Page, Arizona exists because of a dam. The Glen Canyon Dam flooded one of the most spectacular landscapes on earth to power the American Southwest. The Navajo Nation lost land. The Colorado River was fundamentally altered. The people of this region paid a price that the rest of the country never fully acknowledged.
Now the data center industry is eyeing the Colorado River corridor — and the communities that have already given so much are being asked to give more.
Arizona has become one of the fastest-growing data center markets in the United States. The Phoenix metro is already saturated with facilities, and operators are looking north and east — toward available land, power infrastructure, and the water resources of the Colorado River system. Page, with its proximity to Lake Powell, the Navajo Generating Station's former infrastructure, and the power transmission lines that cross this landscape, is exactly the kind of location these operators study.
What the Colorado River Corridor Has Already Given
The history of Page and the surrounding region is a history of extraction. Glen Canyon was flooded. The Navajo Generating Station burned coal for decades, leaving health consequences for surrounding communities. The Navajo Nation's land and resources have been used to power cities whose residents rarely think about where their electricity comes from.
The data center industry is the latest chapter in that story. And it's written in the same language: take the resources, externalize the costs, route the profits elsewhere.
What a Data Center Would Mean for Page and the Colorado River
- Water from a dying river. The Colorado River is in crisis. Lake Powell has dropped to historic lows. The seven states that depend on the Colorado are in active conflict over allocation. A single large data center can consume millions of gallons of water per day for cooling. In a watershed that is already over-allocated and under climate stress, any additional industrial water demand is not a neutral act — it is a direct threat to the communities, tribes, and ecosystems that depend on what's left.
- Power infrastructure that should serve local communities. The transmission lines crossing this landscape were built to move power from generating stations to distant cities. The data center industry wants to tap into that infrastructure to power facilities that will serve global corporations — not the people of Page, LeChee, or the Navajo Nation.
- Tribal sovereignty and land rights at risk. Any data center development in this region must reckon with the sovereignty of the Navajo Nation and other tribal nations whose land and resources are involved. The history of this region is a history of those rights being bypassed. That history must not repeat itself.
- Few jobs for Page and Navajo Nation residents. A data center campus may permanently employ 30–50 specialized technicians. For a community like Page, where economic opportunity has always been limited by geography and history, that's not development — it's a photo opportunity.
- Environmental impact on a fragile desert ecosystem. The Glen Canyon region's ecology — already stressed by drought, climate change, and the altered hydrology of the Colorado — cannot absorb additional industrial pressure without consequence.
Page Has Already Paid. The Answer Is No.
The people of Page, the Navajo Nation, and the Colorado River corridor have subsidized the American Southwest's growth for generations. The Glen Canyon Dam. The Navajo Generating Station. The power lines crossing sacred land.
The data center industry is not offering a partnership. It is offering the same deal that has always been offered to this region: take what we need, leave what we don't.
Page has the right to say no. The Navajo Nation has the right to say no. The Colorado River — what's left of it — deserves protection, not another industrial claim.
What You Can Do
- Contact Page City Council and Coconino County supervisors. Ask them directly: have any data center operators approached the city or county about land, power infrastructure, or water access?
- Support Navajo Nation sovereignty. Any development in this region that involves tribal land or resources must have the free, prior, and informed consent of the Navajo Nation and other affected tribal nations. Demand that standard be met.
- Contact your state legislators in Phoenix. Ask them to require full public disclosure of data center water use, oppose incentives without binding community benefit agreements, and mandate tribal consultation before any permits are issued in or near tribal lands.
- Connect with local advocacy groups. Glen Canyon Institute, Colorado River Keeper, and Diné Citizens Against Ruining Our Environment (Diné CARE) are active on water and land protection in this region.
- Talk to your neighbors in Page, LeChee, Kaibeto, Bitter Springs, Marble Canyon, and the broader Navajo Nation. This region's resources belong to the people who have always lived here.
- Wear the movement. Stop Data Centers tees, stickers, and drinkware start conversations — at the Lake Powell overlook, at the Carl Hayden Visitor Center, on the Navajo Nation. Show the Colorado River corridor where you stand and shop the movement at stopdatacenters.myshopify.com.
The Colorado River has given enough. So has Page.
Page stands. The Navajo Nation stands. The Colorado River stands.