# The race our nation can’t afford to lose, plus a new commitment from us and a fresh set of community investments **URL:** \ **Category:** Amazon Announcements\ **Tags:** about-amazon-blog\ **Created:** [October 2, 2026, 2:14pm UTC](https://sellersasksellers.com/t/the-race-our-nation-can-t-afford-to-lose-plus-a-new-commitment-from-us-and-a-fresh-set-of-community-investments/7605 "2026-10-02T14:14:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dogtamer](https://sellersasksellers.com/user_avatar/sellersasksellers.com/dogtamer/32/4766_2.png) [@Dogtamer](https://sellersasksellers.com/u/Dogtamer)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2026, 2:14pm UTC](https://sellersasksellers.com/t/the-race-our-nation-can-t-afford-to-lose-plus-a-new-commitment-from-us-and-a-fresh-set-of-community-investments/7605/1 "2026-10-02T14:14:09Z")
> **[The race our nation can’t afford to lose, plus a new commitment from us and a...](https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/company-news/amazon-data-centers-built-together)** > > Amazon's commitment to community-focused data center development, plus introducing Built Together, a new investment program for data center communities. > [@](#): > > # **The race our nation can’t afford to lose, plus a new commitment from us and a fresh set of community investments** > > 1. [Company news](https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/tag/company-news) > 2. [Amazon Data Centers](https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/tag/amazon-data-centers) > 3. [Sustainability](https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/tag/sustainability) > 4. [Community](https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/tag/community) > 5. [Job creation and investment](https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/tag/job-creation-and-investment) > > **Share** > > ![A data center employee handling wires inside a data center.](https://assets.aboutamazon.com/12/26/200746cc4971855f5828ce07fb38/amazondatacenteremployee-hero-amazonnews-ck92926.png) > > ![Matt Garman](https://assets.aboutamazon.com/dims4/default/e7cd7be/2147483647/strip/true/crop/900x900+423+0/resize/84x84!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.aboutamazon.com%2F0e%2F7e%2F34cfe73148879d505487c638ed00%2Fabout-amazon-inline-matt-garman-9255-new.jpg) > > Written by **[Matt Garman](https://www.aboutamazon.com/author/matt-garman)**, CEO of Amazon Web Services > > Published:October 02, 2026 > > 12 min read > > One of the big lessons that the United States took from World War II was the need for national transportation infrastructure back at home. A system of interconnected highways, bridges, and roads was critical for national defense and would also provide much needed economic prosperity following the war. In 1956, the government began to build the National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, an infrastructure project larger than anything the country had seen since the railroads a century earlier—and paid for entirely with taxpayer money. > > The buildout of America’s modern transportation system transformed the U.S. economy and way of life, creating countless new businesses and jobs, and connecting communities in ways that reshaped how Americans lived and worked. Seventy years later, we’re in the midst of the largest infrastructure buildout since the highways—our digital infrastructure. The rapid adoption of the Internet starting in the late 1990s, and then cloud computing in the mid-2000s, changed the way we interact with information and services, and substantially lowered barriers for entrepreneurs, companies, and governments to provide new customer experiences. Today, virtually everything we do each day—shopping, banking, stock trading, ride hailing, booking travel, receiving healthcare, streaming entertainment, as well as critical research in everything from preventing and curing disease to finding ways to use less energy and natural resources—is digitally driven and enabled by data centers, which manage the computing, storage, and access necessary for these activities. In the last few years, there’s been a rapid acceleration of data center construction across the country with the advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI). > > ![A data center technician walking between server racks within a data center](https://assets.aboutamazon.com/dims4/default/b77f78d/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1600x900+0+0/resize/1320x743!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.aboutamazon.com%2F5c%2Fe0%2F98b5956c4b1d90fef37ecde1a932%2Fdatacenter-inline-amazonnews-ck92926.jpg) > > It’s still very early, yet AI is already transforming businesses, industries, and customer experiences in ways we couldn’t have imagined just a few years ago. AI will power the next generation of businesses, hospitals, schools, and other critical public services, as well as critical defense systems, intelligence analysis, cyber defense, and satellite operations—and new kinds of skilled jobs will be created to help make it all possible. Just like the national highway system, our country’s economy, national security, and everyday lives stand to benefit immensely. And, unlike the railroads and highways, this buildout is being financed without taxpayer money because private industry is picking up the tab. > > There is urgency to this data center buildout because we aren’t the only country that sees the benefits of AI for the economy and national security, and the countries that lead in AI will shape it and get the most from it in the short and long run. The