Business Chamber of Commerce, raised questions in a letter to legislators following the hearing, saying Townsend “either was not being truthful in his testimony concerning transparency or can claim that he is not knowledgeable about the Dorchester County/Google water controversy,”
The data center to be built near St. George is one of two that Google plans to build in the county. The other is to planned for site in the Pine Hill Business Campus west of Summerville.
Elected officials last year approved historic tax breaks to land the company, including a reduction in property taxes to a fixed rate of 4 percent of the assessed value of any land and buildings the company owns and occupies for up to 53 years.
The county also sold publicly owned land to Google at below-market rates and agreed to refund all of the taxes the company pays on personal property, such as vehicles.
Dominion Energy South Carolina, which would supply power to the Pine Hill data center, has agreed to give Google a discounted rate that amounts to less than half of what the utility’s residential customers pay. The company isn’t disclosing how much electricity it will provide to the site, saying the information is a protected trade secret.