Amazon data center communities: Here’s what’s happening near data centers across the US

Recent Updates July 30, 2026 8:01 AM Share How we're protecting air quality in Richmond County, North Carolina Amazon has invested more than $20 billion in North Carolina since 2010, including infrastructure and compensation to our employees, and in 2025 alone, donated $10 million to more than 25 local community organizations.

In June 2025, we announced plans to invest $10 billion to build a new data center campus in Richmond County, creating at least 500 high-skilled jobs and supporting thousands more in construction and the supply chain.

We also signed a multibillion-dollar agreement with Corning to produce optical fiber for data centers, creating 1,000 jobs at Corning’s manufacturing facilities across North Carolina and supporting hundreds of additional construction jobs—continuing our commitment to the state. Locally, we’ve partnered with the City of Hamlet Fire Department to provide $1.

5 million to enhance public safety services in the region, provided $200,000 in community grants, and collaborated with Richmond Community College to provide workforce development programs that prepare local residents for skilled jobs in cloud computing and technology.

As we move forward with this project, we want to share how we're protecting the local environment. Amazon is committed to environmental responsibility in every phase of building and operating our data centers. We work closely with environmental agencies to ensure we meet or exceed all applicable standards.

Understanding Our Air Quality Permit As part of this project, we've applied for an air quality permit from the North Carolina Division of Air Quality for the backup generators at our campus. Here's what that means and how we protect local air quality. Why does the facility need so many generators?

Amazon data centers serve millions of customers, including hospitals, first responders, energy systems, and national security agencies. A single power failure could halt life-saving care, cut emergency communications, or cripple vital infrastructure.

As a result, Amazon has built resilience into every layer of its operations, and backup power generators are critical to ensure our customers can access cloud computing during emergencies. Our Richmond County campus will include 21 buildings, and each needs backup generators to ensure reliability for customers. How often will the generators actually run?

Backup generators run very infrequently — on average 10 hours per year — mostly for brief biweekly tests to ensure they are ready and reliable when needed during rare emergencies. All testing must meet local noise and permit requirements.

This careful approach keeps facilities prepared for emergencies while minimizing any potential disruption to the community. How much air pollution will the generators produce? We take air quality very seriously.

Our generators are carefully maintained and fully compliant with all Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality regulations.

Beyond meeting these requirements, we install Tier 4 compliant emission control systems on our backup generators that significantly reduce emissions below required levels to protect public health. Our generators comply with the EPA's strictest standards for diesel engines. Tier 4 is the cleanest EPA emission standard for diesel engine technology.

Our data center facilities use Tier 4 compliant generators that achieve the same stringent emission reductions as Tier 4 certified engines: 90% reduction in nitrogen oxides (NOx) 80% reduction in carbon monoxide (CO) 40% reduction in volatile organic compounds (VOC) 70% reduction in particulate matter (PM) To ensure our emission control systems meet Tier 4 standards, we conduct comprehensive field testing as required by our environmental permits.

We routinely test a representative sample of our Tier 4 compliant generators at each facility to verify they achieve the required emission reductions. How are emissions monitored and reported?

Throughout every phase of our projects, from initial planning through construction and ongoing operations, we work with environmental regulators to ensure that we comply with all environmental permits.

These standards are enforced through multiple layers of oversight, including environmental permitting and compliance processes with local, state, and federal agencies, routine performance testing, ongoing monitoring and reporting requirements, and regular inspections.

Amazon’s annual compliance reports will be publicly available via North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality and demonstrate that our facilities emit a fraction of the emissions that our permits limits allow. In summary, this permit exists to protect local air quality.

Generator operation will be limited to emergencies and required maintenance and testing. Our Richmond County campus will use Tier 4 compliant emissions controls, operate under strict state oversight, and report emissio