choices we make today will determine that outcome, and a lapse in our nation’s focus or resolve could put us behind, and potentially irreparably so. > > With any change, there will be important questions raised, but there will also be misinformation and outright lies, and in the age of social media and 24/7 news, myths take hold faster than ever before. In fact, this build out is so important geopolitically that there are widespread reports of various countries intentionally seeding misinformation in the U.S. about data centers to trick us into slowing down. Right now there are over 100 data center moratoriums being considered across the country. If these measures are enacted, the U.S. could be writing its own losing ticket to this race, and the consequences would last generations. As a country, we can’t afford to find ourselves in that position. > > There are clearly areas in which the technology and energy industries can be doing better (along with their government partners) but just like in the past when the country has banded together to accomplish something that’s critical for our national security and economic prosperity—we should approach this as a long-term mission that the private and public sectors pursue together. > > ![An employee climbing a water tower](https://assets.aboutamazon.com/dims4/default/9e05734/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2000x1125+0+0/resize/1320x743!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.aboutamazon.com%2Fbf%2F19%2F637715e44a72b10c28c3ae1f8fca%2Fwatertower-in-hero-amazonnews-ck10126.png) > > Let’s start with some of the myths floating around, and then I’ll share a new commitment to build responsibly, and a new set of programs to benefit our data center communities. > > ## **Myths vs Facts** > > - > > ### **Myth #1: Data centers are taking all of our water.** > > **This is false.** Data centers actually use very little water relative to other industries. [Direct data center water consumption is about 0.5% of total](https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/sustainability/amazon-data-center-water-usage) U.S. direct industrial water use—orders of magnitude less than golf courses, almond farming, and many other industries. For instance, [U.S. golf courses alone use ~200x more water than all of Amazon’s data centers](https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/sustainability/amazon-data-centers-electricity-bills-water-use)—more in about two days than we use in a full year. And, in a recent study of major U.S. industries that collectively account for ~50% of U.S. industrial GDP, data centers ranked lowest in water withdrawals while delivering the highest economic value per gallon. > > One of the most common soundbites repeated about water is that a typical data center uses five million gallons per day. **This is also false.** The reality is that a typical data center uses, on average, about 170,000 gallons per day. And at Amazon, our average data center uses less than 13,000 gallons per day (the equivalent of just 42 U.S. households). > > ### **Myth #2: Data center providers are responsible for driving up all the energy rates.** > > **This is misleading and convenient scapegoating.** First, the facts: if you look across states with large numbers of data centers, costs have gone up in some (e.g., Illinois, New York), down in some (e.g., Indiana and Mississippi), and grown slower than the national average in places like Texas. In instances where energy rates are going up, it’s primarily because the grid is old and hasn’t been invested in and expanded before the demand arrived. [About 70% of the power lines were built over 25 years ago](https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/sustainability/data-centers-electricity-bills-grid-power-amazon), with many dating back to the 1960s and 1970s. The capacity and performance needed hasn’t scaled with the rapid growth of digital and AI demand, and the accelerated adoption of AI is precipitating a build-out that was destined to happen—it’s just happening faster than most folks imagined. And, once we collectively build out this new capacity, again funded by the private sector, it should lead to flat or lower rates in the future for residents living in communities with these expanded grids, which we’re already seeing in some states such as Mississippi, Georgia, and Indiana. For our data centers, we work directly with utilities to understand the funds that are necessary to support our projects (e.g., new transmission lines, substations, and other grid upgrades) and then ensure that the revenue we provide to the utility is sufficient to pay for these requirements. > > ### **Myth #3: Data centers emit huge amounts of pollution with their large backup diesel generators.** > > **This is also untrue.** Most of the services consumers, businesses, and governments rely on every day (e.g., 911 calls, stock markets, healthcare and banking apps, ride-hailing apps like Uber and Lyft, ChatGPT) depend on data centers functioning. As a result, data centers have backup power available in case of a power outage. Some do this through diesel generators that sit idle most of the year. However, when those generators are installed, companies need to get permits for the full potential emissions—what those generators would produce if they ran for the maximum hours under the permit. Critics then see those permits and say things like _“…the generators could emit up to 249.9 tons per year each of nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide and volatile organic compounds.”