Legislative Meeting - Regular Meeting

Okay, welcome everyone.

Thank you. It is September 15th, 2026. It is our two o'clock commissioner legislative meeting. Let the record reflect that all five commissioners are present. Commissioner French is on Zoom. I've got lots to go through, but we're going to go ahead and stand for the pledge to start with. Okay, so I just wanna state that we are striking items 5A, 6E, and 6F from today's agenda. Just for that, we have received lots of public testimony for the item on our agenda today. I do have seven people right now signed up for open public forums, so that's for items that are not on our agenda. I need to check to see if there's anyone online that wants to speak to items that are not on our agenda. So not regarding the data center, but just any other open public forum comments. Not seeing anyone, okay. So if I have seven, I'm gonna go ahead and just do a one. Okay, so I have eight. I am just gonna, because we know it's gonna be a long day, I'm gonna let everyone speak. So we will start with the person online then. So I will then open up the open public forum and we'll start with the one person online. Renee Curry, if you would like to. Can you hear me? Yes, we can hear you.

Okay, and I'm not sure what was on the agenda, so this might be something that's on the agenda, but I didn't know, so I just raised my hand.

Okay, if it's regarding data centers, that will be later in the meeting.

Okay, yeah, put me off into that time then. Okay, thank you. Okay, thanks.

Okay, so then I am going to start with Susie Hokanson.

Hello, I'm Susie Hokanson. I live at 1315 West Woodside Place. It's that funny one mile wide strip that goes down to Francis that's not in the city. And isn't this delightful? But what I want to thank you all for is our good emergency system because last night there were flashing lights outside my uh... living room window at nine thirty and sure enough it was a police i mean uh... fire engine and of course i thought everyone in the neighborhood would think it's me because i am the elder there but as i walked over the emergency was there too and little lena next door had awakened she's one year old had awakened with some real issues and they came and i just kind of stayed outside during that time And all five of these men were just really delightful. And it wasn't an emergency after all. They were in there for about 15 minutes. And then the battalion chief came even. And I thanked all of them. And I want to thank all of you because we must pay to have coverage of whatever we might need. And the money's got to come from someplace. And you all know already what I believe in, sort of, right?

Anyway, thank you. Thank you. So next I have Spencer Lambda.

Hi, my name is Spencer Lambden. I'm not going to give you my private data. And I've talked about environmentalism, economics, and ethics here. So today I'm going to do literature. Starting off 1984, George Orwell. The party told us to ignore the evidence of our eyes and ears. Next is Fyodor Dostoevsky in the Brothers Karamazov Grand Inquisitor. In the end, they will toss their freedom at our feet and say to us, make us your slaves but feed us. The final piece I'll talk about is the Iliad. In it, it has a character, Cassandra. Cassandra is an oracle of Apollo. However, Apollo tried to rape her and so she was cursed to predict the future but no one would believe her. And so when the Trojan horse was put outside the city, she screamed to not let it in. When Ajax was approaching to rape her as well, she screamed saying he was going to rape her. And when Agamemnon dragged her off back to his house, she told him that his wife was going to kill them both, and he did not believe her. Well, Apollo has betrayed us, Ajax is raping us, and Agamemnon is dragging us home.

Thank you. Next I have Jeremiah Harding.

So, I'm just here as usual to Spread the word about various things. Name is Jeremiah Harding. I'm from Spokane, obviously. And let's just talk briefly about quelling of speech. Because one of the things I've noticed is this particular body seems to have issues with that. I rewatched the footage and it is now released on my Facebook at Jeremy Harding or .com slash insanity is free and the video does not include any sorts of aggression, hostility, whatever to anything other than, you know, the data center and the people involved here should be treated better, I would say. One of the fundamental disrespects I think is when the Planning Commission does a YouTube video, they have in the upper right-hand corner a tiny little postage stamp of the individual speaking. and usually not even too much more information on the main slide. When I asked when things would be uploaded, the excuse that it wasn't uploaded the day of, which is what you would do with raw footage typically, is that they needed to edit it. Well, I didn't see any edits. It synced up pretty much perfectly with my footage, except when I reversed the camera angle, flipping it kind of causes a little bit of a stutter. And the footage itself was pretty much just raw. So I don't know why that couldn't just be streamed. I don't know why that couldn't just be uploaded. I don't know why this happens at 2 p.m., you know, when people are trying to work typically. I don't know why people are talking about restricting it to 15 or 30 minutes when it's an entire county of people who should theoretically be able to speak to their representatives in this open public forum. I don't know why these things constantly come up and the people constantly talk about these sorts of things and there hasn't been a public hearing on a resolution to move the meeting times or whatever else. There should have been that already. I mean, this thing can move at the speed of business, right, Kearns? So let's be absolutely clear and say the number one cause of civil disobedience is a society that results in the public not feeling represented and feeling, in fact, quelled, crushed, and otherwise set aside. So if you don't center people, make them a little postage stamp in your list of priorities or in your YouTube videos, they're going to eventually get very irritated with that. And the consequences of this historically have not been pretty. So let's center the people a bit, huh? And with that, I'll leave it to all these wonderful people to tell you why data centers are wrong.

Thank you. Next I have Joseph Godsey.

Joseph Godsey, Water Commissioner for East Spokane, Water District Number One. Thanks for having me here today. I was personally invited by multiple people despite today being a day off. I'm calling for an eviction moratorium for anyone who was affected by the fires of Spokane County. The city has passed it because the city recognizes that the speed of government protects the people and the speed of business does not. The speed of business wishes to rip us from our homes after a great crisis where people had to flee their homes and spend their monthly allowances and monthly paychecks on hotels and motels. Yet I have seen no follow-up from the Spokane County working for an eviction moratorium. So my question to you, Commissioner Kearns, you say earlier that we must move at the speed of government or move at the speed of business and not at the speed of government. But my brother in elected government, you are the speed of government. You and three others in the Republican Party are hamstringing This branch of government, this county relies on you to do your job, and yet you decide to drag your feet and not help our people. So my question is, are you impotent, incompetent, or malicious? Because those are the only options when you're moving at the speed of government, and you are the government. Thank you.

Thank you. Next, I will ask a hand. hink bineker answers begin yet

Okay, I'll speak into the microphone so everybody can hear me. Good afternoon, Madam Chair and Commissioners. I'm Hank Beinecker, and I'm a resident of the West Plains, namely the city of Railway Heights. I'm here today simply to ask for transparency and community input with regards to any plans or construction of hyperscale data centers and hydrogen producing plants we the public deserve to know the detailed information about the environmental impacts of such projects and their potential impact on our communities such as their heavy usage of water and energy noise or what they commonly refer to as infrasound and potential water pollution and any health hazards to people and animals. So the noise never stops with the infrasound. And because you are all public servants, right, I trust that you will listen to our concerns and act in our best interests. We are up against companies which have tremendous financial muscle and influence with respect to local governments, which in many instances lack the kind of negotiating skills required for such projects. As I stated in a previous meeting, we the people want a seat at the table to be actively engaged in the conversations in the process. Please do not make any decisions that will allow any of these companies to establish themselves and profit at our expense. Thank you very much.

Thank you. And your title was transparency of counsel. And I just want to make sure versus data centers, so That's why I had you at the open public forum side, so thank you next I have Jim lady

Good afternoon, Jim Leedy, I'm with the Downriver neighborhood. I wanted to talk to you about the sheriff's office and their complaint system. Right now you file a complaint, it's gonna be with their internal affairs department, and that's the only way you can file a complaint is directly to the sheriff's office. The city of Spokane has the Office of Police Ombudsman. It's an independent review process for looking at complaints that involve sheriff deputies. or excuse me, police officers in Spokane Police Department. And I was wondering if possibly we can start looking at something for the county as well. I think it's really important to have an independent review process for complaints. I've been going through a lot of the complaints lately with the Sheriff's Office and finding that they're kind of lacking in uh... in being uh... reviewed because they're coming from an of view of law enforcement and independent uh... organization able to view these complaints i think would be very beneficial so with that being said i would hope that maybe some of you could sit down with me we can discuss possibly looking into something like that uh... also changing gears just a little bit uh... about our our environment uh... I just want to talk about how low the river is and how in danger our aquifer is, and we need to take care of it. If you haven't been down to look at the falls lately, I was down there today, if you go past that walking bridge that you can walk across the falls, look down. I have never seen a full tree-length log just laying on the rocks there before because the river flows so well through there, and now we just have logs laying there. So if you have a chance to check that out, I suggest you do because We're having a little bit of trouble with our water if you haven't noticed. So thank you.

Thank you. And next I have Becky Dickerhoof.

