The Dalles spent 13 months fighting to keep Google’s water use secret — then records showed the data center campus consumed roughly a third of the Oregon city’s supply

The Dalles spent 13 months fighting to keep Google’s water use secret — then records showed the data center campus consumed roughly a third of the Oregon city’s supply

The most revealing fact about Google’s water use in The Dalles is not just the size of the number. It is how difficult that number was for the public to obtain. The Oregon city did not spend two years fighting Google for access to the company’s records. According to reporting on the dispute, The Dalles sued The Oregonian to prevent the newspaper from obtaining information about Google’s water use. The legal fight lasted 13 months and ended in 20…