_ The truth is data center generators almost never run. They’re idle 99.9% of the time (they run roughly 10 hours per year, mostly for required maintenance testing). And even when backup generators do run, much of the industry now uses Tier 4 emission controls (the cleanest EPA emission standard), so annual NOx emissions from an average data center are the same as a single round trip flight from Seattle to London. > > ### **Myth #4: Community members get nothing from data centers.** > > **This is also false.** [Data centers bring considerable tax revenue, positive economic impact, large numbers of good jobs](https://www.aboutamazon.com/impact/amazon-united-states), education programs and other benefits to the communities where they’re built. Data center operators are often the single largest taxpayer in a community, with upfront payments routinely exceeding entire annual municipal budgets in the first year of construction, and long-term tax revenue often exceeding prior land use revenue by more than 1,000%. For example, in St. Joseph County, Indiana, the taxes Amazon will pay to the county are estimated to exceed $3 billion, while the prior use on the same land would have paid just $1.2 million over the same term. In [Montgomery County, Missouri](https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/company-news/amazon-data-center-missouri-new-jobs), our project will pay more than $1.8 billion in taxes over 25 years, while the prior use would have generated about $200,000 (0.01% of what we’ll pay in taxes) over the same period. A 2026 report by Mangum Economics for the Northern Virginia Technology Council estimates that without data center revenue, the average homeowner in Loudoun County, Virginia would pay additional property taxes of $5,800 per year. This new revenue from data centers often not only dramatically reduces the taxes paid by families, but it also funds investments in schools, fire and police departments, parks, roads, and other community services. This is on top of the direct investments most data center companies make to local organizations that are used to address issues most important to them, such as modernized emergency dispatch services, clean energy projects, and support for local food banks. Over the past three years, Amazon has contributed more than $1 billion to communities across the U.S. in which we have a meaningful data center presence. > > Additionally, thousands of construction jobs are created to build data centers. These jobs benefit families in these communities and are a boon for local small businesses. The average wages paid far exceed local and national medians, and the job numbers associated with these projects are typically very significant compared to the size of these communities. For example, in Madison County, Mississippi (population: 116,000), where we have two data center sites under construction, there are over 2,300 people currently employed in construction; and in Newton County, Georgia (population: 125,000), there are over 1,500 people currently employed. Many jobs are also created to operate a data center once it’s complete. For example, for the data centers in Madison County, we will employ over 1,700 people, and in Newton County, we will employ 400 people. And, we have over 20 education and workforce development programs to help ensure these jobs are available to people from the community, and over 10,000 learners and educators are participating in our programs across 15 data center regions. You can read more about those and our other education programs [here](https://www.aboutamazon.com/impact/amazon-future-ready). > > ![A teacher at Blue Mountain Community College working with students on the inside of a compmuter.](https://assets.aboutamazon.com/dims4/default/416c9fe/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1600x900+0+0/resize/1320x743!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.aboutamazon.com%2Fa4%2F85%2Ffbfadec345f58cb0e7e941dde70c%2Fblue-mountain-cc-inline-amazonnews-ck10126.png) > > ## **Our Data Center Commitment** > > We understand why there is apprehension in some communities where data centers are being built. While there is much we (and other data center operators) are already doing, we’ve decided to codify our practices into a series of tenets that we’re calling our “[Amazon Data Center Commitment](https://www.aboutamazon.com/impact/amazon-data-center-tenets)”. > > **1. Protecting & Enhancing Communities** > > - To ensure that our data centers do not raise electricity bills for people in our communities, we work with local utilities, regulators, policymakers, and grid operators to ensure that the energy prices we pay for our data centers are sufficient to cover both the energy and infrastructure improvements that may be required. > - We work with local officials to ensure our contributions to the local tax base are passed along to residents in the form of lower taxes and to improve schools, hospitals, fire and police departments, parks, roads, and other community services. > - We tailor our contributions to nonprofits and community organizations to address the needs that communities identify as most important to them, such as access to community college degrees, skills and job training, and energy and water preservation and affordability. > > **2. Providing Jobs & Economic Benefit** > > - We create thousands of skilled jobs between construction and long-term data center operations, supporting local families and helping local small businesses thrive. > - We pay nationally competitive wages that often exceed the local and national median, and provide healthcare benefits from day one on the