Update 12:15 p.m. April 27: We’ve added more questions and answers, based on input we received from you, our readers. New questions are noted in red. You can continue to send us questions using the Google form below.
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Ever since the first murmurings that a data center would be built in the Roanoke Valley, residents have had lots of questions about the campus that Google plans to build in Botetourt County.
Cardinal News is working to provide answers to your questions, using information from the county, the Western Virginia Water Authority, public notices and interviews with involved parties.
We’ll continue to update this list with more answers as we receive more questions from readers, and as more information about Google’s project becomes available.
[Disclosure: Google is one of our donors, but donors have no say in news decisions; see our policy.]
To submit a question, use this Google form:
Table of contents
The project
Q: Who owns the land? How big will the data center be?
A: On June 20, Google closed a $14 million deal with Botetourt County for 312 acres in Greenfield Industrial Park, where it plans to build a data center campus that will include three data centers, three substations, an office building, access roads, utilities, parking areas and stormwater management facilities, according to a March 10 Army Corps of Engineers notice soliciting public comment on the project.
Each of the three proposed data center buildings will cover about 300,000 square feet, the notice said.
The project will take most of the remaining available land at the 750-acre Greenfield center, which currently houses six other businesses and Botetourt County’s administrative offices.
The industrial park’s zoning was changed to allow data centers in November 2024.
<<NEW>> Q: How many full-time workers will the campus employ when the site is fully operational?
A: A Google spokesperson did not answer the question of how many employees the data center campus would employ.
Botetourt County’s webpage on the project says that the project will create up to 1,000 temporary construction jobs “at peak,” and that Google has committed to “no fewer than 50 high-paying positions” at each of the three data centers.
Q: When is the work actually going to start?
A: Google said in late March that it hopes to break ground on the project this spring or summer. Amber Tillman, head of data center public affairs with Google, said in an interview that it takes 18 to 24 months to construct a data center and that this project will be completed in phases as resources become available.
Google representatives did not respond to questions about when the company expects the first part of the project to come online.
<<NEW>> Q: What permits are required for the project?
Greg Weatherford, director of information resources with the Virginia State Corporation Commission, said that speaking very generally, Google will likely file the kinds of permits you’d expect any business coming into a new area to need: fire code permits, water permits, environmental permits, electrical agreements, building and structural permits, and more.
The difference with a project this size, he said, would be the scale. Google will request a lot of the same utilities that other companies would need — such as water and electricity — but at a far larger scale.
He said the SCC mostly deals with certificates of public convenience and necessity, or CPCNs, for when a company wants to put in a transmission line to connect to the power supply.
Because Google has said it plans to build substations, that suggests the company would also need to connect to new transmission lines, he said.
In order to do that, he said Google would need to submit a petition to the SCC to request a transmission line. The petition would be reviewed by the commission and staff, and a judge would issue an order for notice of a hearing. Any groups that are involved would need to request to be a part of the case at that time — Weatherford said the office of the attorney general’s consumer counsel almost always plays a part at this stage.
A hearing would then be held at the SCC offices to hear evidence as to whether a transmission line would make sense or if it could cause problems, he said.
At that point, the SCC would decide whether to issue a certificate of public need.
“That’s the beginning, middle and end of the role of the SCC itself in cases like this,” Weatherford said, if Google is in fact requesting a transmission line.
<<NEW>> Q: How close to Etzler Road are the proposed buildings? Will there be additional access roads built or will entry be only from International Parkway off of U.S. 220?
A: A Google representative did not respond to questions regarding additional access roads associated with the project.
The Army Corps of Engineers Norfolk District public notice does note that the data center campus would include building access roads, utilities, stormwater management facilities and parking areas in addition to the three data centers, substations and an office building.
Linked at the bottom of that public notice is a map of the site that seems to show the project buildings nearing, but not overlapping with, Etzler Road. It appears that the site will extend to U.S. 220.
<<NEW>> Q: Will a buffer of trees be left to limit sound from the industrial park?
A: Gary Larrowe, Botetourt County administrator, said via email that there is a 100-foot buffer around the site from the property line, where nothing will be built. To the northwest of the site is a 200-foot “good neighbor” buffer of the same nature, he said.
