Seattle’s Historic Moratorium Didn’t Stop This Data Center — But You Can Help Delay It

Seattle made history this summer as the first major City in the country to pass a temporary moratorium on the construction of large data centers amid a wave of popular frustration with the tech broligarchy. While the Mayor and the City Council basked in national praise from the anti-data center majority, two large scale data center projects snuck into the permitting pipeline just before the moratorium took effect. But long after the public backpatting has petered out, climate justice activists are still fighting back. Tuesday at 5pm, advocates will public testify to slow down a six story data center slated for downtown Seattle. 

According to KIRO7, a company called Digital Realty is trying to open up what’s known as a “co-location data center.” That means Digitial Realty is akin to a data center landlord, renting out servers to other companies, perhaps some of their existing partners — Amazon, Microsoft, and other unsavory tech giants.

The six-story data center would sit on the corner of Third and Virginia. While the current building would be demolished, Seattlelites may remember it formerly as a Bed Bath & Beyond location that now serves as an art gallery and music venue. Probably a metaphor in there. 

Digital Realty’s planned facility is large enough to get shot down by Seattle’s yearlong moratorium, which came with some exceptions as previously reported by The Burner. However, the project wormed into the pipeline before the moratorium passed in June, so it still gets to move forward, even under the new law. 

Not only did Digital Realty’s downtown data center get grandfathered in, another nine story facility in SODO can carry on as well. According to the Seattle Times, these projects would add nearly 100 megawatts of electricity demand on the city’s grid at peak demand. To put that into perspective the entire city uses 1,100 megawatts on average and up to 2,000 at peak. 

But advocates at 350 Seattle aren’t giving up, arguing they still have time to stop, slow, or mitigate the harm of the projects during the permitting process. The Seattle Department of Construction & Inspections (SCDI) will consider whether or not to slow the Third and Virginia data center for more environmental review. You can join them in demanding the data center’s delay at a remote public comment session at 5pm, Tuesday Oct. 17.