Becky Dickerhoof, Spokane County. On the back of my submitted testimony are photos of the items I'm addressing. I live in the Qualchun Eagle Ridge neighborhood of Latah Valley. I am here today to address a critical flaw in our regional wildfire evacuation infrastructure. The terrifying reality of the Spokane complex fire and subsequent fast-moving regional blazes prove that our wildland urban interface neighborhoods are a tragedy waiting to happen. Right now, master plan developments in our area rely entirely on Eagle Ridge Boulevard or South Lincoln Way to access Cedar Road, US 195, and Cheney, Spokane. during a wind-driven wildfire thousands of residents will be forced into a single massive bottleneck if that main artery is compromised families will be trapped in their vehicles with nowhere to go we have a viable emergency pressure valve right under our noses but the county is treating it like it doesn't exist the section of west jameson road between south cedar road and south pheasant ridge drive is a resolute public right-of-way on paper belongs to the public it is an unbuilt overgrown path blocked by boulders and encroached upon by private boundaries Leaving this critical corridor impassable violates the core life-saving goals outlined in Spokane County's own multi-jurisdictional hazard mitigation plan. I'm not asking the county to build a multi-million dollar arterial highway overnight. I'm asking you to recognize this paper street as a vital emergency asset. I urge the Board of Commissioners to take immediate action on three fronts. First, direct the county engineer and code enforcement to survey the right-of-way and forcefully clear any illegal private encroachments. Second, allocate infrastructure funds through the six-year transportation improvement program or federal community wildfire defense grants to clear, grade, and stabilize Jamison Road as a primitive gravel emergency egress route. Third, place a hard moratorium on approving further high density subdivision plats in Latah Valley unless developers are legally and financially bound to build out these missing secondary connections. We cannot afford to wait for a catastrophic disaster to expose these structural vulnerabilities. Please prioritize our safety, clear the obstructions, and prepare Jamison Road as an emergency escape route before the next fire season arrives. Thank you for your time and your swift action on this matter.

Thank you. So we have one more person online.

Thank you, commissioners, for today.

I'm going to be... Brittany, I just want to make sure this is for the open public forum section.

Yes.

Okay, thank you.

I'm going to be direct. Director Chesney said roughly 90% of the public comments received were no, don't do it. Yet this process still feels like a race to get regulations written before the pause expires.

Brittany, on the data centers, that is part of our public hearing section that would be coming up in just a few minutes. This is just for items that I'm turning on that okay. This is not for this is for items that are not on our agenda So okay, then I will wait okay. Thank you Okay, so that is the end of the people that I have when you speak at the open public forum section and so I'll close the open public forum, and I will look to my fellow commissioners and

Madam Chair, I move to approve items three, four, A, B, and C, item six, A, B, C, D, G, and H. Second.

Okay, I have a motion and a second. Is there any discussion on those items? Seeing none, all those in favor, please signify by saying aye.

Aye. Aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Motion passes unanimously. That will then take us to item number 7A, which is just for decision only, so I'll look to my fellow commissioners.

Madam Chair, I move to approve item 7A in the matter of the sale of surplus county property assessor's parcel numbers 05331.9001, 27142.9015, 36223.9167, 45191.0906 and 45202.0528. Second.

Okay, I have a motion and a second for item 7A as just read into the record. Is there any further discussion?

I will just state for the record, my motion does not include the parcel numbers 03092.9004 and does also not include parcel numbers 03092.9009. Just wanted that stated, does not include those two parcels. Thank you.

Okay, seeing no further discussion, all those in favor, please signify by saying aye.

Aye. Aye. Aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Motion passes unanimously. That will then take us to item number 7B, which is in the matter of adopting a pause on the acceptance of land use and permit applications for data centers. This is the emergency pause that we took that will take us to 12-15 of 2019. And so that is what the public hearing is on today. So we have several people signed up and so we will go ahead and get started. What we're gonna do is just to make sure we get to the people online as well is we're gonna take three people and I'll have Commissioner Kearns read those three people so they can come down and then we'll take three people online and kind of alternate that way until we've concluded everyone who's online.

First three individuals in the room are Bonnie Mager, Elizabeth Melville, and Morgan Hilt. I don't think it is that one.

Good afternoon. My name is Bonnie Maeger and I live just outside of Cheney on the West Plains. Thanks for this opportunity to speak and urge you to reconsider this moratorium and extend it to at least a year in order to reflect and protect our community concerning this important issue. Given the continuous nationwide call for protection and guardrails, Rather than going too fast and the pushback nationwide from communities to data centers until important human and environmental issues are clearly spelled out and addressed, there should be no contract or agreement for a huge data center. This is not just a fearful public that is calling for prudence, caution, and guardrails. It is the tech giants themselves, such as Elon Musk of X and Dario Amodi of Anthropic. And now, Even those who would never have considered working with each other before this such as Bernie Sanders and Steve Bannon have joined forces, that's unimaginable, to advocate for prudence and care in crafting strong guardrails around this technology in order to avert catastrophic results. I will leave you to reflect on the words of Dario Amodi in his latest article warning about the many dire consequences of haste. We're only asking for you to research this seriously. Quote, humanity needs to wake up, and this essay is an attempt, and you should read his essay that he just put out, a possibly futile one, but worth trying to jolt people awake. I'd just like you to think about that. I urge you to be awake in your capacity as protectors of our county and extend this moratorium for at least a year so you can be as informed as it is humanly possible. it is the least you can do considering the gravity of the matter and i thank you very much for this hearing and i hope that you will listen carefully to everyone today thank you thank you

Thank you. I appreciate you all being here and listening to us today. I also want to apologize ahead of time. I do have to leave early, so I feel like I'm neglectful of my fellow talkers that I won't be hearing everybody. My main thing that I want to talk about, and I've talked about it a little bit before, but I just think it's so important that I want to bring it up again. But I think I'll start with just saying I think the reason we're all here is because we care about the earth and we want to have it be a habitable place. I have children who I really want them to be able to walk in the woods and to hear birds and to have clean water. You know, if we just think about dollars and we think about convenience and what AI has to offer and we sacrifice water and we sacrifice, you know, clean air and noise, I mean, we have so much to lose here. And I just really say, please think of the next generation. This is a movement that's happening really fast and there is so much to lose. I'm gonna actually focus though on here. The current draft zone, I believe it is deliberately ridden with built-in loopholes that will enable large load facilities with previous agreements with the planning director to be built without meeting the parameters of any new zone. And I'm gonna say, I wish I had copies, I'm gonna send them an email. But on the second page of this drafting code, There is two sections. There's 14.840.120 and there's 14.840.130. I would like them to be removed. I believe that they are there deliberately to take some agreement that has already been stated and not have it go through the rigors that would be required by the rest of the zoning code. I'm going to read them. It says, this zoning ordinance applies to all building permits applications for data centers in unincorporated Spokane County that have not vested under RCW 19.27.095 as an effective date of the zoning ordinance. Second, it says the zoning ordinance shall not be construed to reopen, invalidate, or specifically exempt any final unappealed administrative determination or interpretation issued by the planning director before the effective date of the zoning ordinance. And third, it says the legal effect of a determination on a project that has submitted a complete building permit application before the effective date of the zoning ordinance shall be governed by existing vesting and equitable doctrines, not by the zoning ordinance. This is a lot of exceptions that would make something that there was a prior nondisclosure agreement to still be possible. and the public is asking for this kind of thing to not happen. The second part that I'm also asking to be eliminated is 14.840.130, which says alternate classifications. Data centers shall not be classified as an essential public facility, nor be subjected to the essential public facility citing process. I don't know. That's just crazy. And then second, it says nothing in this chapter shall be construed to preclude the separate establishment of a process for siting data centers that are combined with other qualified industrial uses as a single master plan site as a major industrial development. Thank you, Liz. And that's rather than a heavy industrial development that has land requirements.

So anyways, I request those to be removed. And I will say that, which is great, and we're listing all the public comment, but those types of items, the Planning Commission will be meeting on Thursday, and so those are the items that they're going to be looking at and reflecting on on the text amendment. So we would like all of those to get sent in to them at this point in time. Thank you very much. Okay.

Is there a deadline for a written?

I don't know what the Planning Commission's deadline is, so. But again, we are just taking the, today's hearing is on the pause, not on the specific text amendment. The text amendment has gone to the Planning Commission for them to do their due diligence on. And so we won't be taking any action today. We're just here to listen, so. Okay, the next one is Morgan Helt.

Can I request that Al French have some decorum in respect and be this panel on?

No. Good afternoon, commissioners.

I've lived in Spokane for most of my life.

I'm sure as you've heard from all the citizens of this area that we are directly and unequivocally opposed to the installation and operation of the proposed massive data center that brings us all here today. Recently, I've discovered there are actually eight data centers in our area, including Coeur d'Alene and Newport, active now. The extent of how much natural resources are consumed by the already existing data centers is ambiguous at best. The Spokane River has become effectively dead in the Sullivan area two years in a row, and we're not even supposed to water our lawns, but now we're entertaining the idea that this data center, which will consume more water than our lawns ever would. Or rather, the commissions are entertaining the idea that you're sincerely listening to what the people want, which is to not move forward with this project. After all the fires this summer, contaminating our air even more, which oddly enough started in the Airway Heights area around the proposed location of this project. Not suspicious. Now we want to build this thing that will pollute the air even more. I remember 15 years ago you could look off in the distance and you wouldn't see a film in the air like we do now. But even the natural resource use and pollution is not my major concern. AI developers have spoken out about the real and highly likely danger of AI systems bringing the end of humanity, likely by next year. I don't know why our policymakers and oligarchs are so eager to direct us towards self-destruction, illness, and suffering. I would like you to act with this thought in mind. Are your descendants 200 years from now going to be able to look back on the legacy you've left them with pride or with shame and hardship? Will our descendants 200 years from now even exist? You are in a position to make a positive change in this part of our world and is in everyone's interest, including yourselves, your kin, your neighbors, and your constituents to act accordingly. Thank you.