“This was done well before there was any interest from Google as a way to assist some adjoining landowners several years ago,” he said.
Water
Q: Where is the water coming from?
A: The water, at least for the first stage of the project, will be pulled from Carvins Cove, one of the four reservoirs that supply Franklin, Botetourt and Roanoke counties; the city of Roanoke; and the towns of Boones Mill and Vinton with water through the Western Virginia Water Authority.
Botetourt County and Google both said they have committed to financing long-range water supply studies that the water authority would conduct, and to exploring options such as additional water sources and water reuse.
Q: Why does the project need water? Are there other options?
A: Data centers use water to cool their equipment. Some data centers use non-potable water, and air can also be used as an alternative — although Mac Scothorn, chairman of the Botetourt County Board of Supervisors, said cooling by air can be noisier than by water.
Amber Tillman, head of data center public affairs with Google, said that the company will do what is most energy efficient as far as cooling equipment.
The water available at the site contains a low level of total dissolved solids, meaning that it can be recirculated through the cooling system multiple times, reducing the total amount of water needed, according to Google.
Q: How much water will the project use?
A: An agreement between Botetourt and the Western Virginia Water Authority states that an estimated two million gallons of water could be used per day in the beginning of the project, and with potential expansions of the project, rise up to eight million gallons per day. The Google data center will become the water authority’s largest customer, Mike McEvoy, the authority’s executive director, said last year.
The Carvins Cove Water Treatment Facility produces about 10 million to 12 million gallons of water per day, with the capacity to treat 24 million gallons per day, Sarah Baumgardner, spokesperson for the water authority, said via email. With all its water sources combined, the water authority has the capacity to treat 56 million gallons of water per day.
Mac Scothorn, chairman of the Botetourt County Board of Supervisors, said during a March 18 interview that the chances of Google using two million gallons of water per day is “pretty low,” and that the estimate would be during the “hottest, most extreme” temperatures.
Botetourt’s website echoes that, stating that Google has “reserved” two million gallons per day, with the understanding that actual daily water use would more often be lower than that reserved capacity.
<<NEW>> Q: Can the water be reused after it cools the equipment?
A: Because the water at the site contains a low level of total dissolved solids, it can be recirculated through the cooling system multiple times, according to a Google spokesperson.
Sarah Baumgardner, spokesperson with the Western Virginia Water Authority, said Google expects to recycle the water three to five times before discharging the used water to the authority’s sanitary sewer system for treatment at the Roanoke Regional Water Pollution Control Plant.
She said this will be done through a permit from the water authority that will include wastewater testing requirements. Though the water will increase in temperature as it’s used to cool down equipment, Baumgardner said the authority expects the discharged water to be less than 80 degrees Fahrenheit — the authority does not allow for wastewater discharges with temperatures over 104 degrees Fahrenheit.
Q: Will I still be able to access water from a private well?
A: Yes — Botetourt County’s website says that private, residential and agricultural wells in the county are not connected to Carvins Cove.
Wells draw water from groundwater aquifers, the site says, which are filled with rainfall that absorbs directly into the ground beneath your home or business.
On the other hand, Carvins Cove is supplied by surface rainfall, which runs off from surrounding mountains and streams, the site said. Both systems function independently, the site says, and respond differently to rainfall.
The water from Carvins Cove, not from groundwater aquifers, will be used for the Google project.
Q: Why is the county looking into other sources of water?
A: Water supply planning is done decades in advance of new systems coming online, and requires a lot of money and regional cooperation.
Mike McEvoy, executive director of the Western Virginia Water Authority, said last year that the authority anticipates needing an additional water source in the Roanoke Valley in about 35 years, whether or not Google had announced plans for a data center campus.
The water authority’s website says that the next update to the water supply plan is not due until 2029, but that staff are working on it now.
With Google coming in, the authority decided it was a good idea to start planning early, McEvoy said, as more money will be available from data center tax revenues and from the tech company.
Amber Tillman, head of data center public affairs with Google, said the company will support ongoing research at Virginia Tech to study watershed health and improvements to support the regional water supply, in partnership with the water authority.
<<NEW>> Q: Would Google’s water usage be altered in case of a drought? What about other customers of the water authority?
