See photos: Protesters target data center development at Austin conference
Protesters gathered outside the Datacloud USA conference in downtown Austin, calling for a moratorium on new data center development due to concerns about water, electricity, land, and infrastructure demands. This demonstration followed the Austin City Council's recent approval of a resolution to initiate a process for banning large-scale data centers and increasing transparency on their resource usage. The issue of data center expansion is becoming a significant topic in Texas politics.
Protesters demonstrated outside the Datacloud USA conference at the Austin Marriott Downtown, urging a moratorium on new data center development in the city. Led by organizers like Emily Taylor of Sunrise Movement Austin, demonstrators voiced concerns over the industry's significant demands on water, electricity, land, and infrastructure.
The protest coincided with the Austin City Council's recent approval of a resolution to initiate a process to ban large-scale and hyperscale data centers from city limits. This resolution also calls for greater transparency regarding data centers' energy and water consumption, highlighting the growing political debate around data center expansion in Texas.
The Data Center Coalition, an industry group, opposes a ban in Austin, emphasizing that data centers contribute to the economy by creating jobs and are responsible neighbors. Jess Heck, director of Texas government affairs for the Data Center Coalition, noted the Austin-San Antonio corridor's status as a top secondary market for data center construction. Despite industry arguments, a recent poll by Overton Insights indicated that over 54% of Texas voters support a data center ban.