The last time I heard about this it was in still in the idea stage. Legislation didn't yet exist. However, this update indicates legislators in Utah are serious about leaving the NSA out in the desert without water. And hopefully, other state legislatures around the country adopt the same attitude. It would definitely send a powerful message to the federal government. Find a constitutional way to keep us safe, DAMMIT!
Lawmakers are considering a bill that would shut off the water spigot to the massive data center operated by the National Security Agency in Bluffdale, Utah.
The legislation, proposed by Utah lawmaker Marc Roberts, is due to go to the floor of the Utah House of Representatives early next year, but it was debated in a Public Utilities and Technology Interim Committee meeting on Wednesday. The bill, H.B. 161, directs municipalities like Bluffdale to “refuse support to any federal agency which collects electronic data within this state.”
The NSA brought its Bluffdale data center online about a year ago, taking advantage Utah’s cheap power and a cut-rate deal for millions of gallons of local water, used to cool the 1-million-square-foot building’s servers. Roberts’ bill, however, would prohibit the NSA from negotiating new water deals when its current Bluffdale agreement runs out in 2021.
It warms the cockles of my heart that they're showing such concern for saving taxpayer money. Too bad they didn't show such concern when they spent over $1.5 billion on the center itself.
Here's the innocuous-sounding statement from the NSA found on the Bluffdale data storage center web page.
The Utah Data Center, code-named Bumblehive, is the first Intelligence Community Comprehensive National Cyber-security Initiative (IC CNCI) data center designed to support the Intelligence Community's efforts to monitor, strengthen and protect the nation. Our Utah "mission data repository" is designed to cope with the vast increases in digital data that have accompanied the rise of the global network.
(snip)
Openness and Transparency: Our Cooperation with Privacy Groups
As proof of our genuine concern for privacy protection, we recently gave permission for several privacy groups to fly their little blimp over our massive data center. We would like to thank these airborne privacy pioneers for the stunning photo below of our impressive facility. By allowing harmless publicity stunts like these, we can have our data and store it too.
Utah Data Center - June 2014
(View this photo in full-size)
Wired has the story here.
The law seems like a long-shot to clear legislative hurdles when Utah’s legislature re-convenes next year, but Wednesday’s committee hearing was remarkable, nonetheless, says Nate Carlisle, a reporter with the Salt Lake Tribune who has waged a fight with the NSA and Bluffdale officials to determine how much water the data center is actually using. “What’s noteworthy is no one on the panel said: ‘Hey, wait a minute, we can’t do this,'” he says. “They had some specific concerns about the language of the bill, but there was no outright opposition.”
Utah lawmakers on the committee could have voted to give the bill an “unfavorable” review on the spot, essentially dooming it on the floor, but they didn’t do that.
Instead, they simply listened to testimony on the NSA and Bluffdale’s support of the center. “I just don’t want to subsidize what they’re doing on the back of our citizens,” Carlisle quotes Republican Representative Roger Barrus as saying during the meeting.
This ain't Utah's first rodeo with the federal government. They've enjoyed a long history of disputes with various federal agencies. However, threatening to cut off water to one of them is a new strategy, perhaps signaling a hardening of positions.
“I think it’s representative of an attitude change in Utah that the bill is even being discussed,” added Carlisle.
A change in attitude is sometimes a good thing!
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