The Abridged version:
- The Sacramento Municipal Utility District’s board declined to move forward with a set of “principles” Wednesday night that would have shaped its data center policy, saying the policy didn’t go far enough.
- Protestors spoke out against data center projects, fearing the effects on air quality, water and utility rates.
- SMUD anticipates significant demand from data centers in the coming years. Plans are shaping up for a 300-megawatt data center in southeast Sacramento.
The data center debate spilled into the domain of Sacramento’s local utility, as over a hundred protestors arrived at the Sacramento Municipal Utility District’s headquarters Wednesday night.
The board’s policy committee was slated to discuss a series of “principles” to guide SMUD’s approach to “large load” projects, like those over 50 megawatts.
The discussion was planned as more data center companies are eyeing Sacramento, and its affordable electricity rates, for potential projects. That includes a 300-megawatt data center being considered for construction in southeast Sacramento’s Depot Park.
The board declined to move forward with the new guidelines — which included promises that companies “pay their own way” — and urged adding more protections for SMUD customers.
Rob Kerth, a SMUD board director, said he looked into the effects from data centers across the country, and the utilities that work with them, and called the actions by those utilities “shockingly irresponsible.”
“It’s unbelievable to me that they would foist these kinds of nightmares on their communities,” Kerth said. “That is not SMUD.”
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Multiple board members said the utility has limited options to reject a policy. If a local city or government were to approve a data center, SMUD would be obligated to provide power to it.
“I fully support regulating these on a national level, but we’re not going to do it by SMUD refusing to follow the law,” board president David Tamayo said. “They are a threat to our security and our safety.”
Local cities or counties would eventually be the ones to sign off on whether a data center could be constructed. While public records note that Link Logistics is considering a data center project at southeast Sacramento’s Depot Park, no formal applications have been filed yet. SMUD’s staff has been in early discussions with the company since February.
Locals call for data center moratorium
Short and wonky is usually how the the policy committee meetings go down at SMUD.
Director Brandon Rose is used to seeing only four or five members of the public in the audience. On Wednesday, one public commenter screamed to the point where Rose began to panic and excused himself from the hearing for about 15 minutes.
It was a first for Rose, who’s been a SMUD director for 10 years. He said part of the problem is how quickly artificial intelligence has become a major issue for residents.
“We’ve gone from this doesn’t exist, four years ago, to screaming tonight,” Rose said.
Over the course of two hours, residents painted their fears, anger and skepticism about data centers. Multiple people urged the utility to take a strong stance against companies taking interest in building data centers in Sacramento.
Jacqueline Dunkel said the corporations that run data centers “seep into every place they go for advantage.”
“The citizens that are being serviced by SMUD are the bedrock of what needs to be protected,” Dunkel told the board. “You, as the caretaker of our public utility, are going to have to be precisely careful to protect yourselves from the robber barons.”
Others accused the utlity of taking too “neutral” of a stance, and urged them to support a ban on data centers.
“SMUD has said they don’t have any influence … you know that you do,” Katherine Keeney said. “You’re a large organization, beg (for) or vocally support a moratorium.”
Other residents called on the board to leverage the highest rates possible on any data center projects, to ensure that residential utility rates wouldn’t bear the burden.
Board considers stricter policy, possible ballot measure
Multiple SMUD board members said they want to see the utility create more protections for customers, if a local government were to approve a data center project.
“I want to make sure we have every tool in our power to make sure that our customers are protected and I can’t feel confident I can do that tonight,” director Heidi Sanborn said.
Board member Gregg Fishman asked SMUD staffers to consider placing a cap on the size of projects that could be proposed to the utility.
“Just as a clear statement that if you’re over that limit, don’t even bother,” Fishman said.
He added that he could also see the data center issue eventually go before Sacramento County voters as a local ballot measure. The utility is required to provide power to an approved business in its territory, but a ballot measure could potentially change that policy.
