Durham City Council to discuss data center moratorium; opposition expected

The Durham City Council is slated to discuss a potential moratorium on data center development during its upcoming meeting, joining other municipalities considering a pause on such projects. In anticipation of the discussion, local residents and groups, including the Merrick-Moore Community Development Corporation and the Stop Data Centers in Durham Coalition, are organizing a rally to voice their opposition outside city hall. The coalition specifically advocates for a "32-month moratorium (or longer)" on large-scale data centers and similar high-impact facilities, which would be the most stringent in North Carolina. North Carolina is experiencing significant interest from data center developers, leading to concerns about the substantial resources these facilities require. Experts highlight that data centers, particularly those powering artificial intelligence, demand enormous amounts of electricity—with a 300-megawatt center using as much as 200,000 North Carolina homes. They also consume vast quantities of water, with one developer noting a peak requirement of 1 million gallons per day, a figure he considers conservative. Additionally, studies suggest data centers contribute to urban heat islands, potentially raising local temperatures by up to 16 degrees. Duke Energy has identified about 6 gigawatts of data center demand in its Carolinas development pipeline, likening the surge to the region's past solar boom. Public sentiment nationwide appears to be shifting, with Maine's governor recently vetoing a state-level moratorium and polls in Virginia and Wisconsin indicating growing public opposition. While some local officials and labor unions support data centers for job creation and tax revenue, there's also a push, even in Congress, to regulate them more effectively.