Google Gelar Open House Terkait Pembangunan Pusat Data Terbaru

Google mengadakan rangkaian acara open house pada Rabu untuk meredam kekhawatiran masyarakat seputar rencana pembangunan pusat data seluas 1,2 juta kaki persegi di Hermantown dan Botetourt County. Langkah ini diambil setelah munculnya gelombang protes dari warga setempat yang mengkhawatirkan dampak lingkungan serta tingginya konsumsi energi dari fasilitas yang akan digunakan untuk menyokong layanan kecerdasan buatan tersebut. Perwakilan dari tim pengembangan pasar energi Google menyatakan kesiapan perusahaan untuk mematuhi seluruh regulasi yang berlaku demi menjaga kelestarian lingkungan sekitar.

"We're excited to be at this phase of the project where we can answer a lot of questions," ujar Tyler Huebner, manajer tim pengembangan pasar energi Google.

"We're going to meet all the state and local laws and ordinances, and power this with as clean energy as we possibly can," kata Tyler Huebner, manajer tim pengembangan pasar energi Google. Di sisi lain, para demonstran yang berkumpul di luar lokasi acara menyuarakan kekhawatiran mereka mengenai potensi polusi udara serta kerusakan ekosistem yang dapat ditimbulkan oleh proyek raksasa ini.

"We want clean land, air, water, and we believe that this data center is going to cause significant pollution," ujar Eleanor Dolan, seorang demonstran. "There will be air pollution. There will be deforestation.

There will be wetland destruction. We don't want to see any of that happen," kata Eleanor Dolan, seorang demonstran.

Sejumlah warga yang hadir juga mempertanyakan dampak ekonomi personal, seperti kemungkinan membengkaknya tagihan listrik bulanan akibat peningkatan beban daya di wilayah mereka. "I'm not that excited about it," ujar Peter Lee, warga Hermantown. "But it's people, like, making money, and that's the way somebody's going to make money," kata Peter Lee, warga Hermantown.

Pihak manajemen menegaskan komitmen mereka untuk menjadi mitra komunitas yang bertanggung jawab di setiap wilayah operasional infrastruktur baru.

"For Google, where we build infrastructure, we strive to be a really strong community partner," ujar Tyler Huebner, manajer tim pengembangan pasar energi Google. Anggota dewan perwakilan daerah juga turut memantau jalannya pertemuan guna memastikan adanya keseimbangan antara pertumbuhan ekonomi dan perlindungan alam. "We all want clean air, we all want clean water, we all want to know what the scope is," ujar Natalie Zeleznikar, Perwakilan Minnesota.

"I want to see the blueprint. I want to see the proposed buffers. I want to see all of the information," kata Natalie Zeleznikar, Perwakilan Minnesota.

Sementara itu, aksi protes dengan pendekatan yang berbeda juga terjadi di lokasi open house wilayah Botetourt County, Virginia. "We’re just trying to come at it from a different angle and just sing songs about love and connection and our oneness with our natural environment," ujar Erika Johnson, seorang demonstran.

Warga Virginia menyoroti pasokan air bersih yang bersumber dari wilayah Carvins Cove yang berpotensi terancam oleh kebutuhan operasional pusat data. "We do not need to have any building started until we know our water is going to set up in the future," ujar Misty Dawn Vickers, warga Roanoke City.

"My daughter’s future drinking water is at stake," kata Misty Dawn Vickers, warga Roanoke City. Manajemen hubungan publik Google memastikan bahwa seluruh biaya infrastruktur akan ditanggung penuh oleh perusahaan tanpa membebani kapasitas otoritas air daerah. "We will pay for all the infrastructure to develop that site, and overall, the amount of water that we will be using will be just a fraction of the capacity of the Water Authority," ujar Clay Allsop, Manajer Urusan Publik Google.

Beberapa warga menilai penjelasan tersebut disampaikan dengan itikad baik untuk membangun kerja sama yang positif dengan komunitas.