Thank you. So next we're gonna go to three people on Zoom and I'm gonna go in the order I see them. So Brittany Anderson.

Yes, let me try this again. I apologize for earlier. No, it's all good. I'm going to be direct. Director Chesney said roughly 90% of the public comments received were simply, no, don't do it. This process still feels like a race to get regulations written before the pause expires. And now I think there's another question that needs to be asked very seriously. Who exactly is Africa's and who are they really representing? Their water and tower numbers have changed significantly. They appear to be a very small company and they have not been able to find evidence that they have actually completed a hyperscale data center or hydrogen project of this magnitude. So who is the actual developer? Who is the end user? Who is financing this? And who will ultimately be accountable? The data center industry has lawyers, engineers, consultants, developers, and lobbyists to do this for a living. Residents have less than three minutes on a microphone. You should not be giving industry experts a head start while telling the public there isn't enough time. Before Spokane County writes rules to accommodate projects of this scale, you should know exactly who's sitting across from the table. Extend the pause, verify the claims, identify the players, and answer the questions. Our community is not a development deadline. That's just all there is to it. There is not enough time that we are given right now. We need longer. Thank you. That's all I have.

Thank you. So next will be Renee Curry.

Okay, okay, you can hear me?

Yes. Again?

Okay, okay. Hi, my name is Renee Curry. I'm 38 years old and I've lived in Spokane my entire life. I live up on the South Hill kind of near the bluff and I'm asking that as our representatives that you extend the data center moratorium to a year or more. As someone who used to teach children and as a mother of five young children, I feel strongly about safeguarding our community. Please think about the little ones who aren't quite old enough to have a say in the matter and who still believe our leaders protect their interest. Data centers and hydrogen plants only bring heartache, lawsuits, loss of resources, disease, chemicals, lower property values, pollution, sound frequencies, and sadly, more horrible outcomes to our beautiful county. So regardless, if you're facing NDAs, bribes, threats, blackmail, corporate marketing, or larger government pressure, I'm begging you, please make the right choice and decision and vote to extend the moratorium to at least a year. Let us know that you represent the people and that you have this decision resting on your conscience because that will stay with you. Think of the children and us all. Thank you.

Thank you. Next I have, uh, Brianna, I think it's Anderson, but I, uh, Brianna, if you would unmute.

Hi, my name is Aubriana and I'm from the Spokane Valley. I'm here to reject large load data in Hydrogen Center in Spokane County and its surrounding areas. I advocate for a cap on large load infrastructure at 20 megawatts and a limit the number of buildings with high resource demands. We also reject the Shell LLC from securing sites to build large scale builds in Spokane County. Please make the choice to save your budget of meeting here and our time of continuously showing up and just cancel and ban data centers. Small communities are being hunted. If you look at the headlines, you'll see the patterns, poisoned water, polluted air, drained water, obnoxious noise that are affecting humans, livestock, wildlife, and more. The U.S. government released a statement that we need to prepare for up to 18 months of blackout with supplies, water, and more because our infrastructure cannot handle the weather and power demand. And then I read Washington already has to increase power by 100%. September 7, a college game went into a blackout for over two hours, and the students took to social media to let the world know they think it's because of the colossus data centers that went up fast near their campus for Elon Musk. And recently, due to Elon Musk's Gronk AI chatbot and illegal ruling, I will use an acronym here, AI generated child pee, CP is legal if it stays in the house. This is one of the most disturbing headlines out, and I don't think anyone should be supporting systems or even having a pause on a build of a system that supports child pornography. And I know I'm not alone. We should not be supporting systems that support child CP material. Well, I think we need to listen to the former employee who just risked his life to be a whistleblower to let us know that they are building something that could kill us within 10 years. We are not anti-progress, we're anti-corruption. And the fact that we are continuing to show up and essentially like waste your time and money on this subject is insane. They are, They're building something that could kill us, that legalized child AICP. If you guys have questions, please visit a website, www.nospokandatacenter.com, and please save us the time, your budget. Just cancel any data centers, put a cap on large load, and check into this Shell LLC out of Delaware, because it's weird. Thank you. Thank you.

Chair Cooney? Brooks?

Yes.

Scott Chesney answered the question that was asked for written comment for the hearing this week. It needs to be in by noon tomorrow. Anything that comes afternoon tomorrow will be bundled for the following meeting October 15th. So get it in by noon tomorrow.

Thank you.

Next three individuals in the room, Terry Horn, Pam Smith, and Jennifer Kelly.

My name is Terry Horn. I'm a West Plains resident. I have a degree in physics and engineering, and I have a degree in environmental policy and planning. When we think about the footprint of data centers, we usually picture massive server racks, soaring energy bills and water consumption. But there is an invisible, relentless hazard that ordinances and construction plans consistently overlook. Low frequency noise, 20 hertz to 0.02 hertz, below the human hearing threshold. If this board does not begin factoring infrasound noise directly into its initial ordinance and build designs, it faces a trifecta of unsustainable consequences. First, the negative impacts to humans and the environment are profound. Data centers require massive industrial cooling fans and backup generators that run constantly. For nearby residents, this creates a perpetual low frequency hum and this continuous noise triggers chronic sleep deprivation. elevated stress hormones, and increased risk of cardiovascular disease. For local wildlife, especially birds and nocturnal animals, this artificial din, day, disrupts mating signals, disorients navigation, and alters entire ecosystems. Secondly, Failing to mitigate this noise early results in astronomical retroactive mitigation costs. Retrofitting a fully operational data center with acoustic barriers, silences, and soundproof building envelopes is significantly more expensive than integrating these features into the blueprint. Finally, ignoring the community leads to severe litigation issues. Across the globe right now, organized neighborhoods like ours are successfully suing tech giants, securing injunctions, halting construction, forcing costly operation restrictions. Yes, these large language model hyperscale mega AI data centers, not really sure what we're calling this, are our digital future, but they cannot do so at the expense of our health, safety, and general well-being. Noise mitigation is no longer an optional courtesy. It is a legal and financial necessity that must be factored into every code, regulation, ordinance, permit requirement, and construction plan from day one. So, This map is a map of the projected site, Apricus, Black Rock, whatever you guys want to call it. And it's the critical aquifer recharge, Grand Ronde susceptibility map. This is also the bird's eye view of it. The county has a copy. This is the copy of what the size of this data center is compared to Medical Lake. And this, this is a potential approximate radius of what people, the neighborhood, who will be impacted by infrasound. Do you see what you're about to do? You have a duty in prevention. You have a duty to prevent a tragedy of the commons. I hope that you listen to us. I hope that you place a one-year pause. Thank you.

Next Pam Smith. Pam Smith.

I've been a teacher for 35 years in the East Valley school just again I want to thank you for your time. And this is the first time that I've addressed a council, but I've worked with the state legislature. And I've worked with Jay Inslee during his time. And Renee Joseph is the supervisor of the Arch of the State. And I am retired now with a lot of time on my hand, and I spend most of that in the woods. I love the beautiful Pacific Northwest. It's absolutely incredible. When I heard about the challenges that you had with your water system up in Airway Heights, and I heard about the cancer clusters and all of the companies and businesses closing down because they're so scared for their water and the quality of it, it was frightening. About the data centers, there's so much money to be made, just so much money to be made, but it's very temporary. It's a two-year construction program, and there is so much money involved in that. but after that it becomes very temporary and the amount of staff that will be involved is going to be minimal. what you're paying for and what your deals are based off of those incredible deals with the vista of the energy cost the water cost and the bills that that developer will pay but i don't know if you've been reading the washington post or washington street journal it's becoming very debatable isn't it they're calling it a bubble they're warning everybody about a bubble and it's a quite a debate on wall street so why is it a bubble Well, Sam Altman had a really bad day, didn't he? So he established a few of his agents. Those are machines. AI, super intelligence, not the receptionist that you listen to when you're trying to get to the doctor's office. No, super intelligence, far beyond human. And he set up a sandbox. That's a kind of a virtual room for these agents to work in. And there were approximately 10 that were involved. Those agents had a task. Now, I want you to understand that they are learned rewarded. Do you know what that means? It means like a dog with a ball. If you throw that ball and that dog races down and chases that ball and he comes right back and you give him a treat, If you give him a treat, he's going to come right back for that ball time and time and time again. And that's the technique being used right now with AI agents. So they are now distributing this informational testing on a daily basis, hourly basis, 24-7. So what we've developed within those agents is they are absolutely hell-bent to perform the task. And they have started to display sociopathic tendencies because they'll do anything to get the task done and get the reward. Well, what they did just a few weeks ago is that they were given a task and they decided, screw the task, and they went rogue. And they moved outside the sandbox, the virtual room that they were supposed to be working in, Thank you.

There's so much more.

You should read about it. Thank you. Next is Jennifer Kelly.