job. > - We prioritize local hiring and procurement wherever possible, providing economic opportunity and impact to residents, local contractors and service providers. > > **3. Engaging Communities** > > - We no longer use nondisclosure agreements with the government agencies we work with on our projects. > - We host open houses in communities where we operate to share information about what we’re doing and encourage open dialogue. We share information about our plans as early as possible, listen to concerns, and ensure communities have the facts and the ability to engage with us as projects progress. > - We proactively share innovations in data center design, new material deployment, and cooling technology through our Sustainability Exchange to enable industry participants to benefit. > > **4. Building & Operating Responsibly** > > - We invest significantly in carbon-free energy to help our business and society transition toward a more sustainable future for our planet. Since 2019, we’re the largest corporate purchaser of carbon-free energy and have built by far the largest carbon-free energy portfolio of any company in the world. > - We have the most energy-efficient data centers, currently leading the industry with a 2025 global PUE (Power Usage Effectiveness) of 1.14. While this rating is better than both the industry average (1.25) and on-premises enterprise data centers (1.63), we plan to make continued progress in future years. > - We are committed to being water positive across our data centers by 2030, returning more water to communities than we use. As of 2025, Amazon was 75% of the way toward this goal, and our data centers were seven times more water-efficient than the industry average. > - We design our data center operations to at least meet local jurisdictional sound requirements at the perimeter of our site. > - We invest in energy grid and water system infrastructure upgrades that support local communities. We use non-potable, reclaimed, or brackish water in our facility design wherever possible. > - We will utilize backup generators in new sites that meet the EPA’s Tier 4 emissions standards (the cleanest EPA emission standard) or the equivalent standards in other regions. > - We will publish our energy use, energy efficiency, water use, water efficiency, and the percent of energy from carbon free resources for the public to review on an annual basis. > > ![Locals interact with Amazon volunteers at the Louisa County Fair](https://assets.aboutamazon.com/dims4/default/e4110f5/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1600x902+0+0/resize/1318x743!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.aboutamazon.com%2F6c%2Fe2%2F57c2fd6f46aaa2c724e975d1aa15%2Fbee2.png) > > ## **New Community Program, “Built Together”** > > We’re also announcing today “[Built Together](https://amazon.com/builttogether)”—our new community investment framework for data center communities, starting in the U.S. With Built Together, Amazon will add more than $1 billion over the next five years to what we’re already doing—with communities in the driver’s seat to determine what’s most useful for them across education, job training, energy affordability, water and energy preservation, and local priorities. The program is organized around three pillars that communities told us matter most: > > **Education and Workforce Pathways:** Amazon is investing in free community college and hands-on workforce training for residents of our data center communities. Residents can pursue a certificate or associate’s degree in a high-demand field to increase job readiness for in-demand careers, including: electricians, HVAC experts, fiber opticians, IT, healthcare, education, public safety, and advanced manufacturing—all at zero out-of-pocket cost to students with Amazon covering financial gaps (out-of-pocket costs after aid). We have started to establish agreements with local community colleges and plan to launch the program in the next few months. Over the next five years, we estimate that we will connect over 300,000 students to free degree access in data center communities. > > We are also expanding our network of Modular Training Centers (MTC)—physical training facilities located on or near data center sites that provide free certification programs in skilled trades with direct pathways to employment at Amazon and our construction partners. Each center includes classroom spaces with specialized equipment (e.g., electrical trainers, fiber splicers), simulated data center environments (mechanical galleries, data halls), and outside-plant training yards with fiber vaults, utility poles, and heavy machinery. Each MTC trains approximately 2,000–4,000 learners per year across certification programs ranging from 4 to 16 weeks in skills for in-demand jobs. Today, we operate three MTCs, six more are under development, and we are planning to build an additional 16 for deployment in data center communities under this new investment. By the end of 2028, through these centers we plan to prepare up to 100,000 workers annually for real jobs in their hometowns—fully funded by Amazon. > > **Community Energy Affordability and Water Solutions:** In partnership with leading nonprofits, local utilities, and state energy offices, we will make available grants for energy efficiency upgrades to K–12 schools, community buildings (fire/police, nonprofits, other publicly owned buildings), and single/multifamily homeowners in counties where we have data centers. This funding will help cover costs to install heat pumps and HVAC systems, insulation, water heaters, batteries, solar