No buildout for billionaires. Here is what we know.
In May 2026, Avista disclosed in a federal securities filing that it had signed a nonbinding agreement with an unnamed corporation seeking up to 500 megawatts of electricity by 2032. That is equal to more than half the power used by every home and business in Spokane County. The public found out through a securities filing, not a public hearing. Community members organized immediately. The Spokane City Council passed a one-year emergency moratorium on data centers exceeding 25 megawatts. Avista paused negotiations.
Then more came out.
Source: Spokesman-Review, June 3, 2026 · Spokesman-Review, June 12, 2026Al French and Apricus Energy Partners
A commissioner had secret discussions for over a year.
While the public was only learning about the Avista deal in June 2026, Commissioner Al French had already been meeting privately for more than a year with Apricus Energy Partners, a company proposing to build a massive AI data center on 514 acres on the West Plains at 11703 W. Medical Lake Highway. The proposed facility could eventually use up to 1,000 megawatts of power, nearly the entire output of Avista's Washington and Idaho service area combined.
French did not disclose these discussions while the commission was publicly debating a moratorium on a separate unnamed company's deal with Avista. When asked, he said he felt no obligation to bring it up. "You could have just asked me. I'm not shy about it," he said.
Apricus Energy Partners was formed three years ago. It has fewer than 11 employees. It has no record of ever having built anything. Its founder originally incorporated the company in Arizona in 2023 and later listed a Spokane P.O. Box as its address. The documents revealing the West Plains location were uncovered not by a reporter or a government agency, but by a Spokane County resident who filed a public records request.
Source: Spokesman-Review, July 24, 2026 · Spokesman-Review, August 2, 2026The West Plains
A community already fighting for clean water.
The West Plains is not an abstract location on a map. It is a community of families, farms, and small operations whose well water has been contaminated with PFAS, so-called forever chemicals, from firefighting foam used at Fairchild Air Force Base and Spokane International Airport. The EPA tested 411 private wells in the area in 2024 and found that 57% contained PFAS levels exceeding safe drinking water standards. Residents have been dealing with this crisis since 2017.
Commissioner French says data centers on the West Plains would use wastewater rather than aquifer water. "So unless you drink water from the toilet, you're not going to be impacted by this," he said. The people of the West Plains, who have already had their water contaminated once while officials downplayed their concerns, may reasonably ask for more than a commissioner's word on that.
The county currently has no specific regulations covering data centers. The county's own planning director confirmed this at a commissioners meeting in July 2026.
Source: KXLY, February 2026 · KHQ · Spokesman-Review, July 22, 2026The Commission Split
Three Republicans blocked a moratorium. Two Democrats supported it.
Commissioners Chris Jordan and Amber Waldref proposed a nine-month moratorium to allow time for the county to develop proper regulations. Commissioner Mary Brooks opposed it. "When you say moratorium, I think it says we're closed for business," she said. Commissioners French and Kerns said they had quietly been developing their own zoning ordinance and opposed any pause. The vote was delayed. No moratorium has passed.
French and Kerns said their ordinance would define large-load data centers as 200 megawatts or more and limit them to heavy industrial zones. For context, Apricus proposed a facility using up to 1,000 megawatts. The unnamed Avista customer sought 500 megawatts. Both would exceed the 200 megawatt threshold under their own proposed definition.
The county's District 4 seat is on the November 3 ballot. The Republican candidate has said nothing publicly about data centers, the moratorium vote, or the West Plains.
Source: Spokesman-Review, July 22, 2026 · Range MediaOur Farms
Data centers are water competitors, not neighbors.
Spokane County's agricultural community depends on the same aquifer, the same power grid, and the same unincorporated land that hyperscale AI data centers are targeting. For farmers and ranchers on the West Plains and across the county, the impacts are not abstract. They are immediate and permanent.
A single hyperscale facility can consume millions of gallons daily through cooling systems, drawing from the same Spokane Valley-Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer that farmers and ranchers depend on for irrigation and livestock. When the water table drops, small producers lose first and loudest.
Utility rate increases driven by data center demand do not hit a Microsoft the way they hit a small dairy or vegetable operation running pumps, refrigeration, and equipment year-round. Tight margins get tighter. Promised construction jobs come and go. What hyperscale AI data centers leave behind is minimal permanent employment and maximum permanent draw on shared resources that small agricultural operations cannot replace or relocate away from.
With the city moratorium in place, corporations will look to unincorporated county land next. That is agricultural land. The County Commissioner controls those zoning decisions. Residents deserve a voice before they are made.
The commissioner controls more than most people realize.
Hyperscale AI data centers are coming for Spokane County's resources. They need our land. They need our power. They need our water. And they want tax breaks while they take it. The County Commissioner has direct authority over zoning, permitting, and tax abatements in unincorporated Spokane County. That authority belongs to residents, not to corporations or commissioners who meet with developers in private for over a year.
Rachelle will use every tool available to make sure residents have a voice before approvals are granted. She will push for a moratorium to allow proper community input. She will demand full transparency on any developer discussions. And she will make sure that communities already dealing with contaminated water are not asked to simply trust that this time will be different.
Vote Rachelle Miller on November 3. It is the only way Spokane County gets a voice at the table.
Register and Track Your Ballot