SPOKANE, Wash. — Three Spokane City Council members introduced an ordinance that would halt plans for building a new data center in Eastern Washington.
Council members Paul Dillon, Sarah Dixit and Kate Telis say communities have made their voices clear about the proposed project. Dixit wrote that “energy intensive data centers have been popping up across the country with disastrous consequences.”
Residents worry about the Spokane River’s health and whether the data center’s water usage could strain the water supply. If built, the facility would consume as much electricity as half of Avista’s service area in Eastern Washington and North Idaho.
“We need to be able to understand, as a community, the cumulative impacts and whether or not it’s something we can accept as a community,” said Katelyn Scott from the Spokane Riverkeeper organization.
A community petition against the data center has collected more than 5,000 signatures since Sunday.
Dillon plans to introduce an ordinance Monday that would ban new data centers in Spokane for a year if passed. The data center could still be built elsewhere in Eastern Washington.
“This is an urgent issue. We’ve heard loud and clear from community that we need to act, they expect us to act,” Dillon said.
The emergency ordinance will need five votes from city council members to pass.