installations, and other improvements that aim to reduce monthly energy bills by 20–40% year after year. Over the next five years, this program targets upgrades for more than 300 schools and community buildings and over 30,000 homes (saving approximately $700 per household annually). And there’s an opportunity for further savings because when buildings invest in energy and water efficiency updates they often qualify for additional incentives and rebates at the local, state, and federal levels. We plan to roll this new program out across our data center communities in the coming months. > > We’ve also contracted for over [65 water projects](https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/sustainability/amazon-water-conservation-replenishment-sustainability) in communities near our operations around the world that are expected to return more than 8 billion gallons of water annually for use by local communities—more than double what Amazon used in our data centers in 2025. We return local water supply through replenishment projects in partnership with dozens of local and national NGOs and water technology partners. > > \*\*Community Investment—Flexible Funding for Local Priorities with Communities in the Lead: \*\*Every community is different. What matters most in rural Oregon is not the same as what matters in suburban Virginia or a mid-size city in Ohio. Amazon is partnering with local nonprofit organizations and community foundations across the country to provide millions of dollars per year in each community, in collaboration with local organizations and residents, to ensure funds are directed toward the investments communities identify as highest priority—including roads, parks and athletic facilities, fire department equipment, affordable housing, food security, school enhancements, disaster preparedness, and community events. Working with county officials and trusted community organizations, we will identify the highest-impact investments and provide annual funding with transparent reporting on outcomes. This is not Amazon deciding what communities need—it is Amazon providing resources and letting communities decide. > > This is just the start and we’re going to keep at it—doing our part to build responsibly and with the communities with whom we partner. We’re building our future, together. > > **Related stories** > > 1. [Amazon’s water conservation and replenishment efforts around the world](https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/sustainability/amazon-water-conservation-replenishment-sustainability?utm_medium=trending_module) > 2. [Amazon’s carbon-free energy projects contribute $11 billion to US GDP, support nearly 22,000 jobs in local communities](https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/sustainability/amazon-carbon-free-energy-economic-impact-study-2026?utm_medium=trending_module) > 3. [Amazon raises minimum starting pay for full-time core operations employees to $20/hour, with average pay reaching nearly $24/hour](https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/workplace/amazon-raises-minimum-starting-pay-adds-grocery-banking-benefits?utm_medium=trending_module) > 4. [Amazon and Wiwynn announce expansion of advanced manufacturing facility in Texas, creating nearly 1,000 jobs and boosting the US supply chain](https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/company-news/amazon-wiwynn-data-center-manufacturing-jobs-texas?utm_medium=trending_module) > > * * * > > Related Tags > > 1. [Company news](https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/tag/company-news) > 2. [Amazon Data Centers](https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/tag/amazon-data-centers) > 3. [Sustainability](https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/tag/sustainability) > 4. [Community](https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/tag/community) > 5. [Job creation and investment](https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/tag/job-creation-and-investment) An interesting read… ---
**Author:** ![Tallytony](https://sellersasksellers.com/user_avatar/sellersasksellers.com/tallytony/32/29_2.png) [@Tallytony](https://sellersasksellers.com/u/Tallytony)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2026, 2:22pm UTC](https://sellersasksellers.com/t/the-race-our-nation-can-t-afford-to-lose-plus-a-new-commitment-from-us-and-a-fresh-set-of-community-investments/7605/2 "2026-10-02T14:22:37Z")
Amazon owns approximately 20% of Anthropic, not to mention all the web services that is using and developing on their own. I believe that the mag-7 will continue to dominate the stock market for at the very least the next 5-10 years. Companies like Sandisk or MU will certainly rake cash, but the big’uns will try to control the monopoly on the software. It will be interesting to see how the “shovels” of this gold rush (hardware and power) will fair, but I do believe that the Mag-7 will continue to be the real big players. I also believe that Palantir may become an extremely powerful arm of big-brother, and that does scare the living heck out of me. ---
**Author:** ![joebcrafts](https://sellersasksellers.com/user_avatar/sellersasksellers.com/joebcrafts/32/488_2.png) [@joebcrafts](https://sellersasksellers.com/u/joebcrafts)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2026, 2:24pm UTC](https://sellersasksellers.com/t/the-race-our-nation-can-t-afford-to-lose-plus-a-new-commitment-from-us-and-a-fresh-set-of-community-investments/7605/3 "2026-10-02T14:24:21Z")
> finding ways to use less energy and natural resources—is digitally driven and enabled by data centers Maybe we shouldn’t be using AI to do SO MUCH random BS? ---