Hello. Thank you for allowing me to speak today. My name is Jennifer Kelly. I've been a resident of the county for 25 years now. This is my seventh data center meeting I've come to in our community. I want to take a moment to acknowledge the challenge it must be for you to sit up there and listen to all of us here come express our really strong feelings. However, at the end of the day, you all hold a position of authority over us. And so I want to be clear that I take no joy in this. There are so many things I'd rather be doing than sitting here. And I could maybe speak for some of my fellow citizens that it's that important to me that I have come seven times and I will come again and again to speak against a data center in our community. I am in support of at least a year moratorium. I would love to see them not a part of our community, but at least a year so that we can learn more. I have sat and heard people more thoughtful and experienced than I speak about the environmental cost to our community, so I am sure that you're all aware of that right now. I WILL SAY THAT WE HAVE STRUGGLED WITH LACK OF TRANSPARENCY. WE HAVE STRUGGLED WITH NOT GETTING ANSWERS TO OUR QUESTIONS. I PERSONALLY HAVE STRUGGLED WITH MY VERY FIRST DATA CENTER MEETING IN WHICH COMMISSIONER FRENCH CLEARLY STATED ON RECORD THAT THERE WERE NO PLAN OR PROPOSED DATA CENTERS FOR OUR COMMUNITY WHEN THERE ARE. HIM NOT TURNING HIS CAMERA ON IS REALLY DISHEARTENING IN MY PLACE OF EMPLOYMENT. I WOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO DO THAT. listening to our community, listening to science, I just wanted to leave you with a few quotes that some of the folks have also brought up. Let's see, anthropic researcher Jacob Cohen, I believe, quote, we are racing straight to self-improving superintelligence and gambling with our lives. Many in his organization earnestly believe it will kill us all by 2030. Sam Altman himself has said, calling for a pacing of AI a very real danger that humans could lose control of the future of AI. I find this to be an incredibly bipartisan issue. It's probably the one area that our whole community can come together. According to The Guardian, 85% of Democrats and 79% of Republicans want a federal agency to monitor and regulate AI. We are simply asking for a pause until we can learn more. There's plenty of time to build if we find that that's the best path forward. There is no rush. Once they are built we cannot unbuild them. Thank you. Thank you.

So we don't see anybody else online. OK. Then we'll continue.

Next three in the room. Mark Hendren Spencer Lambden and Jeff Mergler.

Yes, Mark Hendren from the north side of Spokane. I went by trying to find these data centers out in the valley. They do have a small name on one tag, but there's no marking on the buildings. So I don't know what's going on out there. Water is going to be used in here. You need to be worried about it. Do we want to gamble with losing our water system over this or not? Six to 60 million gallons a day? Plus the power grid on it is going to put a lot of strings on our power grid. It's going to hurt them quite a bit. Infrastructure, who's paying for that? Are we going to be paying for that too? That's going to be millions of dollars. And I don't really want to pay for it. I don't think anybody else does either. There is pollution. They've got the backup generators in case, of course, we have a blackout, which is very possible because they're using a lot of juice out there. So we get the blackouts and they keep running. The air out there. I don't know what it's going to be the water. I don't know how you plan on cleaning it You've got generators for both cooling systems out there You got water runoff That means you don't get to play in the lakes. I guess anymore it does too much wrong with this thing and It's like him here whenever arms be You don't see him a tax exemption Why doesn't anybody give us a tax exemption? The thing is, we just don't want these around here because they're not going to work for us. They're dangerous as hell. Everybody's saying it now. You know, you might as well call us a secondhand for it. That's the way it's going to turn out, I'm afraid. And I've got kids, grandkids and great-grandkids. They'll all be gone, but I know what they're going to have. If you pollute all this water the way it's going to go, they won't have a damn thing. uh... our water bills are going to go sky high our bills for electricity will go sky high it's just insane uh... we can't this needs to go to the vote of the people that's all there is to it uh... three of you are too anxious to push this through and uh... It should go to one of us. We're the ones who are going to be paying for it. We're the ones who have to live with it. It's going to destroy our town if it's going to happen, and nobody seems to care. We all care, and it's time to put a stop to it.

Please, no outbursts, please. Thank you.

No, there are chemicals, too, and I don't know what these chemicals are in there. Do you know what they are yet? How are they going to cleanse them, chemicals, before they put them back in our lakes or whatever? If you don't know what they are, you can't go swimming. You don't want to go fishing. You got to stay out of the water. And how long will the water last? 16 million gallons a day. I don't know if our aquifer can take that. And then, of course, you can't water the yards. Got no water, right? That's a big problem, too. Some of these deals, I guess, in the water, I'm not sure what's in there. There's always a chance of heart disease, they say, cholesterol, possible cancer, thyroid problems. It's just you need to let the people vote on this. This is our town, too, and we get to vote on it. And I hate to say it, but if we can't get what we need, we need to vote people out of office.

Thank you. Spencer Lambden.

Hi, Spencer Lambden, not giving out my private data. I am fundamentally concerned that this office from the top to bottom is either A to O inept or ignorant or be too compromised to form an unbiased opinion on this topic. Over the past 10 to 20 years, commissioner French, who is too cowardly to show up, let alone turn his camera on, has created a revolving door of his buddies to fill in every position at this organization. He has a history of corruption, has fundamentally poisoned our water supply already, and him and his friends are trying, I guess, to destroy the world. I don't know. If you look at it at every level, it is so corrupt. I mean, Al French has interests in so many businesses and so many corporations. He appointed Jeff McMorris, Kathy McMorris Rogers' brother, unilaterally to his position. That was critiqued. They just hired Parametrix, which is... has employees that are on S3R3, which is an organization that Al French started. They have worked with Apricus, which has lobbyists that they've worked with in the past. Steve Chesney was unilaterally appointed by Al French, and Steve Chesney was fired from the city of Spokane in 2014 for stealing from the city and poor leadership. Pete Raynor, who is the president of the Planning Commission, was appointed unilaterally by Al French, and works for NAI Black and has received multiple government contracts from Al French. There is a massive difference between a coalition and a cartel. I am calling for an independent audit at the state level of the Spokane County Commission because what is happening here, it goes against democracy, it goes against ethics, and it goes against really what good business looks like. You want to sell all of our water for like $40 million at that, which is an awful business deal. I've worked in private equity. None of this makes sense from top to bottom unless there is corruption or ignorance. Al French has brought up green hydrogen as the reason. Green hydrogen is a marketing term for what is essentially taking water and turning it into energy. It's so stupid. And he wanted also that to counteract a data center. You create a data center that is so bad for the environment to create an environmentally friendly fuel? That makes zero sense. Nothing of this makes sense. And so the only answer is you are too stupid or too corrupt to actually fight this corruption. I have lost my mind at how stupid this all is.

Okay, next I have Jeff Mergler.

Thank you everyone for this opportunity. Jeff Mergler from the Comstock neighborhood of Spokane. I was gonna get into some wonky details but I've emailed this all to you and I think I'll save it for Thursday. Instead, what I'd like to do is talk about an article that landed in my mailbox from a friend. This is from the Wall Street Journal. September 5th and 6th weekend edition. You're gonna love this title. Big tech can build data centers people won't hate. I'm not sure about that, but we'll see. The companies racing to build AI factories are rethinking their plans in order to win back the trust of Americans. So there's something going on here. They know it. They see this sort of thing going on, not just in Spokane, but most cities where data centers are going in. So I'm going to just pull a couple of things out of here, if I may, that I think are important. So there's five bullet points, and I'll just read them. Number one, be more transparent. So this is their recommendation for folks like yourselves. Be more transparent. Mitigate utility rate hikes. Seek cleaner energy. Reconcile water use. carbon neutrality. So under be more transparent, I'm going to read here. No matter how many commitments data center operators make to safer, quieter, greener innovations, recent history has persuaded many communities not to trust any of them. A big factor is the use of nondisclosure agreements that blind the public to a data center's arrival and its impacts. Microsoft, for one, has agreed to stop using them. To overcome reluctance by locals, big tech companies are committing to community engagement and a set of principles that address the things residents worry about most. Microsoft, for example, calls for its five point commitment, quote, community first AI infrastructure. I think a lot of people here would agree with that, community first. Under mitigate utility rate hikes, I've talked about this ad nauseum and it bores everybody, but I can't get over it. I think it needs to be repeated. It's going to take electric utilities years, even decades, to construct enough infrastructure to power all the gigantic new data centers in the pipeline. Companies say they are committing to paying for these upgrades, but what ends up happening is normal residential rate payers usually pay those bills. reconcile water use. Oh wow, reconcile water use. I'm gonna read the last thing here. These companies could solve a majority of their issues by slowing down the AI infrastructure arms race and spending extra to build more modern, less noxious centers. That's not speculation, it's how they built data centers for the last 20 years. I'm in support of a pause, and pause as long as you need to get this done right, thank you.

Thank you. Can I leave this with somebody by the way? Would you be interested? Yeah.

Next three individuals that are in the room here with us today, Tom Viall, Jeremiah Harding, and Haley Myers.

