Spokane's Data Center Debate Heats Up | Spokane News

Spokane County’s data center debate just got spicy: Commissioner Al French, who’s been quietly negotiating for over a year with a company eyeing a massive West Plains facility, is now tangled in controversy after emails revealed his secret talks with Apricus Energy Solutions — a firm planning a hydrogen-powered data center that could slurp up a thousand megawatts of power. While French touts the project’s clean energy promise and potential to slash diesel costs for farms and trucks, critics like local mom Brittany Anderson say the economic hype is overstated and the environmental risks are too big. With infrastructure costs soaring and power providers turning them down, Apricus may need to look elsewhere — and French vows he won’t let any new data center hike rates for current customers. Listen in comfort:Get a discount on a Soli Pillow: http://solipillow.com/discount/dnn. Advertise on DNN:[email protected] This is an automated, high-level news summary based on public reporting.Report issues to [email protected]. View sources & latest updates:https://sources.thednn.ai/1a9ada89a750b37a