PHOENIX — Count data centers as another issue that deeply divides Attorney General Kris Mayes and her Republican opponent, Senate President Warren Petersen.
Moderators at Wednesday night’s Clean Elections debate asked the Mayes’ call for a temporary halt on new data centers.
“Do we want to be the data center capital of the world?” Mayes said. “The vast majority of Arizonans that I come across say ‘absolutely not,’ and they want to have a say.”
But Petersen said a moratorium is not needed.
“Kris Mayes has a philosophy of just shutting everything down, whether it's housing or data centers, or whatever it is, and that increases the cost of everything,” he said.
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Mayes says the state needs to come up with a strategy for the facilities given cuts to the state’s share of Colorado River water and pending utility rate hikes.
“We need a pause so that we can get our hands around this situation,” she told reporters after Wednesday’s debate.
Mayes said she’s working on a plan for a new approval process that would allow communities to vote on data center projects and create a commission to review proposed data centers like the Arizona Power Plant and Transmission Line Siting Committee does for energy projects. The proposals would then go to either the governor or attorney general, she said.
“These data centers are being plunked right in the middle of neighborhoods,” Mayes said during the debate. “Can you imagine if one of these hyperscale data centers came into your neighborhood with no notice, with no vote by the community?”
But Petersen said data centers are sorely needed.
“If you like your tech and your phone and your computer and the stuff you can use that for, you probably think data centers are important,” he said.
He pointed to three major issues: location, power and water.
Like Mayes, he said local communities should decide if they want data centers.
“Maybe it's a heavy industrial location or some place where the community says ... we're OK with this,” he said.
But he said the facilities can address the electricity and water concerns.
“Data centers need to generate their own power,” he said. “And there's a water concern, and data centers, again, need to be responsible for their water, whether that means recycling it or making sure that they have brought their own water supplies.”
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