City council meeting erupts into chaos after planned data center vote postponed
The Memphis City Council voted 7-5 to postpone a vote on a proposed 12-month moratorium on data centers, including Elon Musk's Colossus facilities near the Memphis-Southaven border. The delay triggered protests, a chaotic meeting, and a fight, with the moratorium vote rescheduled for October 20.
The Memphis City Council postponed consideration of a proposed 12-month moratorium on data centers by a 7-5 vote, delaying a scheduled final decision until October 20. The moratorium would allow the city to study the facilities' effects on health, engineering, electricity and water infrastructure.
About 100 protesters attended the meeting, which deteriorated into shouting, chants and a physical altercation after the council voted. Police cleared the meeting hall, and no arrests were reported. Councilman JB Smiley, the moratorium's lead sponsor, supported hearing residents' concerns, while Councilman Jeff Warren opposed the pause, warning it could drive future development to nearby Mississippi and Tennessee counties.
The dispute involves the Colossus and Colossus 2 data centers operated by Musk's artificial intelligence company SpaceXAI near the Memphis-Southaven border. The original Colossus facility was built for X's Grok AI service and is also subject to an agreement allowing Anthropic to use its computing capacity.