Tucson City Council unanimously rejects Project Blue

[Luce]

Tucson City Council unanimously rejects Project Blue

TUCSON, Ariz. - (KVOA) After hearing loud opposition from many Tucsonans over the last several weeks, the Tucson City Council voted 7-0 Wednesday to reject a proposed data center known

www.kvoa.com

TUCSON, Ariz. - (KVOA) After hearing loud opposition from many Tucsonans over the last several weeks, the Tucson City Council voted 7-0 Wednesday to reject a proposed data center known as Project Blue.

Mayor Regina Romero and city council decided this is not the time for this project within city limits.


The council chambers was full of residents who were passionately against Project Blue.

Council members Kevin Dahl and Karin Uhlich made a motion to pull the annexation of the land all together, effectively squashing the project. All of their colleagues agreed.

"Project Blue is not about Tucson's future," Councilwoman Lane Santa Cruz said. "It's about using Tucson's land, Tucson's water, Tucson's people as means to someone else's ends."

"I first announced on July 8 by Facebook, I would not support this project," Councilman Paul Cunningham said. "I have not moved from that position nor do I see any force in the universe ever having me move from that position."


Councilwoman Nikki Lee said this was not the type of development the residents in her Ward 4 would like.

It turns out we have better uses for our electricity and water and the tech bros can kiss our collective asses.

 

[phoenix2020]

Tucson City Council unanimously rejects Project Blue

TUCSON, Ariz. - (KVOA) After hearing loud opposition from many Tucsonans over the last several weeks, the Tucson City Council voted 7-0 Wednesday to reject a proposed data center known

www.kvoa.com

It turns out we have better uses for our electricity and water and the tech bros can kiss our collective asses.

Interestingly here in San Jose the city is pulling out all the stops to secure data centers. At a city budget town hall i went to a couple of months ago, our mayor made a convincing case that data centers are about the best source of stable, valuable commercial tax revenue one could want and more data centers = less property taxes and sales taxes, more police and schools. The city has secured at least a couple this summer.

 

[KingLeo]

Interestingly here in San Jose the city is pulling out all the stops to secure data centers. At a city budget town hall i went to a couple of months ago, our mayor made a convincing case that data centers are about the best source of stable, valuable commercial tax revenue one could want and more data centers = less property taxes and sales taxes, more police and schools. The city has secured at least a couple this summer.

In race to attract data centers, states can forfeit hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue to tech companies​

However, watchdog groups said that for data centers the tradeoffs are iffy, because the facilities don’t tend to create large numbers of jobs, while the amount of electricity required can be immense.

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/06/20/tax-breaks-for-tech-giants-data-centers-mean-less-income-for-states.html

Extracting Profits from
the Public: How Utility
Ratepayers Are Paying for
Big Tech’s Power

https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Harvard-ELI-Extracting-Profits-from-the-Public.pdf

 

[Maidenrules29]

Interestingly here in San Jose the city is pulling out all the stops to secure data centers. At a city budget town hall i went to a couple of months ago, our mayor made a convincing case that data centers are about the best source of stable, valuable commercial tax revenue one could want and more data centers = less property taxes and sales taxes, more police and schools. The city has secured at least a couple this summer.

So the mayor is convinced that these data centers will create more revenue in the form of business taxes than would property and sales taxes? Sounds iffy.

 

[phoenix2020]

So the mayor is convinced that these data centers will create more revenue in the form of business taxes than would property and sales taxes? Sounds iffy.

Yes, he showed his math and it’s pretty stunning how good they can be for a city. Fixed size, predictable consumption, 24x7 operation. You mentioned property taxes. Think about the property value of a data centers. Electrical consumption? Tax. Equipment purchase and installation? A continuous capital improvement process for a data center that generates tax revenue.

Smart city leaders will recognize and pursue hosting data centers.

 

[Maidenrules29]

Yes, he showed his math and it’s pretty stunning how good they can be for a city. Fixed size, predictable consumption, 24x7 operation. You mentioned property taxes. Think about the property value of a data centers. Electrical consumption? Tax. Equipment purchase and installation? A continuous capital improvement process for a data center that generates tax revenue.

Smart city leaders will recognize and pursue hosting data centers.