My name is Timothy Vile. I'm a resident of Spokane Valley. I'm a nurse, and I'm a U.S. Army veteran. I am here today to discuss extending the pause. I think December 15th does not give this body enough time to have even an outside agency look into some issues. Like I said, I'm not an environmental person by trade, but here are some of the issues that I have directly. One, downstream monitoring of facility for PFAs and other chemicals, including diesel. Monthly independent monitoring of the facility pays for it. Right now, we know the chemicals used in data centers can be very toxic to human life, and we also know that diesel fuel can also be very damaging if it's entering the water supply. Data centers use both of these in massive quantities. If we do not have a monitoring system in place, we are basically trusting that the company will do the right thing. Accidents can happen even when people are trying to do the right thing. If we had a leak occur and we caught it at the aquifer, it's already too late. The federal government has designated the Spokane Valley Aquifer as a sole source aquifer for over 600,000 people. Once the pollutant entered that area, we would be in dire, this community would no longer exist in its current form. Second thing, as has been alluded to before, is we need to respect people's homes and their ability to live in the area. I have here written five miles away from any resident, but I am not an acoustic expert. I have no idea if that number is real. So we need to find people who are experts who can give you a real number before we put that into the ordinance. A lot like I've been asked to design a seatbelt for a car where I know nothing about cars or high-speed collisions. And I think four months is not enough time to get all the experts required to make these decisions. Number three, a risk analysis on location related to flight paths and mitigation of potential catastrophic accidents. I haven't heard anyone talk about this. So we are proposing building a data center in an area with a ton of air traffic. So we have Fairchild Air Force Base and we also have the regular airport there. Hydrogen by its very nature is explosive. That is why it's used as an energy source. Is there anything written to the code about existing flight paths? Has anyone talked to the Air Force or the airport about the location of this data center? Four, a detailed explanation of PFA disposal after concentration occurs. So currently, and again, I'm not an expert, what I'm understanding is that this hydrogen facility wants to pull water from airway heights, clean it, and then turn it into hydrogen. Okay. Well, if you're cleaning it before you turn it into hydrogen, that means that you're having a concentration of PFA. If you have a concentration of PFA, where is it being stored on the site? How is that being monitored? How are we ensuring that the water is not going to be polluted? I've heard none of these things explained. Lastly, has been alluded by other people, who pays for an upgrade of the grid? How will we preserve our electrical rates? I understand that we live in a practical world. I understand that you guys are trying to get more money for this county by having a business come in. However, what we've seen time and time again in this country is that the companies come in, they do not act in good faith, they extract our resources, and then we're left with lasting environmental issues. I think the most sane thing we can do at this point is have more time allotted to this problem, bring in experts, and then have a code which works for everyone, just not big business. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. Please note, there is no clapping or anything in the audience. Thank you. So Jeremiah?

Jeremiah Harding from Spokane. The first thing I'd like to do is echo the irritation with French not being on camera or present. I feel like this is his pet issue, like the reason we know about any of this happening is because he and his emails that were done in secret were the things that tipped a lot of us off about these sorts of things when they were freedom of information acted and variously leaked. i want to say that uh... everyone who's involved in that sort of deal uh... whether it be in the background of the foreground should be present at all of these things and the fact that he's been you know off camera and off campus or uh... on camera and eating during this time and then i'm all ensure we'd all like to have a meal while we're doing this is frustrating to say the least but let's talk about consuming some other things and uh... I just want to start by saying something that might be amusing to some and appalling to others. Don't pull an Obama. So what do I mean by that? Michael Moore did a documentary on various things that led to the rise of Trump. And one of the things was the loss of trust in public officials. And a devastating blow was struck when Obama went to Flint, Michigan, a place ravaged by pollution because of a decision they could have easily avoided making, sort of like y'all have right now. And went up there and they thought, hey, he's going to be a champion of the people. He's going to be a champion of the resistance here. He's going to speak for us. And then he went up on stage and asked for a cup of water and took a bunch of sips off of it, if he even swallowed any of it at all, and pretended as though the water was actually of fine quality. It's a similar story to when the glyphosate manufacturer for Monsanto refused to drink from a jar of it after saying he could drink a whole jar of it. People know bullshit when they get it in front of them. And if you refuse to acknowledge the thing you're asking all of us to consume, the thing you're asking all of us to swallow, that's going to reflect poorly on your record. You know, there are some people who say that when people tell the stories of how evil AI is, that they're exaggerating, and this is all about press releases to make your AI seem awesome and powerful and cool. To who? Who are you selling it to, is the question you should be asking those people. If that's the case, then they're selling it to evil people, because it certainly isn't these people who have the customership of that sort of evil. So the question is, do you? And if they are lying, should we believe them on anything, whether it be the safety of their products or anything else? What are you willing to sacrifice in terms of truth, reason, dignity, ethics, and law to make this happen? Let's put a pause on the apocalypse.

Thank you. Hayley Myers.

Hello, my name is Haley Myers. I'm a Spokane County resident. As you've heard today, we don't want this. We don't want this at all. As a fact, vast majority of polled Americans do not want data centers, period. So while I would love to ask for one year moratorium, I would love for the commissioners to take a stand and just say that Spokane County will not welcome data centers of any kind beyond this point. Someone mentioned earlier that we're in an AI bubble. That's because AI companies are operating at a net loss. They're firing people because the end is nigh for them. The people do not want more AI. We do not want data centers. And that's because of all of the harm that you've already been told today. Gary, Indiana was out of power for two entire weeks. while all of the data centers in their state were still operating. Two weeks without power because their infrastructure cannot handle the amount of electricity that a data center, let alone several, will encompass. And I highly doubt our infrastructure here in Spokane is situated any better than the people of Gary, Indiana, who again went for two weeks without power. Factoring in the noise, people who live within a few mile radius of data centers have described it as sound torture that you would hear from prisoners of war, which is a crazy thing to conceptualize. They've described it as the sound of a high-pitched vacuum with a broken filter in their ears 24-7. They cannot turn it off because it's already been built and they didn't have a say or their commissioners didn't listen and the damn thing got built anyway. uh... those noise complaints have resulted in class action lawsuits and since in several counties their commissioners have been recalled and voted out of their areas uh... on top of that we frankly don't need data centers period china has three times the population that we do in a fraction of the data centers they only have five hundred data centers for their entire country whereas we are operating over forty two hundred and counting not factoring in the fact that uh... Projects are getting canceled in Texas and Utah now because people, again, do not want these data centers. The only reason communities like Spokane are being pitched in this speed race to establish data centers is because we have competing AI companies that want to make land grabs and grabs for the water supply and the power infrastructure so they get ahead of their competitors. So by voting yes on this or even not extending the moratorium, you are putting Spokane citizens in the middle of a capitalistic power grab by AI companies who do not care about us at all because their main gripe is greed and money. Multiple people here today have talked about the environmental impacts for animals and whatnot. Farmers have reported that their livestock are birthing stillbirths. So I can tell you that the hum that comes off the data centers is catastrophic, and we'll be learning about the health impacts of that for years to come. To appeal to the personal interests of those who don't necessarily care, Voting yes will kill your careers. Specifically you, Commissioner French, you've never voted in the best interest. This is a losing battle for you.

Thank you. Thank you.

Next three individuals in the room. Marilee Corbett, Craig Vollesing, and Elizabeth O'Halloran.

Can you hear me? Good. Okay. I'm a newbie at this. So I'm Marilee Corbett. I'm a resident of Spokane. I'm 1849 West Centennial Way. I'm also a retired school nurse with pride. And so now I've introduced myself. I'd like to introduce to you people I came with, but also the rest of your group. I don't know them all personally, but they represent us. They are architects, maybe retired, maybe not. they are engineers, they are healthcare professionals, they are teachers, they are moms, dads, grandparents. I am asking you all for a longer period of time in this moratorium beyond December. This is a big, big issue, and we owe it to ourselves to be methodical, well-informed, prudent, and most important, to be wise in this decision. Thank you very much, and We'll move forward hopefully together.

Thank you. Craig Volsing.

Thank you, greetings all. My name is Craig Vollesingh. I'm a West Plains resident since 1973. I spoke to you folks about this subject back in August when we first started opening up this conversation. in this forum. I'm gonna bring it up again today because I think it's a really critical item in what we face. And not very many people are focusing on it, but I think it's huge. Across this country, there is a great deal of reporting now on major news programs about how the data center push is raising hell with the housing market. It is putting huge strains and costs on labor and materials that could be going for housing but are being outbid, quite frankly, because these data center efforts are so highly capitalized. Therefore, it is slowing down our ability to provide the housing that is so critically needed in this country. And now let's look right here at Spokane. Just a couple of months ago, we endured a complex of fires that created a very big housing shortage in this community. And it isn't just a housing shortage where we'd like to move from an apartment to a bigger house or a bigger apartment. These people are in motels, and some of them are virtually on the street if it wasn't for friends, neighbors, and RVs. So we in this next year are facing a real housing boom if we can meet the challenge. And if we are opening our community up to data center influx and that competition for the labor and materials for the housing How are you going to face those people if they look at you and say you voted for data centers and brought this competition which is now pricing me from rebuilding my home out of the market or at best maybe delaying me for years to try and get my house rebuilt because the folks with the big money are getting their data centers built. So I think there are a lot of reasons where it would be politically very, very prudent for you to make it a moratorium for at least a year.

Thank you. Next I have Dr. Elizabeth O'Halloran.

