Gorilla-Snot and non-Tucson water to fight dust at Project Blue
A data center construction site, Project Blue, in Tucson, Arizona, received a notice of violation from Pima County DEQ for dust spreading off-site. This occurred after the City of Tucson cut off the contractor's access to city water for dust control. The contractor, Ames Construction, has since secured non-Tucson water and a dust suppressant to address the issue.
Construction for the Project Blue data center in Tucson, Arizona, faced a temporary slowdown after Pima County's Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) issued a notice of violation to the project's contractor, Ames Construction. The violation cited dust spreading off the construction site.
The issue stemmed from the City of Tucson's decision to cut off water supply to Ames Construction. The city, which previously refused to annex the Project Blue site, discovered the contractor was using a Tucson Water account to fill water trucks from a fire hydrant within city limits, and subsequently halted that access. Ames Construction stated that without water for dust control, particularly while harvesting native plants, dust was unavoidable.
In response to the Pima DEQ complaint, Beale Infrastructure, the company behind Project Blue, confirmed that Ames Construction has secured an independent water supply for dust control, not sourced from Tucson's water system. Additionally, the contractor is now utilizing a dust suppressant product known as "Gorilla-Snot" and has implemented measures such as worker training on dust control and on-site vehicle speed limits. Pima DEQ has not imposed any fines related to the violation as of now.