Hopefully they improve the power grid infastrucure to go along with it. California is famous for rolling blackouts. I know from experience.

 

[Luce]

Interestingly here in San Jose the city is pulling out all the stops to secure data centers. At a city budget town hall i went to a couple of months ago, our mayor made a convincing case that data centers are about the best source of stable, valuable commercial tax revenue one could want and more data centers = less property taxes and sales taxes, more police and schools. The city has secured at least a couple this summer.

I hope you don't need water.

 

[Checkerboard Strangler]

Hopefully they improve the power grid infastrucure to go along with it. California is famous for rolling blackouts. I know from experience.

Were famous for it.
But it was mostly Texas committing acts of war.

Funny thing is, now it's ERCOT, the Texas grid operator, which is now famous for rolling blackouts, both winter and summer.
What California is famous for now is Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS) to prevent wildfires during high wind events and ultra dry conditions.

Your experience sounds like it's from thirty some years ago.

 

[Luce]

Were famous for it.
But it was mostly Texas committing acts of war.

Funny thing is, now it's ERCOT, the Texas grid operator, which is now famous for rolling blackouts, both winter and summer.
What California is famous for now is Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS) to prevent wildfires during high wind events and ultra dry conditions.

Your experience sounds like it's from thirty some years ago.

ERCOT is my favorite example of a population deliberately cornholing themselves and then screaming how much they like it.

 

[phoenix2020]

I hope you don't need water.

Yup, we’re pretty good.

 

[phoenix2020]

Hopefully they improve the power grid infastrucure to go along with it. California is famous for rolling blackouts. I know from experience.

Yeah in the outskirts. In a city like San Jose? It’s a non-issue. I know from experience.

 

[Maidenrules29]

Yeah in the outskirts. In a city like San Jose? It’s a non-issue. I know from experience.

I lived in the San Gabriel valley and the I.E. We had plenty of them.

 

[phoenix2020]

I lived in the San Gabriel valley and the I.E. We had plenty of them.

Exactly, who would want to build a data center there?

 

[Roadvirus]

The first mistake was naming it after a fictional Bioweapon project that killed 99% of the planet's population.

 

[Luce]

Yup, we’re pretty good.

See, we're not.

The dumbasses think they'll just move it out of city limits without realizing that Tucson and the First Nations have an effective monopoly on water down here and neither one wants the data center.

 

[Luce]

The first mistake was naming it after a fictional Bioweapon project that killed 99% of the planet's population.

Don't worry, they're renaming it to Soylent Green.

 

[multivita-man]

Tucson City Council unanimously rejects Project Blue

TUCSON, Ariz. - (KVOA) After hearing loud opposition from many Tucsonans over the last several weeks, the Tucson City Council voted 7-0 Wednesday to reject a proposed data center known

www.kvoa.com

It turns out we have better uses for our electricity and water and the tech bros can kiss our collective asses.

Awesome.

Unfortunately, here in Virginia, we are becoming cheap prostitutes for tech-bro resource grabs.

 

[Luce]

Awesome.

Unfortunately, here in Virginia, we are becoming cheap prostitutes for tech-bro resource grabs.

As I understand it, your state budget is kinda potato right now, so I can see why that would be the case.

 

[multivita-man]

As I understand it, your state budget is kinda potato right now, so I can see why that would be the case.

Virginia's budget is actually...pretty good. We have a 2.5 billion surplus in fact. Now, considering how many layoffs are in the pipeline (a shit ton), I don't expect that situation to hold.

But I digress. VA is probably the number one state in the nation for new data centers, and these beasts are going to create water emergencies even when we're having a above-average precip year.

 

[Luce]

Virginia's budget is actually...pretty good. We have a 2.5 billion surplus in fact. Now, considering how many layoffs are in the pipeline (a shit ton), I don't expect that situation to hold.

But I digress. VA is probably the number one state in the nation for new data centers, and these beasts are going to create water emergencies even when we're having a above-average precip year.

Sorry, was thinking West Virginia, AKA East Tennessee.

 

[multivita-man]

Sorry, was thinking West Virginia, AKA East Tennessee.

Yeah, West Virginia's a tragedy. It's a state with so much natural beauty, but it never really came out of the coal mine era. Still, the property's cheap and there's a train that runs from the border to Union Station. Too long a commute for me, though.