Seattle Bans Construction Of New Large Scale Data Centers — But Allows Current Ones To Expand

Seattle just became the largest City in the country to pass a moratorium on new, large-scale data centers, banning construction to buy the City time to regulate an industry growing at break-neck speed. 

While the council enjoyed an unusually positive public comment period ahead of the vote Tuesday afternoon, the legislation does not completely stop data center growth in Seattle, allowing for existing data centers to expand to an extent.

But still, advocates seemed pleased with the step. And it is just a step — the real fight to regulate data centers begins when Mayor Katie Wilson signs the legislation and that 365 day clock starts ticking. 

In April, the Seattle Times revealed that four companies (two have since backed out) had inquired with Seattle City Light about building five massive data centers in City limits. Those data centers would demand as much as 369 megawatts of electricity or about a third of what the city uses on an average day.

The news sent Seattle environmentalists into a tailspin. Advocates from climate crisis group 350 Seattle organized a letter writing campaign to demand the Seattle City Council and the Mayor implement a moratorium on the construction of new data centers.

The group’s Action Network page read, “Our region’s resources—from water to power to space—are already stretched thin. Now four companies want to build 5 large scale AI data centers, requiring as much electricity as ⅓ of the entire city. This is 30 times more energy than existing local data center facilities.”

It went on, “[d]ata centers raise electricity rates and emissions. They’re a threat to water supplies and to grid stability. Because of nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) we don’t know yet which companies are behind these proposals, where they want to build, or what kind of power they hope to get. But none of the possible outcomes are good for the people of Seattle or our neighbors.”

Advocates overwhelmed the council and the Mayor with more than 85,000 emails, demanding a moratorium on data centers. And to their delight, local electeds have been uncharacteristically quick to respond, as The Burner previously reported. 

That positivity continued throughout the legislative process with almost no constituent opposition during hearings and no squabbling among council members on the dais. The process went so smoothly, advocates hardly batted an eye when Council Member Eddie Lin sponsored an amendment to the moratorium’s accompanying resolution allowing existing data centers to apply for expansion up to 20 megawatts of additional power during the moratorium. The amendment stems from the council’s “desire” to support data needs of healthcare facilities, educational facilities, and other government entities and businesses, according to the text of the amendment.  

As CHUM News news editor Adam Willems said on a recent episode of the City Cast Seattle podcast and reported in the Guardian, this amendment creates a “doomsday scenario” where existing data centers could grow their electrical capacity by 600 megawatts. That would be almost twice as much as the stunning 369 megawatts worth of potential new data centers that sparked the initial call for a moratorium. 

Advocates from 350 Seattle, in many ways leading the charge on this effort from outside, told The Burner they did not support this amendment. 350 Seattle’s Digital & Communications Director Ben Jones said the amendment “invalidates a large amount of what this moratorium was meant to accomplish.” 

Still, Jones told The Burner 350 Seattle appreciates the council’s good will, intention, and quick turnaround. As many advocates pointed out in public comment, the real work is only beginning. 

“It’s also part one,” Jones previously told The Burner about the legislation. “What matters is what happens after the moratorium and that we keep the pressure up.”

The City is supposed to use the time allotted in the moratorium to study the impact of data centers and draw up regulations related to land use, energy, climate, labor, everything. And Seattle advocates have seen before how these well-meaning study sessions can get derailed by business interests looking out for their bottom line. Advocates' next task may be to stack any workgroups or taskforces related to the brainstorming with workers, environmental experts, and the average people who will experience the negatives associated with data centers rather than the wealthy who want to turn a profit. 

Unfortunately for advocates on this particular issue, the council will lose perhaps its most staunch critic of data centers after the election in November. Council Member Debra Juarez, a council appointee who sponsored the moratorium, said if she could, she would outright ban AI and data centers. And with wealthy tech interests used to ruling this City, that’s not a bad perspective to start negotiations at.