IN FOCUS - Aug. 8, 2025

“Project Blue” had the Tucson City Council seeing red this week when it unanimously rejected a proposal to annex a portion of Pima County for the proposed data center.

The $3.6 billion project would house Amazon Web Services and generate an estimated $250 million in tax revenue, as well as 3,000 temporary construction jobs. An opposition group calling itself No Desert Data Centers rallied against the project - filling City Hall as critics cited the data center’s expected water and energy consumption, among other concerns.

The southern Arizona skirmish is a likely preview of coming data center fights statewide as demand from AI and our digital economy explodes. It was not even a decade ago when the state celebrated legislation to help facilitate data center recruitment. Fast forward to today and there are at least 151 data centers statewide, though almost all are in the Phoenix metro area. Community backlash is growing due to concerns data centers drink too much water, consume too much energy, use too much land … even the ceaseless hum from their army of AC units.

Pushback isn’t solely coming from the Left. Increasingly, conservative and MAGA policymakers are also expressing alarm - especially regarding data centers cited near residential developments.

Meanwhile, back in Tucson, there is speculation that Project Blue is inevitable. At least one Tucson Councilwoman suggested Project Blue developers are intent on building the project in the Tucson area “regardless of what the City of Tucson decides.”