Hello everyone, quick update

Hello all, 

I wanted to take a moment to say a huge thank you to every single one of you for signing this petition, sharing it, and truly caring about our community. Seeing everyone pull together to protect the hometown we love, our families, and our environment means the world to me.

I wanted to update everyone, I recently took the time to personally email 15 different city council members to express our strong opposition to these data centers. Out of all 15, only one council member Todd emailed me back. He thanked me for reaching out, his response left a lot to be desired. He acknowledged some of the negative impacts data centers can cause, and admitted they are still trying to figure out what the "positives" of building these data centers here would actually be. He didn't name a single concrete benefit to our town.

I'm thinking about this in the long-term years to come and all I see is the massive downsides.

Why we must keep up the pressure. The United States already holds about 40% of the world’s data center infrastructure. We shouldn't risk our local water supply as we already live next to Hanford, our local energy grid,  just to build a few more massive complexes for companies. Once the initial construction phase is over, these buildings only create about 40 to 50 permanent jobs per building, offering almost no long-term economic benefit to our daily lives. I grew up in a construction family and have worked in construction myself, so I respect the trade but this specific type of development is a bad deal for our ecosystem and our community's future.

There is a silver lining on the state level though. Governor Bob Ferguson recently signed a law targeting data center tax breaks, Senate Bill 6231. Starting July 1st, existing data centers will no longer receive sales tax exemptions on replacement equipment like servers and infrastructure parts. Since these heavy-duty parts generally wear out and must be replaced every 3 to 5 years, cutting off those tax incentives will have tech companies contributing fairly to the state budget. This change is projected to generate over $200 million in state revenue over four years.  As currently our state is in a deficit of $878 million. Off track here, this is According to the Washington Office of Financial Management (OFM), the crisis is fueled by a 39% inflation rate over the last decade, rapid population growth, rising safety-net caseloads, and a massive surge in state spending that outpaced revenue growth. In response, the governor's office has instructed all state agencies to prepare for ongoing spending cuts. Governor Ferguson has vowed to balance the upcoming budget cycle by tightening government spending rather than introducing new taxes. (Hopefully)

How how you can help with this petition is to email the City Councils. Please take 5 minutes today to write a single email to the Richland and West Richland City Councils. Let them know you oppose these projects. Tell them your opposition about the data centers being built, that we care about our water, environment, and the future of our community and the long-term effects of this can a rise from the data centers. Add the link to the petition in your email, and at the bottom sign with your name and the neighborhood plus city which you live in. Here is the email that will reach all the council members in each city, and the petition link just so you have a copy I remember to put it in there. Or you can share your own copy from this page. https://c.org/ykthFLVf9Q citycouncil@ci.richland.wa.us  citycouncil@westrichland.org.

Keep sending our Change.org page to friends, family, and neighbors who agree with us. 

Show up to the next council meetings if you can in person or online. We need to make our presence felt both in person and online. Here is the upcoming council meeting schedule for both cities.

West Richland City Council Meeting: Tuesday, June 16, 2026, at 6:00 PM. You can attend in person at the City Council Chambers (3100 Belmont Blvd) or join virtually via their public West Richland Zoom Link. 

Richland City Council Meetings: Richland holds its regular sessions on the 1st and 3rd Tuesdays of every month at Richland City Hall (625 Swift Blvd). The next regular meeting is Tuesday, June 16, 2026, at 6:00 PM, with virtual attendance options available on the official City of Richland Agenda Center.

Let's keep uniting and urge other to join in advocating to protect our community. Thank you all again for your incredible support!