Arizona’s attorney general is urging a pause on all new data center development until the state forms regulations and policies around their build-out.
“The only sane thing to do is to pause the approval of new data centers,” Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes said in a Monday press release. “Data centers are power- and water-intensive, and Arizona is challenged on both fronts right now.”
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Arizona is home to 160 data centers, with 149 in Phoenix. A pause on new construction could derail plans for the roughly three dozen proposed facilities in Phoenix as well as the half dozen under construction.
Mayes’ call echoes growing nationwide pushback against the digital infrastructure. Opponents have cited significant water and power usage, noise and light pollution, and community displacement as just a few negative impacts of the developments.
Arizona residents are especially pushing back against the water and power component, as they already expect to see skyrocketing energy bills after the Department of Interior slashed the state’s Colorado River water supply by almost 30% earlier this month.
Earlier this year, Mayes spoke out against rate increase requests from Arizona Public Service Co. and Tucson Electric Power Co., which he says were prompted by increased data center development, according to the release. Mayes said the state’s utilities are seeing unprecedented electricity demand and that more data centers would further raise power bills.
Last year, Phoenix updated its data center zoning ordinance to require developers to address health and safety concerns when applying for permits. In June, the state enacted a three-year pause on new tax incentives and exemptions for the facilities, which disrupted projects including a data center campus in Casa Grande. In August, the city of Gilbert voted to recommend an amendment to its land development code to establish standards for data centers.
Nearby Pinal County last week voted to reject a large-scale data center project proposed for a site outside of Eloy, based on significant local outcry. Residents encouraged the county’s supervisory board to develop a framework for future data center development, like Maricopa County did last year, as more rezoning requests are submitted.
Mayes plans to host a town hall on Oct. 14 in Phoenix’s Ahwatukee village to hear from community members regarding Menlo Digital’s planned 1M SF, 38-acre hyperscale data center campus.
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