diff --git a/automated_ingestion/iac/.terraform.tfstate.lock.info b/automated_ingestion/iac/.terraform.tfstate.lock.info
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b3e86bd78
--- /dev/null
+++ b/automated_ingestion/iac/.terraform.tfstate.lock.info
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+{"ID":"dbce0c93-cc58-cb45-fa55-faf792ad5025","Operation":"OperationTypeApply","Info":"","Who":"jakeross@Jakes-MacBook-Pro.local","Version":"1.14.8","Created":"2026-08-19T03:37:52.057173Z","Path":"terraform.tfstate"}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/automated_ingestion/iac/main.tf b/automated_ingestion/iac/main.tf
index e432f1808..47bd0dac3 100644
--- a/automated_ingestion/iac/main.tf
+++ b/automated_ingestion/iac/main.tf
@@ -30,8 +30,13 @@ locals {
 resource "google_storage_bucket" "ingestion_raw" {
   for_each = local.environments
 
-  name     = "ocotillo-ingestion-${each.key}"
-  project  = var.project_id
+  name    = "ocotillo-ingestion-${each.key}"
+  project = var.project_id
+
+  # Bucket location is immutable: changing it replaces the bucket. That is
+  # tolerable only while the raw zone is empty. Once a backfill has landed,
+  # moving regions means copying objects across and re-pointing the pipeline,
+  # not editing this line.
   location = var.bucket_location
 
   # The raw zone is the replay source for Mode B backfill: reprocessing a
diff --git a/automated_ingestion/iac/variables.tf b/automated_ingestion/iac/variables.tf
index d7440af8c..2fae9003a 100644
--- a/automated_ingestion/iac/variables.tf
+++ b/automated_ingestion/iac/variables.tf
@@ -11,8 +11,8 @@ variable "region" {
 
 variable "bucket_location" {
   type        = string
-  description = "Bucket location. US-CENTRAL1 keeps the raw zone in the same region as Cloud SQL, so replay reads do not cross regions."
-  default     = "US-CENTRAL1"
+  description = "Bucket location. Must match the Cloud SQL region so replay reads do not cross regions and pay egress. The dataservices instance is in us-west4."
+  default     = "US-WEST4"
 }
 
 variable "cloud_sql_instance" {