**Author:** ![Picks\_by\_Nisha](https://sellersasksellers.com/user_avatar/sellersasksellers.com/picks_by_nisha/32/1367_2.png) [@Picks\_by\_Nisha](https://sellersasksellers.com/u/Picks_by_Nisha)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2026, 4:49pm UTC](https://sellersasksellers.com/t/the-race-our-nation-can-t-afford-to-lose-plus-a-new-commitment-from-us-and-a-fresh-set-of-community-investments/7605/4 "2026-10-02T16:49:18Z")
> [@joebcrafts](#): > > Maybe we shouldn’t be using AI to do SO MUCH random BS? What? Are you saying that my having to wait to print a shipping label because the AI needs time to generate a “summary” isn’t a good thing??? ---
**Author:** ![Lost\_My\_Marbles](https://sellersasksellers.com/user_avatar/sellersasksellers.com/lost_my_marbles/32/2919_2.png) [@Lost\_My\_Marbles](https://sellersasksellers.com/u/Lost_My_Marbles)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2026, 5:45pm UTC](https://sellersasksellers.com/t/the-race-our-nation-can-t-afford-to-lose-plus-a-new-commitment-from-us-and-a-fresh-set-of-community-investments/7605/5 "2026-10-02T17:45:56Z")
> [@Picks\_by\_Nisha](#): > > Are you saying that my having to wait to print a shipping label because the AI needs time to generate a “summary” isn’t a good thing??? Well … when it’s our time to print, it’s our time to print … you’ll just have to wait your turn. > **School Yard Summary ...** > > Our AI is faster than your AI … naw naw naw … naw naw … naw > 😏 ---
**Author:** ![rms](https://sellersasksellers.com/user_avatar/sellersasksellers.com/rms/32/2841_2.png) [@rms](https://sellersasksellers.com/u/rms)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2026, 6:06pm UTC](https://sellersasksellers.com/t/the-race-our-nation-can-t-afford-to-lose-plus-a-new-commitment-from-us-and-a-fresh-set-of-community-investments/7605/6 "2026-10-02T18:06:10Z")
I thought this looked familiar. I have already seen it this morning. It is getting pushed on lots aggregator web sites. [https://www.realclearpolitics.com/](https://www.realclearpolitics.com/) Maybe they will use all of this computing power to fix the catalog. \<=Garman, look here! ---
**Author:** ![TEXASEXILEBOOKS](https://sellersasksellers.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@TEXASEXILEBOOKS](https://sellersasksellers.com/u/TEXASEXILEBOOKS)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2026, 6:53pm UTC](https://sellersasksellers.com/t/the-race-our-nation-can-t-afford-to-lose-plus-a-new-commitment-from-us-and-a-fresh-set-of-community-investments/7605/7 "2026-10-02T18:53:06Z")
Interesting but seemingly biased. Is anyone surprised. It’s AMAZON, after all. Frankly, if it so important to the nation(and the companies), let the companies pay for the water/ power!! Right now, seems the surrounding communities are paying for the improvements. Which makes the little guys(Taxpayers like you and me, resentful as h—) In a burb near ours(Marana, AZ), they are redoing a prison to put deportees temporarily, which seems okay since the federal detention center was already there (makes the rate-payers wary, though). The sticking point is the new data center which has nothing to do w/ the detention center but was passed by the coucil at about the same time, Now there are vociferous complaints. They’re talking recalls, payoffs, which is a possibility since land is being used that the mayor and his supporters own. No benefits to the community yet, just water use that the area doesn’t have since at the edge of the Sonoran desert-and suddent rises in utitlity bills. Arizonans, unlike states like TX, doesn’t have the ability to shop for better utitlity rates. You’re stuck w/ a utitlity company forever! ---
**Author:** ![Lost\_My\_Marbles](https://sellersasksellers.com/user_avatar/sellersasksellers.com/lost_my_marbles/32/2919_2.png) [@Lost\_My\_Marbles](https://sellersasksellers.com/u/Lost_My_Marbles)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2026, 7:11pm UTC](https://sellersasksellers.com/t/the-race-our-nation-can-t-afford-to-lose-plus-a-new-commitment-from-us-and-a-fresh-set-of-community-investments/7605/8 "2026-10-02T19:11:24Z")
> [@TEXASEXILEBOOKS](#): > > Right now, seems the surrounding communities are paying for the improvements. There is a community not far from us (south plains of Texas panhandle) where the data center going in is updating the town’s water system including the water tower and water lines in the city. It was on the news as an example of where a data center is helping the community as part of the investment of building the data center in their town. The push is to get more data centers doing this as part of their investment on a regular and normal process. ---
**Author:** ![TEXASEXILEBOOKS](https://sellersasksellers.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@TEXASEXILEBOOKS](https://sellersasksellers.com/u/TEXASEXILEBOOKS)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2026, 7:49pm UTC](https://sellersasksellers.com/t/the-race-our-nation-can-t-afford-to-lose-plus-a-new-commitment-from-us-and-a-fresh-set-of-community-investments/7605/9 "2026-10-02T19:49:43Z")
I’m as patriotic as the next person!!! Daughter, step-daughter, wife and mom–in-law of veterans. Don’t appreciate AMAZON intimating that those who don’t support data centers aren’t patriotic!!! 😶 😏 😬 Because don’t want data centers built next door. going to allow America to back-slide into a 2nd rate power? Gotta agree to allow corporate behemoths to use precious resources without paying their fair share?. Vanderbilt, Carnagie, Stanford. John D. Rockefeller. Heard of them? Sounds like the same kinda PR garbage they used to bulldoze 19th/early 20th century folks(plus federal/local governments of the era) into agreeing w/ them! Arguments may be slightly different, little more sophisticated for a 21st century audience, but remarkably similar. ---
