Applause rang out in the Reno City Council chambers as the council voted six to one to pass a 30 day pause on conditional use permits for data center construction. Council member Kathleen Taylor voted against the pause.
The temporary moratorium is part one of a two-part process. In an upcoming meeting on June 1st the council will determine the length of the final moratorium and also consider guidelines and regulations for future data center development.
The vote came nearly eight hours after the special city council meeting began. The May 14 meeting addressed data center development and attracted dozens of people. The chambers were quickly filled to capacity with dozens forced to wait in the lobby.
Before the meeting demonstrators and activists rallied at the Believe sign, as the Truckee River flowed just a few feet away.
For Josh Dini, of the Walker River Paiute Tribe, and water protector, the health of the environment is at the heart of the data center debate.
He was there to support the Water over Data Alliance and members of the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe who lead it.
“Our two tribes are sister tribes. We're the Walker River watershed. They're the Truckee River watershed. We already lost our fish. So it's important for us to stand together as Numu relatives to support each other on these issues,” Dini said.
Dini said they’ve already lost the native Lahontan Cutthroat Trout due to pollution from mines and military testing.
He is also concerned about the environmental impacts the data centers could have on the watershed and its wildlife.
Data centers are made up of warehouses of servers that support high process computing and artificial intelligence. They require not only large amounts of energy but also large amounts of water to cool them.
Community members pointed out that not only is Nevada the driest state in the nation but Reno is also the fastest warming city in the US. They voiced concerns about the water needed for the data centers as well as potential water, noise, light, and air pollution from them.
The centers have become a flashpoint for communities locally as well as nationally.
A poll by Gallup published in May found that seven out of 10 Americans oppose data center construction for AI in their local regions.
Although the majority of comments at the council meeting were in support of a moratorium, not everyone was in agreement.
Jacob Haas, of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Union Local 401, along with other members of trades and construction unions, showed up to voice their opposition to a blanket moratorium. Haas said data centers are providing over 4,000 jobs in Northern Nevada.
“They’re a huge importance to my members and it's one of the things that's putting food on their table, giving them the ability to buy a house, to get above poverty,” Haas said.
Data centers have been criticized for not leading to long term jobs after construction is completed, such as the Centra data center on Keystone in Reno which according to Nevada Governor's Office of Economic Development tax documents, will result in only 11 full time jobs. But Haas said that this doesn’t mean there won’t be continuous work.
“The technology changes so fast that within one to two years we are back in there retrofitting, changing the technology because it gets more efficient,” Haas said. “Every few years we're back in. They're working on these again. So it is sustainable work for the electrical industry.”
He points to the tax abatement guidelines that require the state to hire at least 50 percent of their construction workforce locally. He said that although he thinks a blanket moratorium will send the wrong message, he still supports common sense guidelines in place for future development.
After the vote passed Bree Kasper, who stayed for the entire eight hour meeting, thanked the city council for listening to the public's concerns.
“Everyone is paying attention now and we are all waiting with bated breath for this final moratorium and everything that comes out of it,” Kasper said.
