Seattle, home to Amazon and Microsoft, poised to pass moratorium on new datacenters | Technology

Seattle’s city government is on the verge of imposing a one-year ban on the construction of new data centers; It is the largest city in the United States to consider such a moratorium as backlash grows across the country.

four companies wanted building five major data centers in areas served by the Seattle utility; If approved, they would consume about a third of the city’s current daily electricity demand.

On Wednesday, city council committees unanimously passed the legislation. moratorium and a companion resolution. The full council is expected to vote Tuesday on both measures, which activists see as a formality after weeks of talks with city officials on the issue. Lawmakers described the two measures as an effort to protect residents from rising utility costs. environmental hazards. They said they plan to spend the duration of the moratorium drafting regulations suitable for the AI ​​industry’s massive facilities.

The rapid response to proposed data centers represents a major rebuke in technology’s own backyard. A hub for the technology sector, Seattle’s metro area serves as the headquarters of Microsoft and Amazon. dismissed Last year thousands of local workers to spend It is estimated that 390 billion dollars will be invested in artificial intelligence in 2026. Seattle’s tech workers have held numerous demonstrations to organize against proposed data centers.

Lawmakers and advocates hope Seattle’s status as a tech city could encourage more jurisdictions to join dozens Number of other local governments taking action to regulate data centers bipartisanly unpopular.

A strategic pause

Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson was alarmed by developers’ ambitions to build five massive data centers, the Seattle Times reported. free News in April.

“This is the first I’ve heard of this as mayor,” he said. “Both I and most council members were happy to move towards the moratorium, especially knowing that there was really strong public support for this plan of action.”

Climate activists, progressive activists, an Amazon employee group and others have joined an email writing campaign to Seattle lawmakers to protest the proposed data centers and have scheduled direct meetings and informational sessions with city politicians. Eddie Lin, who chairs the city council’s land use and sustainability committee, received more than 10,000 emails from local residents in favor of the moratorium, according to his office.

During the moratorium, authorities may set pollution standards, energy connection requirements and contractual terms, labor standards, and other rules specific to data centers. The moratorium and accompanying ruling allow Seattle’s utility to set separate rates for new “large load” customers, a category that includes large data centers. One change It allows existing data centers in Seattle to apply for expansions requiring up to 20 megawatts of additional power during the moratorium.

Activists are calling for stricter language during the final vote, hoping to identify the types of data centers that could apply for expansion, such as those that support emergency calls and healthcare facilities.

The pause will also allow the city to determine whether data centers are a “good use of urban land,” Wilson said. In such a case, authorities may draft public interest requirements, such as required investments in affordable housing and public transportation projects, in exchange for approval. These are the kinds of conditions that are “sometimes offered for development, of questionable value to society,” he said.

“Is there a world in which we would want a large data center in Seattle? I think the answer to that is unclear,” Wilson said.

Activists deliberately opted for a one-year moratorium over a full ban; because the old strategy could have produced a larger coalition in its favor, while potentially yielding the same result. Ben Jones, spokesman for the climate justice group 350 SeattleDelays caused by the moratorium could still disrupt the construction of data centers, he said: If the AI ​​market bubble bursts next year, the facilities are unlikely to be built.

During public comment at city hall on May 20, more than 50 Seattle residents spoke in favor of the moratorium, but none spoke against it. Residents have expressed concerns about the climate impacts of data centers, which mostly run on fossil fuels; causes noise and air pollution; convert arable land to storage for computer chips; and may threaten stable and affordable access to natural resources.

“A lot of people have come forward because of the lack of other ways to have any control or voice over the rollout of AI,” Jones said. This included “large numbers” of tech workers because AI is now “synonymous with people losing their jobs” locally.

Seeing the wealth regional tech companies have amassed amid the housing and affordability crisis, progressive groups and politicians have launched several efforts to tax Seattle’s tech giants and other large companies over the past decade, including a February 2025 ballot initiative to tax massive compensation packages and fund affordable housing efforts. IT to win due to landslide.

According to Nivi Achanta, a former technology consultant who now works climate activist In Seattle, the outsized presence of corporate giants like Amazon and Microsoft paradoxically makes it easier for Seattle tech workers to organize against the industry’s overreach.

“I think the combination of these big tech companies will make it easier to find the response and see that you’re not alone,” he said. Employee-activist groups through public campaigns as well as internal messaging Amazon Workers for Climate Justice (AECJ) added that Seattle is “preparing” tech workers to translate their feelings about where the industry is heading into real political engagement.

Tech workers in Seattle and elsewhere are seeing AI helping make them “more productive but also more expendable,” Achanta said.

Regional concerns

Debora Juarez, an enrolled member of the Blackfeet Nation who chairs the committee that oversees Seattle’s utilities, said data centers’ water use could threaten the treaty and water rights of local Native groups, prompting tribes to be among the first to organize against new data centers.

He said the Seattle city government is consulting with tribal attorneys and other groups to learn about effective regulation of data centers. “We can’t look to the federal government for leadership, but we can look to tribal governments,” Juarez said.

Wilson said the city will advocate for statewide legislation in the next Washington state legislative session. He added that city government should help create a more diverse local and regional economy because the current economy, workforce and tax structure is “overly reliant” on the tech industry, a sector whose future holds “a lot of uncertainty.”

Seattle’s tech and climate activists are also preparing for the next phase of their organizing.

Audrey Wang Gosselin, an electrical engineer and 350 Seattle board member, said the organization is working with groups in other parts of Washington state and sees Seattle’s victory over data centers as a replicable regional roadmap.

“If we can show that we say no to this in Seattle, where you think it might be more technical, I hope that sets a precedent for the rest of the state, potentially the rest of the country,” they said.

“I don’t want it in my backyard, I don’t want it in your backyard,” Wang Gosselin said.