Large tech companies have planted massive data centers near Boardman, consuming water and converting agricultural land while bringing jobs. Is embracing this economic growth consistent with Christian stewardship of creation, or does the environmental cost demand prophetic pushback from local churches?
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Add your commentBorn and raised in Boardman, third generation wheat farmer. My grandfather would weep if he saw what's happening out here. We are called to be stewards of the earth — Genesis 2:15 doesn't say 'hand it over to Amazon so they can cool servers with Columbia River water.' I'm not anti-progress but I am anti-pretending this is morally neutral. Our pastors need to be saying something from the pulpit instead of staying quiet because half the congregation got hired at one of these facilities. That silence is cowardice dressed up as neutrality.
I used to live in Boardman before moving to Hermiston and I'll say this — the tension in that community is real and it's not simple. I had friends who farmed and friends who were genuinely struggling financially who got hired at the Google facility. To stand up on Sunday and declare prophetic opposition to these companies feels righteous from the outside but it lands differently when you're looking at a family that finally has health insurance for the first time. I think faithful Christians can disagree here and I'm suspicious of anyone who makes it sound easy.
My Sunday school class actually discussed this last spring and it was one of the best conversations we've had in years — people really disagreed but stayed in the room together. What stuck with me was an older woman who said 'I've watched this valley change my whole life and change isn't always bad but speed matters. Are we moving fast enough to actually be wise about this?' I think that's the real Christian question. Not yes or no to data centers but are we being deliberate and prayerful as a community or just letting economic pressure make the decisions for us.
Here's the take nobody wants to hear: those data centers brought REAL jobs to a town that was bleeding young people for decades. My nephew works at one. Steady pay, benefits, keeps him in Eastern Oregon near family instead of moving to Bend or Portland. Proverbs 14:23 says all hard work brings profit. Are we really going to tell families they should oppose the only major employer that's showed up here in twenty years because some folks in the pew read a creation care book? Come on.
The comment above mine is exactly the kind of lazy thinking that keeps the church irrelevant on the issues that actually affect peoples lives. The Bible says nothing explicitly about nuclear power plants either but that doesnt mean Christian ethics has nothing to say about responsible energy use. We apply biblical principles to new situations — thats been the job of theology since Acts 15. Creation care is not a fringe position, its mainstream Reformed, Catholic social teaching, and yes even Southern Baptist resolutions have acknowledged it. Do some reading before you post.
The water usage argument is the one that gets me. I've read that some of these facilities use millions of gallons annually and this is a semi-arid region. The Columbia is not infinite. Christians who dismiss environmental concerns as 'liberal politics' are confusing their political tribe with their theological convictions. Dominion in Genesis does NOT mean exploitation — that's been settled by serious biblical scholars for decades. Dominion means responsibility. We will answer for what we did with this land.
Nope. Hard disagree with the whole framing. The church's job is to preach the gospel, not lobby against data centers. When did BibleDebate turn into a zoning board? If individual Christians want to engage locally on land use, great, but stop acting like opposing tech development is somehow the biblical position. It isn't.
okay so I just moved here from Portland about eight months ago and honestly the scale of these data centers shocked me when I first drove past them on 730. like physically shocked me. I grew up evangelical and we talked a lot about creation care but I never connected it to something so concrete and local before. I think there's a real opportunity for Boardman churches to lead a community conversation about this instead of just letting the county commissioners handle it. anyone know if any local churches are already doing anything along these lines?
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