Redaction Error Exposes Google's Nebraska Data Center Power And Water Use
The error makes public the figures Google argued should stay secret, at a point when Nebraska is weighing water and power demands from its data centers.
Reporting from 1 source: GIGAZINE.
Google asked Nebraska's Department of Water, Energy and Environment to treat power and water usage at three data centers as trade secrets under state law and filed reports with those figures redacted. The redaction could be stripped by copying text into another document. The Lincoln report shows maximum power demand of 52.65 MW and about 13,299,000 gallons of water a year.
Nebraska requires data centers to file an annual report self-declaring water, electricity and infrastructure impact. Google cited Nebraska Revised Statutes Sections 81-1527 and 84-712.05, plus Title 115, Chapter 2 of the Nebraska Administrative Code, to seek trade secret treatment for power and water usage at all three of its Nebraska sites: Papillion, Omaha and Lincoln.
It was not the state that released the numbers. The covered text came out when the pages were copied into another document. The Lincoln data center, which began operating in 2026, used about 13,299,000 gallons for cooling towers, evaporation and facility operations, and reported a maximum power demand of 52.65 MW.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.