The Abridged version:
- Sacramento Mayor Kevin McCarty called on city staffers to look into a policy that would consider impacts from data centers.
- The remarks from the mayor arrived the same day Abridged by PBS KVIE reported that a large data center company is eyeing southeastern Sacramento for a new project.
- The Sacramento Municipal Utility District is currently handling four inquires for data centers that could be sized from 20 to 50 megawatts.
Sacramento Mayor Kevin McCarty is calling for the city to look into “safeguards” for data center projects.
“I want Sacramento to be prepared if and when a project comes our way,” McCarty said at a Tuesday afternoon Sacramento City Council meeting.
McCarty’s comments arrived the same day that Abridged by PBS KVIE reported that a large data center company is eyeing the city of Sacramento for a project.
“I’m asking our city manager and our city staff to look into a policy that considers potential impacts on our communities, energy, water infrastructure, neighborhoods and what safeguards we might need if such a proposal is forwarded to the city of Sacramento,” the mayor said.
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Records aquired by Abridged show that national warehouse firm Link Logistics has been in talks with the Sacramento Municipal Utility District about a potential “large load” data center project since February. Link Logistics is a subsidiary of Blackstone Inc., which is one of the largest developers of data centers in the nation.
The company is considering building the data center project in an industrial complex in southeast Sacramento, according to public records.
The data center project proposed for Sacramento could be sized at 50 megawatts or more. SMUD previously stated that it currently has four inquiries for data center projects, all sized between 20 and 50 megawatts. The utility’s territory covers Sacramento County and a portion of Placer County.
Councilmember Eric Guerra, who represents southeastern Sacramento, stated that he was opposed to data center projects. Public records show that Guerra met with employees at Link Logistics on April 15 who were seeking the councilman’s support on entitlements for the project.
“Questions came up at City Council today about data centers,” Guerra said in a statement posted after Tuesday’s council meeting.
“Data centers are not permitted in Sacramento and I strongly oppose allowing them in the city when there are too many unanswered questions surrounding impacts to our water and air, all of which are essential to our community,” Guerra said.
McCarty also mentioned a bill on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk, Assembly Bill 2619, would require data centers to disclose estimates on their water usage to cities and counties.
As Sacramento begins exploring a potential data center policy, cities across the state have begun issuing bans and moratoriums on data centers. At least 15 California cities have proposed or adopted moratoriums on new data centers over the last month, Politico reported.
Councilmember Lisa Kaplan urged the city to adopt a moratorium on new data center projects while the city develops a wider policy on data centers.
In a social media post, Kaplan outlined concerns around the high energy consumption connected to data centers. She said that those emissions can “present a significant risk to public health and affect the ability of local governments to achieve their climate and clean energy goals.”
