Facebook riles tiny Oregon town with plan for undersea cable

A battle playing out in a tiny Oregon town with stoplights or cellphone service is pitting residents against one of world's biggest tech companies.

Locals in coastal Tierra del Mar are trying to stop Facebook from using property in ir quiet community to build a landing spot for an ultra high-speed, undersea cable connecting America with Asia.

Representatives of social media giant say Tierra del Mar is one of few places on U.S. West Coast suitable for cable, which will feature latest fiber optic techlogies. It will link multiple U.S. locations, including Facebook's huge data center in central Oregon town of Prineville, with Japan and Philippines, and will help meet an increasing demand for internet services worldwide, company says.

But locals say vibrations from drilling to bring submarine cable ashore in this vill of some 200 houses might dam home foundations and septic systems. y also point out that Tierra del Mar, arrayed along a pristine beach, is zoned residential. If county and state allow project, y say, more commercial ventures will come calling.

“This is a huge precedent. Once you open shores to se companies coming anywhere y want to, Oregon's coast is pretty much wide open season,” resident Patricia Rogers told county officials in written remarks.

Tierra del Mar, 65 miles (105 kilometers) southwest of Portland, is home to a mix of professionals and retirees who share a love of unspoiled beach that is fringed with coastal pines and deer, bald eagles and rare seabirds that inhabit area. It has two businesses, a rock shop and antiques store, and cell service, apparently because providers don't consider it profitable eugh.

In recent years, locals fiercely opposed a plan by investors to turn a former farm just to rth into a high-end golf course. site ultimately opened inste as a state nature area.

Residents' attention turned to Facebook in 2018 when a subsidiary bought empty lot for cable landing from former NFL and University of Oregon quarterback Joey Harrington. County records show Edge Cable Holdings, USA, paid him $495,000 for beachfront property, about size of 10 tennis courts.

Locals worry project will pave way for cell towers, power junctions and ditional cable sites.

Rogers, who owns a house jacent to Facebook lot, stood on beach in stormy wear Wednesday as waves charged shore. A sign apparently toppled by high tide said “Keep Facebook off our beach.”

Rogers pointed to two or empty lots nearby.

“If Facebook gets (approval), well, two companies will get those, and we'll have three of se drilling projects within a half a mile of each or,” she said.

Ors say y like Tierra del Mar way it is and feel Facebook is igring ir wishes.

“I am extremely angry about and opposed to cavalier attitude that an amoral multi-national, multi-billion dollar corporation has taken to this tiny residentially zoned portion of Tillamook County,” resident Carol J. Griffith said in written comments.

Facebook representatives told county officials horizontal directional drilling will last about a month, and all that will remain is a manhole cover. y said y carefully chose Tierra del Mar site, avoiding areas where fishermen trawl and keeping to places that allow burial of cable so nets won't snag on it. y also h to skirt undersea canyons and federally protected fish habitat.

company declined to provide or details about project but told Associated Press in a statement: “With more people using internet, existing internet infrastructure is struggling to handle all traffic. se new cable projects help people connect more efficiently.”

clash comes as internet use by world's population has reached 4.1 billion people, or 54% of global population, up from 1.6 billion people in 2008, according to International Telecommunication Union, a United Nations ncy.

Almost all of that messaging and internet browsing goes through fiber optic cables, t satellites in heavens, said Kristian Nielsen, vice president of Submarine Telecoms Forum, a Virginia-based tre magazine.

When data, including phone calls, goes intercontinental, say between rth America, Europe and Asia, undersea fiber optic cables are used 99% of time, Nielsen said in a telephone interview.

“ reality is that cloud is actually under ocean,” said Nicole Starosielski, associate professor of media, culture and communication at New York University. “Files in cloud are typically housed in a data center. But it doesn't become a cloud unless re are cables.”

Undersea cables have around 800 landing points around world, according to Submarine Telecoms Forum. Nielsen said opposition to m is rare.

one Facebook wants to put in Tierra del Mar splits off in Pacific Ocean from Jupiter cable that Facebook, Amazon and telecommunications companies from Japan, Philippines and Hong Kong are invested in. main trunk would land in Hermosa Beach, California, with Oregon branch solely owned by Facebook.

Under ground, fiber optic cable would connect with ar one running down coast 4 miles (6 kilometers) to a cable landing site in a bigger coastal town, Pacific City, where four cables are alrey in place. Facebook says that site cant fit a fifth cable and cited a risk of crossing cables.

But residents are dubious.

“I don't kw why y chose this place when could have taken cable down to Pacific City,” said Lee King, owner of Pier Avenue Rock Shop.