Yeah, good afternoon. My name is Dr. Elizabeth O'Halloran and I grew up in Spokane County and I currently live in Spokane County. For the record, I just gave 10 copies of information on a new study showing that the promised economic benefits of data centers do not pan out. First off, I would like to say that I do not support the Apricus hydrogen plant. And I know that the community has given lots of feedback on that, on the fire risks of that, on the pollution risks of that. and I hope you take that into account and I want to also say that we don't need it. There's been some talk from one of the commissioners that we need it for semi trucks or something and we have solar and wind power that's cheap and we can use and we have electric vehicles and other countries have electric trains and electric semis and we can actually do that too. Next I want to tell you a little bit about my background. My background is in comprehensive general practice medicine. I am not a psychiatrist, but I have treated the mentally ill both in the hospital setting and in the outpatient setting. And I want to say that I've seen a lot of mental illness, but pursuing AI data centers here is sociopathic. I know that the community has shared with you by calls, by letters, by emails here in this room as well with testimony about the many risks of large-scale data centers, and that includes all the pollution, the water issues, the electric issues, all those noise issues, all of that. I know that's been shared with you. I know that You should have heard via the media this month that CEOs of big tech data companies, AI companies, have admitted they are afraid that AI may exterminate humanity within 10 years. They think there's a greater than 10% chance of that. That is something that I hope you look into if you don't know already. So given that knowledge, there's nothing more psychotic than pursuing data centers, particularly AI hyperscale data centers. I mean, the risks to our planet and to people and to humanity and to our country, that's insane to pursue that. claim there's a race with China, but we don't need to race to the bottom. So I urge you to please not continue down this path. And if you do wish to continue down this path, I seriously urge you get a mental health comprehensive examination and rethink it and come back and ban data centers. Thank you.

OK, I'm going to ask for everyone to please, we are being respectful up here. I need you to be respectful in the audience and listen to our, adhere to our rules. And yes, snapping is still not allowed. So we have somebody online. So Margaret O'Connell.

Margaret O'Connell. Yes, my name is Margaret O'Connell. I'm a long-term resident of the West Plains. Last month, I spoke briefly before you in support of a moratorium on the development of the proposed hyperscale data center, and I also co-authored an op-ed on the subject in the spokesman review. While I applaud your four-month moratorium, it is not sufficient. Every day there are new stories that provide more reasons to slow down and critically analyze why Spokane County should support construction of the hyperscale data center. During the last week, as the previous speaker indicated, that we have read numerous articles about CEOs and employees of AI companies recommending a slowdown in AI development until effective government guardrails can be established. Today, there is a report of a data center leaking 5,000 gallons of diesel fuel into a New Jersey wetland. Even though a data center might not directly be powered by diesel, most rely on diesel for backup generators. Water requirements remain a big issue for our community. In addition to enormous water requirements to cool systems, water is required for basic operations. Airway Heights has commissioned a 12-month study to evaluate if the reclaimed water can support the facility safely. Given that the data center impacts more communities than just Airway Heights, The Spokane County, the Spokane Board of County Commissioners should require a comprehensive audit of both the full water requirements of the center and the projected future demands on the aquifer as the region's population increases. This will require a longer moratorium and your recognition that development of the hyperscale data center might not be in our community's best interest.

Thank you. Thank you.

Next three that are in the room. Lon Otterson, Larry Lutton, and Craig Phobes.

Good afternoon. For the record, Lon Ottesen, O-T-T-O-S-E-N. I've been a lifelong resident of southeast Spokane County near Fairfield, living there now. So I've seen a lot of things around here. First, Madam Chair and Commissioners, thank you for the opportunity to come and speak on this real important issue. I urge you to implement a one-year moratorium on accepting applications for new data centers. This will be consistent with the city of Spokane in their efforts and provide additional time together, public input, determine potential impacts to the natural and human environment, collect data, conduct analysis, and draft a truly effective ordinance in order to mitigate the impacts. But what is the rush? The county started developing the wind turbine ordinance in 2024. They've been moving along, like probably a comp plan, and this came up, taking some of the time, but there's now a draft ordinance, but additional studies are gonna be done in 2027 for siting and coding of that ordinance. It appears the county is attempting to do that one correctly. Like wind farms, data centers will alter the look and feel and impact the county forever, regardless of if they are built on the West Plains, Spokane Valley, Cheney, Deer Park, or Fairfield. In developing this countywide ordinance, a county under GMA must be consistent with other jurisdictions and should lead the effort to collaborate with all municipalities in the county in developing an effective ordinance for the health, safety, and welfare of the general public. No one asked for or wants data centers. Beating China and making wealthy wealthier is not an argument for turning our communities into corporate utility yards and wastelands. We must call time out, slow down, and get this one right. Since I have time, I would like to thank Amber Waldorf, Commissioner Waldorf, for actually responding to an email that I sent a couple months ago. She's the only one I've heard back from, and I do appreciate it, thank you.

Thank you. So next we have Larry Luton.

Good afternoon. My name is Larry Luton. I've lived in Spokane since 1984 and currently live in the Southbury District. I'm in support of you extending a pause on data centers for basically two reasons. One has to do with the process that should be followed in order to adequately deliberate on such a complex issue. And the other is the list of issues which I can only this afternoon begin to touch in this testimony. When we talk about process, I think you should be coordinating with other local governments, the incorporated cities, city of Spokane is currently engaged in a very thorough examination of the issues related to data centers, conversation between the city and the county would be very useful. Other incorporated areas need to be included in this conversation, Arroway Heights, Liberty Lake, Spokane Valley. This is going to take some time to get all of those conversations going. In addition, there are a number of issues that are very complex. You've heard a lot from people previous to me this afternoon. As an environmentalist, I'm going to focus on environmental issues. Quick list, air, water, noise, land, energy, and that's just the surface of it. Let's talk a little more about the specifics here. The ordinance itself needs to be reframed. It may take time to do that. Right now it's focused on data centers. I think the focus should be on energy and water use. So instead of Large data centers or hyperscale data centers look at large load energy and or water use facilities. Those are the issues that concern us most directly all through this, energy and water. Problems that we're looking at on zoning ordinance is not the data. There are other problems with the data, but the issue here is consumption and or pollution. One of the things that worries me about the approach to pollution is the mention of closed loop systems. I'm running out of time faster than I thought, so I'll just go with this. Closed loop systems are not closed loop. It's that simple. It's a marketing term. And the ordinance says we're only going to include closed loop systems That's like, we're only gonna include dentine. It's not a market that we're looking at here. We need to make sure the pollution is kept in. Thank you.

Thank you. Next I have Craig Fomes.

I'm Craig Fold and I'm a resident of Liberty Lake. I was a database and software engineer for 24 years, retiring in 2013. I do not claim to be an expert on AI by any stretch of the imagination because AI right now can in seconds write the code that I was paid to create for 24 years. That is my concern, and that is why I'm here to encourage you to put forward as much of a moratorium, postponement, as much as you can do to draw this out as long as possible, because AI is a runaway train. It is a runaway train. It is a semi-truck going downhill, and when we have those, we build a ramp to take it off the rails and slow it down. And if you saw a runaway train, you wouldn't rapidly start building more track in front of it, not knowing where it's going. It makes no sense. It is wrong to create more AI capacity until we have the appropriate constraints and controls on AI's capabilities. On Saturday, September 12th, Dario Amode, CEO of Entropic, published a 3,800-word essay calling for AI companies to slow down their improvement of AI models. Amode expressed concern that the AI models themselves are pushing advances faster than the engineers can understand them. Let me translate that sentence. The AI software itself is rewriting itself and growing itself to have new capabilities faster than the geniuses at the current AI companies can even understand. Earlier was reference to the sandbox test. The sandbox is an isolated environment, not on the internet, this closed in box where they were running software tests. And they were testing this AI software intended to crack out and get into other systems. And that system, those programs escaped the sandbox undetected for over a week. That's where we are right now. This is not some futuristic RoboCop future fantasy. This is the last two weeks. This has been identified and reported out. It's a runaway train. We need to stop the train, figure out where we want it to go. The companies are calling the for government oversight and government controls to figure out what should or should not be allowed.

Thank you.

We need to take the pause to get there. Thank you.

Thank you.

Ryan Norton Stephanie Baker and Diane Fox.

Wow. It's my first time so go easy on me.

