Overview
- Seattle’s City Council voted unanimously Tuesday for a one‑year emergency moratorium on new data centers with electrical capacity above 20 megavolt‑amperes to give the city time to study grid, water and land‑use impacts.
- Birmingham’s council approved a zoning ordinance after an hours‑long hearing that sets 20 conditions for hyperscale centers, including setback distances, minimum site sizes, limits on some on‑site power generation and required noise and water controls.
- Several central Oklahoma municipalities have enacted or are considering short-term pauses, with Edmond approving a six‑month moratorium through Dec. 31 to create zoning rules and consult industry experts.
- Ohio lawmakers introduced sweeping legislation that would cut some tax incentives, require water‑use reporting and conservation practices, restrict nondisclosure agreements from blocking public records, and direct regulators to create a special utility rate class for data centers.
- The measures respond to public and tech‑worker pressure over local harms and could shift costs for new transmission and generation onto developers or ratepayers, which grid operators warn may require clearer state rules and careful tariff design.