Mayes brings data center furor to Mesa town hall
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes told a Mesa town hall that rapid data center growth could increase utility bills, strain water supplies and create noise, temperature and oversight problems. Residents from Ahwatukee opposed a 1-million-square-foot Menlo Equities campus in Phoenix, while Mayes called for a construction moratorium and stronger statewide safeguards.
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes used an Oct. 14 town hall in Mesa to criticize the pace of data center development, saying the facilities could raise electricity costs, worsen water shortages and create noise and environmental impacts. She said Arizona has more than 180 operating or planned data centers and called for a moratorium on construction while the state establishes stronger protections, transparency requirements and rules requiring developers to pay for their power and water needs.
The meeting drew substantial opposition from Ahwatukee residents, who are organizing against Menlo Equities' five-building, 1-million-square-foot Phoenix data center campus. Phoenix officials say the project was authorized under zoning adopted decades ago, while critics argue those standards did not anticipate modern facilities. Mayes also discussed legal and regulatory obstacles under Arizona's Proposition 207, the state's enacted three-year suspension of data center tax incentives, water and grid pressures, and her lawsuits involving APS rate increases and municipal nondisclosure agreements. Republican Senate President Warren Petersen said data centers should be located by local communities in appropriate industrial areas and should provide their own power and cooling water.