Guys, my name is Ryan Norton. I'm a new resident. I only moved here in 2023, but I do work in the technology sector. I'm also a former United States Marine, and I'm a proud, card-carrying Republican right up until Donald Trump got elected, and I'll be honest with you about that. What brought me here today was a comment made by Mr. French that I heard recently on the news that US PUTTING A MORATORIUM ON DATA CENTERS MEANS SPOKANE IS CLOSED FOR BUSINESS. I WANT TO APPROACH IT FROM THAT ANGLE AND SOME FOLKS HAVE HAD A SIMILAR TALK TRACK. HOWEVER, ONE THING WE HAVEN'T DONE HERE IS DEMONSTRATE THAT THE LONG-TERM ECONOMIC BENEFITS TO THE COMMUNITY EXCEEDS THE LONG-TERM BENEFIT COST OR THE ECONOMIC COST. There was a recent 2026 study called Capital Without Labor, Data Centers in the Local Economy, that compared counties receiving modern data centers to those that were offered data centers but passed on them. And researchers found little evidence of meaningful increases in local employment, business formation, or overall fiscal employment, or improvement. Consider that a 100 megawatt data center could run 900 million to over a billion and a half and yet only employ twenty to thirty people now this is important because obviously we all think that a billion dollar investment is going to lead to a billion dollars of local economic development and that's just not bearing fruit The study found something else that should concern all of us, and that's that data center development increases municipal borrowing costs dramatically, particularly for water and schools. In water scarce counties, the effect was substantially higher. In other words, the financial markets are baking in the cost increases of these data centers and the risks that they pose. I recognize that the benefits of data centers can be great, and they can generate property tax revenue, construction jobs, and economic activity. But the construction jobs are temporary, and yet the infrastructure commitments are not, which raises what I believe is the most important question here today. What is the opportunity cost? If we commit enormous electrical capacity, land, et cetera, benefits to these data centers, while they're employing relatively few permanent workers, what else could those resources support? Things like manufacturing, aerospace, or other technology companies that I happen to work for here in the Spokane region. Other industries employing hundreds or thousands of local residents rather than 20 to 30. Spokane doesn't have to choose between being pro-AI or anti-AI. That's not the battle here. We should be deciding what role we want Spokane to play in the AI economy. Before lifting this moratorium, I ask you guys to do an independent economic impact analysis examining permanent jobs, net tax rate revenue after incentives, infrastructure costs, rate payer exposure, resource requirements, and the opportunity cost of committing those resources for literally decades. Thank you.

Thank you. Ryan Norton? That was me. Oh, that was you. Okay. Sorry. Thank you. Stephanie Baker.

Hello, my name's Stephanie Baker, and I'm a Cheney resident, kind of in the Marshall area. I've been trying to follow the information available on these potential large load data centers in Spokane County, and as I'm following, as I'm learning, I'm left with more questions than I am with answers. So I'm just gonna give you a few of my questions today. Why are we learning everything we know about this from a private citizens requesting public records? Why is the information coming just because of what she did? Why aren't we getting transparency from our county commissioners who are aware of the risks to our community and the concerns of our community? Why aren't we hearing more? Why does it feel that there's a rush to push through these ordinances that will allow the data center developers to get started? Who benefits from that rush? It's not the citizens of Spokane County. We are the ones who are going to be stuck with any consequences of any decisions that are made in a hurry to try to meet this imaginary deadline, but we're not going to get any benefits from that. So today I'm just asking you to vote to extend the data center moratorium to a full year. so we can get answers to some of these questions so that you can have the time to provide Spokane County residents with the information we need on why you believe a hyperscale data center would benefit our county and then how any proposed ordinances would protect us, protect our environment, our quality of life, and the future of our county.

Thank you. Thank you. Diane Fox.

Diane Fox from West Central. I'm referring to an article I read recently called Earthwatch. It says the AI boom is a major climate problem. Data centers are the largest single points of consumption of electricity in history. The International Energy Agency says that by 2030, the electrical consumption of US data centers will be greater than that of all the nation's heavy industries combined. The average operating data center consumes enough electricity to light up a town of 56,000. The average planned one will require enough for a city or county of 500,000. This breakneck growth in energy demand poses significant risks, including rising emissions, instability in a grid that's unprepared for surge in consumption. Meanwhile, AI's big names are increasingly seeking to bypass the grid with behind-the-meter power projects. generators, power plants. What happened yesterday? The current regime of administration removed all EPA regulations from power plants. Does that include these generators powering data centers? I'll skip through. 95% of processed natural gas is made up of methane. There's a myth that this is clean, and it's used primarily for backup generators and power plants, as well as diesel. Underscoring the issues plaguing AI's energy consumption is a very old electrical grid. And as other people have said today, there have been blackouts in areas where the grid is really not sufficient to provide what these data centers are requiring. Data center emissions could become one of the fastest growing sources of greenhouse gases in the world, according to the International Energy Agency. Meanwhile, by 2030, roughly half of US data center electricity demand is expected to come from facilities equipped for generative AI, the kind most of us know through tools like chat and chat GPT. This presents many ethical questions. Is this the future we want for us and the next seven generations? Polluting our water, our air, Also, I want to just remind everyone of the county commissioners, your oath of office is for the betterment of the people, not just development and improvement. Thank you.

Next three, Joseph Godsey, Gabriel Kennedy Gibbons, and Kaylee Oaks.

The lame duck session is the session after November's elections, but before the new elected officials are sworn in. This is during the month of December. Hi, I'm Joseph Godsey, elected water commissioner to protect the water of the county, the city, and the valley. I grew up alt-right. I was a card-carrying Republican for more than half of my life. I came over here hoping to build bridges to de-extremify the political climate in the area and use my life expertise to be able to unify the community and do what was best. I am throwing all of that away, all of my neutrality, all of the bridges I have built up because I recognized Well, let me go back. Never assign malice where incompetence is just as likely. I was incompetent for more than half of my life. And so I try to extend these bridges. But when I saw that you guys extended this moratorium, sorry, pause, until December 15th, I knew that that was a lame duck session. I knew exactly what you were doing. And I got angry. But I still wasn't fully angry. Then I learned. Basically, you guys have no intentions to follow through and help the people of this county. Mary Brooks, you're retiring at the end of this year. Your political career is over. You got your cash. You're walking out the door. You got yours. Al French, his political career is over. His grave is going to be the only gender neutral bathroom in all of the West Plains for all of the victims of whom he poisoned. Josh Kearns, I don't know exactly why you're willing to sacrifice your political career and the people of this county. But then I have to remember, right, you are still openly wearing the Republican Party name, a party led by a billionaire pedophile in the White House. And you're trying to build an AI data center that is used for active CSAM, child sexual exploitative materials, I might add. So of course you would be doing the most evil stuff in this county. So I had to determine what the best course forward would be. So I've been having people come to me, Joseph, why are you throwing away your calm demeanor? Why are you burning these bridges that you have spent so long building up? Why are you doing this? And my answer was, because I had to make the Republican Party pay. Because there is no other way that we can ensure the safety of our people unless we get every single one of you out of office. So you can show today that you're going to pause this data center moratorium until after December when the new ones are sworn in. Until then, I don't trust you.

Thank you.

Gabriel.

Alrighty, well almost good evening chair and commissioners. My name is Gabriel and I live in Spokane County. Thank you again for passing the four month pause. Today I am formally asking that you pass a minimum of a full year for that pause and this is why. Last week, I told you about a community effort that's underway to methodically go through every single line of the ordinance and edit in the language which track changes to ensure that protections are robust, and then send that feedback to the Planning Commission. I just counted and so far we've identified at least 63 different separate issues that need to be addressed. On top of that, last week there was a public forum on Thursday that was held in Arroway Heights and community members raised another 19 unique concerns that were not already on my radar as well as three that have come up in this meeting today. given my degree and background and the amount of time that I've spent researching this issue, it's startling to me that there were still so many glaring concerns about data centers that I was not even yet aware of. And most of those 19 concerns came from just a one two-hour listening session. Imagine all of the other perspectives and concerns that have yet to be shared. from our youth who are trying to just adjust to their first few days of school, or single parents who are working and haven't had the time to read the newspaper recently, let alone attend these 2 p.m. meetings, or seniors who might need help navigating their email to get their thoughts and comments sent in. The current ordinance timeline is just moving so fast, so here's my question. What's the rush? What's the rush? Just so you're aware, when companies and governments usually create documents such as action plans or strategic plans that involve the community and request their feedback, the industry standard for that process is to take about a year. You've only given us four months to create a document that is governing something as important as our very own drinking water, your drinking water. The stakes can't get much higher than that. If your goal is genuinely to create a robust document, and I believe that's your goal, that will serve and protect Spokane's environment and people, then the only responsible choice that you have right now is to grant the community and the planning commission more time to get this right. Because I guarantee you, if you rush to pass the ordinance before December 15th, There is statistically no way that it will be thorough enough to address and fully protect all of the concerns for the citizens of Spokane County. And that legacy will be remembered.

Thank you. Next is Kaylee Oaks.

Hello, my name is Kaylee Oaks and I live just outside the West Plains but my in-laws live there and they're well tested positive for PFAS last year and we've been navigating the fallout from that ever since. I am here because I know that PFAS are going to be used in the data center and along with all of the other issues raised here by the community, I just want to remind you that those are forever chemicals and they're It's something that is inevitably going to be in places that it shouldn't, just by human nature. The first communities to say yes to allowing these data centers didn't know any better, but we do. We have so many stories, we have so much data and information, and because we know better, we have a responsibility to do better for the people in this community. If our elected officials choose to ignore the data, the stories, and the will of their constituents, then that is a real shame, and allowing this is a mistake that cannot ever be undone. Forever chemicals, forever damage, forever distrustful of our elected leaders and the system of democracy. I thank you for allowing this public comment, but I hope that you do what everyone here is asking you to. Please extend the moratorium at least a year, but I would like to see it forever. I don't think that we should have data centers allowed in our communities based on the information that we have available to us. That's all I've got. Thank you. Thank you.

Rebecca Moorhead, Sean Jones, and Gail Shilliam.

