Clark County commissioners hear push for data center moratorium but take no action

This article was originally published by Nevada Current.

Environmental activists are demanding a moratorium on new data center approvals, citing concerns about water use and other county resources. 

The Sierra Club Toiyabe Chapter held a rally Tuesday in front of the Clark County Commission’s office to protest the growing number of data centers being built around Nevada. While the commissioners planned to have a general discussion about the application process and approval criteria for data centers, they did not lay out any specific plans or regulations on data centers during the meeting. 

The discussion appeared on the agenda at Commissioner Tick Segerblom’s request. 

“I think the meeting was a mixed bag,” Sierra Club Toiyabe Chapter Director Olivia Tanager told the Nevada Current after the meeting with no action. “Ultimately, my organization believes at the end of the day, in order to effectively evaluate and correct this really huge issue, the county and other jurisdictions need to execute moratoria while evaluating.”

Multiple jurisdictions nationwide, including Reno, have placed moratoria on data center approvals.

During the pre-meeting rally, community members shared their frustrations with the rise of data centers. 

Tony Chavez, representing the Alchemical Opus Foundation, Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, and Nevada Environmental Coalition, attended the rally and spoke during the meeting’s public comment period. 

Data centers “are something that we already know in this community is detrimental to our ecosystem, especially when it comes to the basic things of how much water they actually use,” Chavez said. “And especially when they want to force these kind of laws and rules on us, the average citizen — God forbid you water on a Sunday — yet these data centers get to expand and keep growing and get away with it. And that’s not ok.” 

Chavez also spoke up about the actual time of the meeting, stating that it was not accessible to community members. 

“They need to start having these meetings at a more reasonable time,” Chavez said. “I think on a Tuesday at 9 a.m., a lot of the working class is actually working right now, so to sit here and to try to justify that this is an ok time to have a meeting for the community that deeply impacts them is ridiculous to me.” 

Democratic candidate for Nevada State Assembly District 41 Vinny Spotleson, also a member of the Sierra Club, spoke during the rally, stating Joe Lombardo failed Nevadans. 

“As you know, Lombardo loves data centers,” Spotleson said. “While Lombardo has been governor, data centers have been able to obtain millions, tens of millions, hundreds of millions in tax abatements.” Not only are data centers “pulling from our water and energy resources, they are also not paying taxes while they do that.”

In an interview with Current, Spotleson said he is upset with the impact data centers are having nationwide,“especially as we see this massive AI bubble.”

He continued: “Where this is headed is that these bubbles pop, and the worst case scenario would be that we end up bailing out these companies.”

Another Sierra Club member, Kevin Castellanos, said he showed up to last month’s meeting where commissioners approved the expansion of Switch’s data center campus.

The meeting “was unfortunate,” Castellanos said. “Basically all the commissioners voted to continue with the expansion of the Switch Data Center. The reason they did it is because, to them, the Switch Data Center expansion is like the gold standard for data centers, and it’s working on a closed-loop water system, which is supposed to be more efficient and better for the environment. However, it’s still something that I think needs more public input, and something that they’re moving too hastily on.”  

Inside the meeting, Commissioner April Becker pushed back on the narrative against data centers, stating the approval of expanding data centers last month was misreported. 

“What came before us was a waiver for a configuration of a driveway,” Becker said. “When it’s reported that we’ve expanded data centers and we’ve approved them, that’s not what happened. I think that when this is the way it’s reported, it upsets people and rightfully so because they think that we’re doing something against what the public wants.”

Commissioner William McCurdy II commented that data centers are a “significant issue here in our region.” McCurdy II continued saying he believes they need regulations moving forward. 

“I believe that we should look for a uniform standard of what we would require of those looking to construct data centers here in our valley,” McCurdy II said. “I understand based upon some of the information I’ve been provided and also independent research that this is gonna be a herculean effort, which is going to require us to talk to all the…stakeholders…[to come] to a place where we can actually identify standardized policy we can put in place.”