**Author:** ![VTR](https://sellersasksellers.com/user_avatar/sellersasksellers.com/vtr/32/14279_2.png) [@VTR](https://sellersasksellers.com/u/VTR)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2026, 7:53pm UTC](https://sellersasksellers.com/t/the-race-our-nation-can-t-afford-to-lose-plus-a-new-commitment-from-us-and-a-fresh-set-of-community-investments/7605/10 "2026-10-02T19:53:18Z")
Come on now, they can’t be bad because the “free market” let them do it. ---
**Author:** ![VTR](https://sellersasksellers.com/user_avatar/sellersasksellers.com/vtr/32/14279_2.png) [@VTR](https://sellersasksellers.com/u/VTR)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2026, 7:57pm UTC](https://sellersasksellers.com/t/the-race-our-nation-can-t-afford-to-lose-plus-a-new-commitment-from-us-and-a-fresh-set-of-community-investments/7605/11 "2026-10-02T19:57:19Z")
There is also the problem that they have to put these things near population and educational centers because you cannot exactly have luddites operating them. Replacing a server rack may not be a PHD in electrical engineering, but its more than 6 months at the community college learning to weld, or breed goats. ---
**Author:** ![TEXASEXILEBOOKS](https://sellersasksellers.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@TEXASEXILEBOOKS](https://sellersasksellers.com/u/TEXASEXILEBOOKS)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2026, 8:17pm UTC](https://sellersasksellers.com/t/the-race-our-nation-can-t-afford-to-lose-plus-a-new-commitment-from-us-and-a-fresh-set-of-community-investments/7605/12 "2026-10-02T20:17:02Z")
As someone who grew-up in a rural era. there were plenty of highly skilled technicians/ engineers in our area, which was approc/-20-30 miles from the “Golden Triangle”(Beaumont/Orange/Port Arthur, TX). About a dozen refineries, several synthetic rubber/petro-chemical plants located along the Sabine River/coastal Texas.A 90 minute drive from Houston. Everyone’s parents commuted to these jobs, which were highly paid for the time. Even now, BP is buiding a huge new plant near Orange, TX/ . True, almost everyone in the area died/still dies of some sort of cancer or respiratory ills. There’s always a trade-off. Don’t know what the data centers will be–yet. ---
**Author:** ![VTR](https://sellersasksellers.com/user_avatar/sellersasksellers.com/vtr/32/14279_2.png) [@VTR](https://sellersasksellers.com/u/VTR)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2026, 8:31pm UTC](https://sellersasksellers.com/t/the-race-our-nation-can-t-afford-to-lose-plus-a-new-commitment-from-us-and-a-fresh-set-of-community-investments/7605/13 "2026-10-02T20:31:46Z")
I was referring to counties and half states in geography with a population of less than 5000 people. An example would be between Elko and Winnemucca Nv, Hemett Ca., Hobart Ok. and our old wood chip producer friend in Springview Ne. with a county population less than 800. Labor pools are just a basic thing when you get lower populations, and tech jobs are typically not something one learns outside of formal training locations at either schools or similar industry employers. Your example is the industry going where the raw materials are. Production or refinement are located at either where the oil is, or where it is consumed/shipped. That is why there are no lumber mills in the desert. ---
**Author:** ![selg](https://sellersasksellers.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/eb8c5e/32.png) [@selg](https://sellersasksellers.com/u/selg)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2026, 9:13pm UTC](https://sellersasksellers.com/t/the-race-our-nation-can-t-afford-to-lose-plus-a-new-commitment-from-us-and-a-fresh-set-of-community-investments/7605/14 "2026-10-02T21:13:12Z")
Your comment brings me back to a few years ago reports of the fracking industry in North Dakota. There were jobs to be had, and people who could do the work flocked there in mobs. I am not sure what has happened since then, but might the same thing take place with people moving for jobs in new industries, such as the construction and manning of data centers? ---
**Author:** ![Pepper\_Thine\_Angus](https://sellersasksellers.com/user_avatar/sellersasksellers.com/pepper_thine_angus/32/56_2.png) [@Pepper\_Thine\_Angus](https://sellersasksellers.com/u/Pepper_Thine_Angus)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2026, 9:33pm UTC](https://sellersasksellers.com/t/the-race-our-nation-can-t-afford-to-lose-plus-a-new-commitment-from-us-and-a-fresh-set-of-community-investments/7605/15 "2026-10-02T21:33:08Z")
Yeah this blog post isn’t going down they way Amazon wants it to in local news stories. ---
