Redaction failure exposes Google data centre resource and tax figures in Nebraska
Nebraska filings reportedly show peak electricity demand at Google’s Lincoln site, high water use in Papillion and expected 2025 tax refunds across three facilities.
Improperly redacted state filings disclosed resource-use figures and expected tax refunds for Google-owned data centres in Nebraska, according to 10/11 NOW. The outlet reported that text concealed beneath redactions in submissions to the Department of Water, Energy, and Environment could be recovered by copying it into another document.
Lincoln’s Agate LLC reported peak electricity demand of 52.65 megawatts and water use of 13.299 megagallons over the past year, the report said. The electricity figure is a peak-demand measure, not annual consumption.
Papillion’s Fireball Group LLC reported 547.88 megagallons of water use for 2025, the highest among six data centres that had reported by 30 September. Those six filings listed total water use of 765 million gallons.
The filings also listed expected 2025 tax refunds of $55,822,472 for Agate, $39,171,573.39 for Fireball and $22,558,881 for Omaha’s Westwood Solutions LLC. 10/11 NOW said the reports described the facilities as using or expecting to use sales and use tax exemptions under the Nebraska Advantage Act. They reported no rebates received under that programme and no incentive payments received or expected under the ImagiNE Nebraska Act. The source does not say whether the expected refunds have been approved or paid.
Nebraska requires data centres to submit annual reports on their impact on resources, with the state task force overseeing self-reporting under an executive order issued by Governor Jim Pillen on 20 July. 10/11 NOW said it filed a public-records request on 30 September for information redacted from Agate’s report. The figures are attributed to the filings and the outlet’s recovery of hidden text; the source package provides no independent verification.
