Data center concerns top of mind at Fairbanks town hall

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (KTUU/KTVF) - About 150 Fairbanks residents gathered Thursday night at the Wedgewood Resort to learn more about potential data centers in Alaska and to share their opinions and concerns about the issue.

The event, hosted by the Northern Alaska Environmental Center, the nonprofit organization Families Over Billionaires and Native Movement (among others) started with a series of speakers from a variety of organizations, who raised concerns about data centers that are being proposed in the state.

Local and state legislators were counted among the attendees, including Scott Kawasaki, Maxine Dibert, Mike Prax and David Guttenberg.

Concerned resident Sarah Hollister, who helped to organize the event, said the concerns have been brought on about the news of data centers being built around the country.

“The main thing that brings everybody here today is just a concern about the data centers that could be coming into our community,” Hollister said. “Our largest concern is that nobody asked us. Nobody has contacted anyone in the community to ask them if it’s a good idea on the locations, what it could mean for our water, our electric grid, anything like that.”

Addressing the full turnout for the event, Hollister said it’s been a “hot topic” for the community.

“This is something that’s going to affect thousands of people.”

People raise concerns about light, air water and noise pollution and warming permafrost, in addition to general concerns with the effect of the increased use of Artificial Intelligence.

Speaking at the event, Krystal Lapp, Interim Executive Director with the Northern Alaska Environmental Center, highlighted the power of a community to come together without waiting for government to act.

“We don’t have all the answers and we’re not here to solve everything, but at the end of the day, if we can come together in community, I think we can make some waves,” Lapp said.

After presentations from the scheduled speakers, attendees lined up at a microphone to express a variety of views on data centers.

One speaker, Patrice Lee, encouraged attendees to make a plan for action on data centers, saying “it’s going to take all of us rowing in the boat.”

Randy Griffin expressed support for the building of AI data centers in Alaska.

“The reason is because every little bit of development helps our economic prowess here in Alaska, keeps people here with something to do,” Griffin said.

Saying he believes the concerns raised at the town hall should be addressed before a data center is built, Griffin recalled a visit to a data center outside Phoenix, Arizona, where he did not experience noise pollution.

Community member Aimee Moore, meanwhile, said she is neither for nor against data centers, and expressed gratitude for the information presented at the event.

“I fear that we may not be able to do much about controlling the ones they’re wanting to put on military installments, and that is a big concern because we are just going to be the victims and the families that live there are going to be the victims, long-term, of what’s happening there,” she said. “I would like to see regulations in place, very strict regulations put in place.”

See a spelling or grammar error? Report it to web@ktuu.com