A: Sarah Baumgardner, spokesperson for the Western Virginia Water Authority, said the valley has “significant water storage volume” in area reservoirs and a number of water sources, including both surface and groundwater supplies.
In the last 21 years that the water authority has managed the valley’s water supply, which has included periodic droughts, its drought contingency plan has never been activated, Baumgardner said.
In an extreme multiyear drought, the water authority would “continue to balance water withdrawal from our current multiple sources” while asking customers to follow steps outlined in the contingency plan, she said.
That includes Google, Baumgardner said. “There isn’t a special designation for Google or anyone else.”
That plan, which was written in 2007, includes four operating levels: normal, voluntary, mandatory and emergency, based on the water levels at Carvins Cove.
Baumgardner said as of April 22, the Carvins Cove reservoir level was at 9.5 feet below full pond, representing 76.9% of its capacity. The region hasn’t seen much rain in weeks.
For “voluntary conservation” to be triggered in the plan, she said, the reservoir level would need to be about 16 feet below full pond. Voluntary conservation steps ask customers to voluntarily lessen their outdoor and indoor water usage.
“In fact, by storing water that was received from previous precipitation events, the reservoir is doing exactly as it should be doing as our area enters the drought phases noted by DEQ and the National Drought Monitoring group,” she said.
Baumgardner said residents who use private wells, which aren’t a part of the water authority, would follow guidelines from the Virginia Department of Health or the Department of Environmental Quality in case of a drought.
She also said that during a drought, water would not be pulled from creeks or smaller bodies of water nearby.
Environment and energy
Q: What environmental impacts will the project have?
A: The project is expected to have environmental impacts, but it’s unclear at this time what those might be.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Norfolk District received a permit application from Google for “Project Raspberry” — the data center project — and has solicited comments from the public regarding the work in a March public notice. The notice includes environmental information from Google that has not been verified or evaluated to ensure code compliance yet.
According to the notice, the project would result in “permanent impacts” to about 3 acres of non-tidal wetlands and almost 7,000 linear feet of stream channel associated with site grading and construction of infrastructure.
The notice also said that Google estimates requiring five wetland mitigation credits and 7,000 stream mitigation credits.
Through the Virginia Wetland Restoration Trust Fund program, which is coadministered with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Nature Conservancy and the Virginia DEQ, developers may purchase mitigation credits to offset environmental impacts from their projects. The Nature Conservancy then uses those funds for large-scale restoration and preservation projects in areas deemed high-priority for conservation.
The public notice says that the project would include removal of about 120 acres of forested habitat within the range of the Indiana bat, an endangered species.
Although there are no known habitats within a half-mile of the project area, the public notice says Google has committed to a restriction that would require all tree clearing to be between Oct. 15 and March 31, to comply with federal rules designed to protect roosting bats. The Corps, the notice says, determined the project “may affect” but is “not likely to adversely affect” the Indiana bat.
A water quality certification may be required by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, in which case an administrator is responsible for determining whether discharge from the facility may affect water quality in a neighboring jurisdiction.
Q: How much energy will the project use? And where will the energy come from?
A: A Google spokesperson said the company does not share full site energy capacity. But we do know that in 2024, Google announced plans to buy all of the power generated by the Rocky Forge wind farm in Botetourt County.
The Google spokesperson said in late March that the 79 megawatts provided by that wind farm will not cover the full capacity needed for the data center campus.
Costs and revenue
<<NEW>> Q: Did the county not have to disclose information about the data center before it was purchased?
A: Bringing a major tech company into a community is a “delicate dance,” Botetourt County Administrator Gary Larrowe said in an email. He said the same process was used in the Google deal as with other corporations that come to the county, which involved a nondisclosure agreement, or NDA, that Larrowe said acts as the “safety rail” for the process.
When asked who signed the NDA, Larrowe said “anyone who needed to be in the know about the project” had to sign the agreement.
“While it might seem like unnecessary secrecy, there are several strategic and practical reasons why NDAs are standard operating procedure,” he said.
NDAs help a company maintain its competitive edge and avoid swings in stock prices due to rumors of a massive expansion or move, he said.