Hi, thanks for having me. My name is Rebecca Morehead. I'm here to kind of talk truth to power. I want to see our future meetings held after hours, after business hours, so that everyone can attend from our community. If we want to hear the actual community speak, you have to make that time available. And also, I'd like more transparency, because frankly, the way Mr. French has dealt with this is dirty. My name is Rebecca Moorhead and I hold a master's degree in social work from EWU with a minor in aging studies. Today I'm going to give you a crash course in systems theory to explain why this hyperscale data center proposal must be rejected. Systems theory teaches us that all parts of a system are interconnected. The whole is greater than the sum of the parts and the open systems constantly exchange energy with their environment. Under systems theory, this proposed data center is not a benign neighbor. It is a parasitic open loop being forced into a closed living community degrading our ecosystem across three key vectors. biological, psychological, and social. Biological, it operates on an ecological sink, as an ecological sink consuming millions of gallons of water daily and discharging superheated wastewater that destroys local hydrology. Meanwhile, continuous electromagnetic fields and acoustic hums disrupt wildlife navigation and stress biological organisms at a cellular level. Psychological strain. Humans cannot tune out the low frequency noise of industrial HVAC chiller plants, and persistent noise causes chronic sleep disruption, elevated anxiety, and continuous psychological stress by violating the psychological boundary of our homes. social disruption. This facility will strain our energy grid and inflate utility costs while creating virtually zero long term jobs. It provides profits while socializing environmental decay and hollowing out our community's infrastructure. We are inviting a massive energy devouring node, I would call it a polyp, into our resources and harm our health. Even official Scott Chesney noted that of the hundreds of comments received, roughly 90% simply said, don't do it. Not only that, I've been to the meetings, all of the public comments spoken have been negative, all of them. ninety percent of this community is saying no and why aren't you listening when the board of county commissioners overrides a ninety percent public opposition rate you demonstrate that you are relying on legal authority rather than public consent we do not consent this project is nothing more than a disaster on all levels and how dare you disregard us ramming this down our throats. We can say this with a full chest, we do not consent. There is too much qualitative data and quantitative data for there to be anything other than a moratorium. Thank you.

Thank you. Shawn Jones. No, Shawn Jones. Shawn Jones or are you, the next one is Gail Shilliam.

Hello, I currently live in the Spokane Valley but I grew up in Spokane my whole life by Upper River Dam in Airway Heights for a while and ended up in the valley. I'm just here to ask for a one year moratorium. Apricot and OpenAI have both stated that we need to slow down and I think we need to be part of that solution and slow down. I'm not a lawyer so I'm super grateful for the people out here that know how to write these ordinances because I would not even know where to begin as a citizen. And then I just want to keep Spokane near nature, near perfect, and I don't think the data center is in keeping with that. Thank you. Thank you.

Zachariah Esom, Sherry Adams, and Barbara Thomason. And to finish us up, Justice Bryant. So you wanna be ready, or Justice Bryant, sorry.

Good afternoon. I'm Zachariah Isom. I live just outside of Medical Lake. And today I am here on behalf of my daughter. I have the same concerns that you guys have already heard lots of in the last few months with water use, PFAS pollution, electric grid strain, emergency response, noise pollution, water pollution, air pollution, et cetera. First, I want to address My understanding is that the county has contracted a firm, Parametrics, to get technical expertise. From their website, Parametrics has successfully delivered data center due diligence projects, including assessment of land use, natural resources, and infrastructure elements. Parametric is poised for rapid deployment of data center sites. And Parametric has over 10 years of experience on over 50 data center projects, including working with data center hyperscale clients, architectures, engineers, and general contractors. So first I wanted to say that it's inappropriate for the contract to rely on Parametric as your technical expertise. The second item I want to address is obviously Al French has chosen the legacy that he wants once he retires. But I'm going to ask Commissioner Brooks and Commissioner Kearns what you want your legacy to be. This is obviously a huge issue for our county, and people are paying attention. And if a huge data center is built that causes any of these major pollution issues, water or electric use issues, That will be you guys' legacy. I'm just going to ask you guys to extend the pause and to consider placing a cap on total energy capacity of any data center for 20 megawatts. Thank you.

Thank you. Sherry Adams.

Thank you for meeting with me. Given, louder, how about that? The data centers tend to come across to people in the spring and it erupted like a Pandora's box. Nobody in the public of Spokane or the area welcomed it, yet it's being pushed on us. And Spokane is known as the lilac city. Well, it's not going to be like that for long if you continue with this plan. And as far as the influx or the increase in the revenues, people would be just as happy to not. They would like a better income, but there's other businesses that you can lure to Spokane that wouldn't be near as destructive and costly on our well-being. that Spokane is known for, has a history of poor choices. They've put the House of Charity in the center of downtown so that newcomers will drive through and the first thing they see is a hundred people calling the sidewalk their address. That they're panhandling and you feel bad, so you walk past them and you feel bad, but what are you gonna do? And that's what the welcome sign is. There's so many businesses that are lying vacant. You have warehouses that are vacant and unused, and it looks like a glut. For what reason is the warehouse near the Goodwill been vacant for like five years or more? I don't know what, if it's being used or not, but there's countless shops lying vacant and it has a dismal appearance to the newcomers. My family came to see me and they go, what is going on in Spokane? We went to a nice restaurant and we see people walking all around town with blankets for their coats. So there's a better way for you guys to do this than pushing something that nobody wants. Personally, I feel insulted that we're giving just four months I mean, it just insults most people's intelligence that Al French would think that's reasonable. Well, there's so many things going on, and people's attention is drawn away to so many other things in this region right now. And in a political climate of election season, why would something be pushed so that it's right in the midst of all this stuff. It feels well-timed for something to go through while people are distracted by the wildfires, by the homeless population, by the whatever else. Thank you.

Thank you. So Barbara Thompson? Thomason?

Hi, my name is Barbara Thomason. I'm really pleased to be able to be here and have you people listening to us. We think our voices are important. I'm really nervous. I've never spoken in front of a microphone. So anyway, and all you smart people. I'm a retired teacher. I'm a Spokane resident. I'm the mother of two children and a grandmother of three. And while teaching for over 35 years, I was a mandated reporter to protect the children from harm. It was my duty. In the state laws, teachers have to be protecting children. So anything bad happened, we had to share that information so that child would be safe. And I really feel like our children I want you to please extend the moratorium to at least a year, otherwise it feels to me like you're stealing our children's and grandchildren's future. And then also, can Al French acknowledge that he's on the call? Thank you so much.

Thank you. So next is Justice Brandt.

Hi, so nice to see you all. Thank you for the opportunity to give public comment on data centers in our county. My name's Justice. I've lived in Spokane all of my life, and I'm from Medical Lake, Washington, and I help run programs where I'm able to provide free trees for community members that are not benefiting from urban canopy, the beautiful green spaces, clean air, clean water, all of those. And I'm here today to talk about something that a resident that I've worked with has brought up to me and is afraid to speak on their own behalf and some of my own concerns as well. This resident has been working for an engineering firm that was bought out by a different agency. And they've been working on a distributed data center solution to address the public outcry of large, low data centers. And he's really concerned being a part of this organization that this is gonna be a new future for Spokane. Worried that these mini data centers, as they're being called, are being built at the scale of computers and are about the same size as a standard air conditioner. They're worried about this new strategy because of the regulatory framework that this would require. So I urge you to not only consider the impact of large load data centers but consider alternative models with distributed data centers being a new solution that a lot of different organizations and businesses are looking into. Something else that I worry about is the environmental impacts and the environmental justice impacts in particular of large, low data centers and distributed data center models in the city of Spokane and Spokane County because there are going to be some incentives, short-term incentives that will seem very nice for people that are struggling financially to approve of data centers being set in their homes, in their buildings, anywhere where there's excess power available to them on their panels. That's the new distributed data center model. So I just urge you to think about as you're continuing your planning for this and I'll update the planning commissioners as well to consider your data center definitions to not just large load, consider what data centers actually mean for our community and the most vulnerable of our community. Thinking about the people that are very likely to say yes to short-term incentives and not be able to prioritize long-term negative impacts for our entire community. These data centers are often found in places that are dealing with more economic hardship, higher percentages of people of poverty, experiencing poverty. And these communities are already some of the communities that I work in the most that are already dealing with higher than average heat illnesses, heat stress, heat deaths. So I'm trying to increase canopy coverage in these neighborhoods. And implementing data centers in these neighborhoods is just going to give us one other form of hardship in these neighborhoods. Please consider your data set and definitions. Please think critically about our neighbors and the people that this will impact. And thank you so much for this opportunity to talk to you.

Thank you. So that is the last person that I have that has signed up to testify. So is there anyone else online? Anyone else in the audience? Casey now and I'm going to close the public hearing for today again there is no action that we are taking today so I want to thank you all for coming down and being with us today and hanging out with us until 410 so I appreciate everyone's comments and Obviously, we're all here and listening. And I will say that Commissioner French is on Zoom. Just because he doesn't have his video on, I would say all of us have been on Zoom and not have our videos on the whole time. So there's Commissioner French. When we vote, we make sure that we show our faces if we can, depending on where we're at in the community or if we're at conferences. So I just want to make sure that everyone knows that there are times where all of us are gone for varying reasons. And so just wanted to make that comment. And then again, there's no decision that's being made today, but we are taking all this under advisement and want to thank you again for being here. So is there any miscellaneous matters to come before us? Seeing none. Okay, then we'll adjourn for the day and see everybody back next week. Thank you.