Tucson pulls water access from Project Blue data center

Tucson Water revoked a construction water meter at the Project Blue data center site on April 24, following the unauthorized use of two acre-feet of city water by Ames Construction, the project's contractor. The decision was detailed in a May 4 letter from Tucson City Manager Tim Thomure to Brendon Gallagher, senior vice president of Beale Infrastructure, the data center's developer. The city council had previously voted to block the annexation of Project Blue in August, and Thomure requested Beale Infrastructure to replenish the water used. Ward 3 City Councilmember Kevin Dahl shared the news on Instagram, leading to public praise for the city's action and anger towards the data center project. In response to ongoing developments, the mayor and council are currently working on a Large Scale Data Center Unified Development Code Amendment, assisted by the Data Center Code Amendment Technical Advisory Committee. Public feedback has been received, and the Planning Commission reviewed the proposed code in a May 6 study session. A public hearing is scheduled for June, with further mayor and council discussions and a public hearing planned for July.