Larrowe said NDAs can prevent panic for employees who hear whispers of a move before anything is finalized. He also said that if information is released prematurely, the cost of “virtually everything goes up.”
Virginia state law also allows for local governments to go into closed session to discuss economic development projects.
<<NEW>> Q: Will Google pay property taxes on the property?
A: Google will pay the same property tax rate as any other landowner in the county, said County Administrator Gary Larrowe: 70 cents per $100 of assessed value.
“Prior to the landsale, no property tax has been collected on the 312 acres since 1995 when the County purchased the property for an Industrial Park,” Larrowe wrote in an email.
<<NEW>> Q: Were there other businesses that attempted to buy the land in Greenfield before Google?
A: Larrowe said that several other businesses looked at the property, but a deterrent for these other companies was that the property wasn’t shovel-ready — it hadn’t been graded or otherwise prepared for a tenant.
To grade just a third of the 312 acres would have cost the county or the economic development authority an estimated $14 million to $20 million, Larrowe said.
He said it’s “another win” that Google will be covering the costs to grade the site.
Larrowe said at least one food establishment had looked to build on the land. The project would have employed as many as 2,500 people, but with a lower investment and at a lower salary base for those employees.
Q: Who is paying for the project?
A: Botetourt County and Google have agreed to pay for different parts of the infrastructure and future water supply planning.
In September, the Western Virginia Water Authority’s board of directors approved two agreements related to water infrastructure and future water supply.
An agreement with Botetourt County says the county will fund the authority to study and develop new water supply sources to ensure adequate water supply in the future. An agreement with Google states the company will pay for the authority to develop new water infrastructure solutions that are “sustainable,” according to the authority’s website.
According to the agreement with the county, Botetourt will be responsible for up to 100% of all costs of the water supply project, up to $100 million, and at lower percentages up to $400 million. Mike McEvoy, the authority’s executive director, said last year that the county could see costs like this if the need for a completely new reservoir arose.
Botetourt had to be the entity to sign the deal, but the county will now create a separate agreement with Google that lays out how the company will pay for a proportional amount of that cost, based on how much water it needs, County Administrator Gary Larrowe said. He said the board of supervisors will take up that agreement “as soon as possible” and that it is waiting on its attorney to take up that deal.
The agreement also lays out $8 million in specific, near-term payments by the county into a fund that would pay for the water authority to develop new water sources. The water authority’s website says the authority is studying “new water supplies and infrastructure improvements” through funding from both the county and Google.
A Google spokesperson said in late March that they had no new information to share on how much the project will cost in full.
In a press release issued in late March, Google said it is committed to paying 100% of the costs associated with powering the project and has agreed to pay for the infrastructure needed for the project. A Google spokesperson said it’s too early to say exactly what infrastructure is included in this commitment.
<<NEW>> Q: Since Carvins Cove exists for the benefit of other localities, too, how were those localities involved in this decision?
A: Other localities were not involved in Botetourt’s decision to sell the land to Google.
However, because Carvins Cove is a resource used by multiple localities in the region, there were conversations last year about whether or not Botetourt should share the tax revenue once the project is running and profitable.
In July, Roanoke Mayor Joe Cobb sent a letter to Botetourt County requesting that the county give the city 15% of the annual tax revenue generated by the future Google data center, citing the fact that the city contributed the water from Carvins Cove. He also noted that the area surrounding Carvins Cove, which is owned and maintained by the city, is an important recreational area, which would be impacted if water levels were to change.
Cobb’s request was that the county pay that amount until Botetourt was able to replace the water that was used by the project. Representatives in Roanoke County followed with a similar request.
Botetourt County has said it already has plans to replace the water, and the board of supervisors approved in July a study for water replacement.
At the time, Cobb said it seemed “odd” to him that the city only heard about the project in July when it had been in process for over a year.
Botetourt County Administrator Gary Larrowe said last year that the process was “never a secret” and that water authority board members would have been aware of these discussions, as well as members of the Roanoke Regional Partnership, if present at the economic development group’s meetings.
Botetourt County Board of Supervisors Chairman Mac Scothorn said in an interview that there are currently no discussions related to sharing the tax revenues that the county will collect from the project.
