Pima County Residents Protest Potential Data Center, Call for Ban
Residents in Sahuarita and Pima County are actively protesting a potential data center, expressing serious concerns about public health and environmental impacts including noise, toxic emissions, fire hazards, and significant water consumption. They are calling on the Pima County Supervisors to immediately and permanently ban all data centers within the county, asserting the supervisors' duty to protect citizens over corporations.
Residents of Sahuarita and Pima County, Arizona, including Robin and Susie Nourse, are actively protesting against a proposed data center development in the area. Demonstrating on La Canada Drive, the protesters expressed strong opposition to data centers, citing concerns about potential public health and environmental hazards. Their grievances include noise pollution, toxic emissions, the risk of toxic fires, possible groundwater contamination, and the substantial water consumption, estimated at up to 5 million gallons daily, associated with these facilities.
A concerned Pima County homeowner and Sahuarita resident articulated the community's demand, urging the Pima County Supervisors to leverage their authority under an exception to the Private Property Rights Protection Act. The resident called for an immediate and permanent ban on all data centers within Pima County, emphasizing that the supervisors' loyalty should be to the citizens, not to wealthy corporations, and that the area should not become a "sacrifice zone" for AI infrastructure buildout.