Seattle City Council Approves One-Year Moratorium on New Large AI Data Centers

The Seattle City Council has unanimously approved a moratorium on the construction of new large AI data centers for one year.

Mayor Katie Wilson has yet to sign it, but according to the Seattle Times, she was looking forward to doing so. Wilson had vocally supported a ban after the Times reported back in April that five large data center project proposals in the city would consume up to a third of Seattle's current demand for electricity. The city's residents also raised concerns about the centers' potential water usage and noise pollution.

Seattle's greater metropolitan area serves as home to Microsoft, while Amazon's headquarters is in the city itself. Google and Meta have offices in the city, as well. As GeekWire notes, however, the tech giants don't actually operate data centers within Seattle, so the moratorium will mostly affect developers and providers.

The moratorium puts a temporary ban on the development of large data centers that use more than 20 megavolt-amperes of energy, which can power thousands of homes. It could be extended for six more months. In addition, the council approved a bill that requires the city to study the impacts of AI data centers on Seattle's electricity and water usage, utility rates, land use, local jobs and public health to gather the information needed for permanent regulations.

One council member added an amendment to the bills, differentiating "traditional data centers" from AI "hyperscale" facilities. Once Mayor Wilson signs the moratorium, Seattle will join the growing list of cities and counties that have put either a temporary or permanent ban on new data centers, including Denver, New Orleans and Minneapolis.

GeekWire says more than 50 people testified at the most recent council meeting, including members of the Amazon Employees for Climate Justice. They reportedly urged the council to add renewable energy requirements and labor protections to the city's regulations. The members also reportedly called for the government to put a stop to the industry's plans "to build out as much compute capacity as they can, as fast as they can, before regulations can catch up."