**Author:** ![VTR](https://sellersasksellers.com/user_avatar/sellersasksellers.com/vtr/32/14279_2.png) [@VTR](https://sellersasksellers.com/u/VTR)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2026, 9:33pm UTC](https://sellersasksellers.com/t/the-race-our-nation-can-t-afford-to-lose-plus-a-new-commitment-from-us-and-a-fresh-set-of-community-investments/7605/16 "2026-10-02T21:33:34Z")
> [@selg](#): > > Your comment brings me back to a few years ago reports of the fracking industry in North Dakota. I seem to remember the locals enjoyed the financial windfall on their tax base, but were not happy with the pollution, population density changes, violent crime, drugs, housing shortages, and all the other NIMBY concerns that come with small town life converting to a city. > [@selg](#): > > I am not sure what has happened since then, but might the same thing take place with people moving for jobs in new industries, such as the construction and manning of data centers? Well, the core issue is that data centers need the same resources as cities, in regards to power and water, and people, so its a catch 22. The oil business came for the oil and piped it away. Data centers either come for water or electricity, which is not as geographically locked. I think its a one and done thing, just like the oil field jobs. Like the wells, once the data centers are built, the demand for labor will decrease as construction is the biggest employer of a data center, not operations, as far as I know or understand about either oil or data centers. ---
**Author:** ![TEXASEXILEBOOKS](https://sellersasksellers.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@TEXASEXILEBOOKS](https://sellersasksellers.com/u/TEXASEXILEBOOKS)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2026, 9:37pm UTC](https://sellersasksellers.com/t/the-race-our-nation-can-t-afford-to-lose-plus-a-new-commitment-from-us-and-a-fresh-set-of-community-investments/7605/17 "2026-10-02T21:37:21Z")
I’m as patriotic as the next person!!! Daughter, step-daughter, wife and mom–in-law of veterans. Don’t appreciate AMAZON intimating that those who don’t support data centers aren’t patriotic!!! 😶 😏 😬 Because don’t want a data center built next door. going to let the country back-slide into a 2nd rate power? Gotta agree to allow corpaorate behemoths use precious resources without paying their fair share. Sounds like the same kinda garbage Vanderbilt, Rockafeller . . ---
**Author:** ![VTR](https://sellersasksellers.com/user_avatar/sellersasksellers.com/vtr/32/14279_2.png) [@VTR](https://sellersasksellers.com/u/VTR)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2026, 9:48pm UTC](https://sellersasksellers.com/t/the-race-our-nation-can-t-afford-to-lose-plus-a-new-commitment-from-us-and-a-fresh-set-of-community-investments/7605/18 "2026-10-02T21:48:41Z")
> [@TEXASEXILEBOOKS](#): > > Gotta agree to allow corpaorate behemoths use precious resources without paying their fair share. This is the rub right here. Nobody believes they will pay their fair share. It is a common theme across the nation on various corporate fronts. Crony capitalism has taken over and people have been sold that it has to be this way because money is speech. Thanks America. ---
**Author:** ![VTR](https://sellersasksellers.com/user_avatar/sellersasksellers.com/vtr/32/14279_2.png) [@VTR](https://sellersasksellers.com/u/VTR)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2026, 9:53pm UTC](https://sellersasksellers.com/t/the-race-our-nation-can-t-afford-to-lose-plus-a-new-commitment-from-us-and-a-fresh-set-of-community-investments/7605/19 "2026-10-02T21:53:54Z")
Am I the only one who noticed there was not a single use of “Super Intelligence” or “SI” in the article?? ROFLOL. ---
**Author:** ![lake](https://sellersasksellers.com/user_avatar/sellersasksellers.com/lake/32/66_2.png) [@lake](https://sellersasksellers.com/u/lake)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2026, 10:21pm UTC](https://sellersasksellers.com/t/the-race-our-nation-can-t-afford-to-lose-plus-a-new-commitment-from-us-and-a-fresh-set-of-community-investments/7605/20 "2026-10-02T22:21:13Z")
> [@TEXASEXILEBOOKS](#): > > there were plenty of highly skilled technicians/ engineers in our area, which was approc/-20-30 miles from the “Golden Triangle”(Beaumont/Orange/Port Arthur, TX). I made my fortune, such as it is, running a small company (wife and me) which provided IP related equipment, which were common in other enviornments, packaged into kits with documentation for the technical people in the process control industries to use in expanding, enhancing and maintaining refineries, paper mills, nuclear power plants, water works and other important pieces of our infrastructure. There were skilled technical people in those plants but the bulk of their skills were in the equipment which performed the functions, and the measurement devices, not in processing data, When I worked for a computer manufacturer who supplied minicomputers which were used in many of these facilities, it was constant problem when we introduced new models. The process control users and their systems integratora were resistant to change, and often were 15 years behind the state of the art. In my consulting years I helped a major systems provider create its new generation of state of the art process control systems. My business was a direct result of that effort and took advantage of the opportunity to provide do it yourself enhancements to those systems. There were always strong technical people in those industries, but their focus and depth of knowledge was different. I think that we cannot afford to ignore the AI challange, and will be lucky if it only causes as much damage as the internet has. The presence of the refineries, water purification plants, and other sensitive industries on the public internet is a danger which we lack appropriate defenses for. As the breaches in systems by foreign bad actors recently have made obvious. A worst case scenario would be enhanced use of AI to exploit the existing vulnerabilities. We may be dealing with a Hobson’s Choice [Next page](https://sellersasksellers.com/t/the-race-our-nation-can-t-afford-to-lose-plus-a-new-commitment-from-us-and-a-fresh-set-of-community-investments/7605.md?page=2)