"They’re here to become part of the community and work with people in the community, and I think they will. I think they say that in good faith," ujar Bob Patterson, warga Botetourt County. Pihak Google menambahkan bahwa kehadiran investasi ini telah memberikan kontribusi nyata bagi pendapatan pajak daerah yang dialokasikan untuk fasilitas publik.

"We’ve already provided $18 million in tax revenue for the county. There will be more to come over the years, and that will be used to buy things like fire trucks, ambulances, police vehicles, and then of course, excuse me, educational opportunities, workforce training, where we can bring in people and have them work on site. We typically see about 400 plus employees in similar-sized data centers," kata Clay Allsop, Manajer Urusan Publik Google.

Meskipun demikian, kekhawatiran mengenai kelangsungan ekosistem aliran sungai di sekitar habitat satwa liar lokal tetap menjadi sorotan utama warga.

"There are streams, and those streams are home to several animals and plants, and also the water flows to other habitats," ujar Sylvia Powell, warga Botetourt County. Pemerintah daerah menyatakan proses perizinan administratif sedang berjalan dan diperkirakan akan selesai tanpa hambatan berarti.

"All of the permits and approvals have not come through yet, but they’re expected. And many of those are administrative, so we’re not anticipating any kind of issues there," ujar Gary Larrowe, Administrator Botetourt County. Kondisi iklim yang tidak menentu seperti fenomena kekeringan mendadak memperkuat desakan agar industri teknologi beralih ke sistem pendingin yang lebih ramah lingkungan.

"We’re seeing more frequent droughts, more intense droughts, we’re calling flash droughts," ujar Freeda Cathcart, Anggota Dewan Distrik Konservasi Tanah dan Air Blue Ridge. "And to take 2 to 8 million gallons of water from our reservoir would be irresponsible in 2026," kata Freeda Cathcart, Anggota Dewan Distrik Konservasi Tanah dan Air Blue Ridge. Pendekatan desain dengan sistem siklus tertutup (closed-loop) diharapkan dapat diimplementasikan guna meminimalkan penyusutan cadangan air publik.

"I’m really hoping to work with Google to have them change their plans to a closed-loop water system that won’t drain our water," ujar Freeda Cathcart, Anggota Dewan Distrik Konservasi Tanah dan Air Blue Ridge.

Pihak manajemen menyatakan komitmen global untuk memulihkan volume air melebihi kapasitas yang digunakan dalam operasional mereka. "We have our own rigorous process that we use, and they have theirs, and we put them together and we come up with a plan that will have the lowest impact on the community," ujar Clay Allsop, Manajer Urusan Publik Google. "We do, across our portfolio, have a commitment to replenish 120% of the water that we use," kata Clay Allsop, Manajer Urusan Publik Google.

Otoritas setempat menyambut baik nilai investasi besar yang diproyeksikan membawa dampak jangka panjang bagi pertumbuhan wilayah.

"Google will be investing in this community like no one’s business," ujar Gary Larrowe, Administrator Botetourt County. "I think that this will end up being one of the larger impacts to Botetourt County ever," kata Gary Larrowe, Administrator Botetourt County.

Pemanfaatan teknologi baru diharapkan mampu menyelaraskan kebutuhan akses data digital tanpa mengorbankan stabilitas ekonomi dan alam sekitar. "There’s also hope because there is new technology being developed and utilized that can make it where you can have the data that we need access to and be able to process and not hurt the environment or economy at the same time," ujar Freeda Cathcart, Anggota Dewan Distrik Konservasi Tanah dan Air Blue Ridge.

Di sisi lain, Google juga mengumumkan penyesuaian kebijakan internal terkait sistem pemisahan struktur komisi pada ekosistem digital mereka yang dijadwalkan berlaku akhir Juni. "Kami memisahkan biaya layanan dari biaya penagihan," ujar Paul Feng, Wakil Presiden Google Play.