Microsoft · Amazon · The Guardian Technology
Seattle, home to Amazon and Microsoft, poised to pass moratorium on new datacenters
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Seattle’s city government is on the verge of passing a year-long ban on the construction of new datacenters, the largest city yet in the US to consider such a moratorium as nationwide backlash grows.
Key facts
- A hub for the technology sector, Seattle’s metro area serves as the headquarters for Microsoft and Amazon, which have laid off thousands of local workers over the past year as they spend a projected
- During a period of public comment at city hall on 20 May, more than 50 Seattle residents spoke in favor of the moratorium, while none spoke against it
- Seattle mayor Katie Wilson was alarmed by developers’ ambitions to build five large datacenters when the Seattle Times broke the news in April
- An amendment allows existing datacenters in Seattle to apply for expansions requiring up to 20 megawatts of additional power during the moratorium
Summary
Four companies sought to build five large datacenters in areas serviced by Seattle’s public utility; if approved, they would have consumed approximately a third of the city’s current daily demand for electricity. On Wednesday, city council committees unanimously passed the moratorium and an accompanying resolution. The swift response to the proposed datacenters represents a major rebuke in tech’s own backyard. Lawmakers and advocates hope Seattle’s status as a tech city can encourage more jurisdictions to join the dozens of other local governments moving to regulate datacenters, which are bipartisanly unpopular.