(The Center Square) – An ordinance by the Atlanta City Council requiring a special-use permit for data centers is the latest pushback from local governments concerned about their effect.
Mayor Andre Dickens still has to sign the ordinance before it takes effect. The permit requires applicants to provide plans for water use and energy, which are two concerns of data center opponents.
Applicants will also provide a transmission line impact assessment and a tree preservation and reforestation plan.
The City Council approved the measure without fanfare on Monday. The item was discussed in more detail during a zoning committee last week.
“Unfortunately, I had to learn the hard way in my district as many other district council members have about the burdens that data centers carry not only on our neighborhoods but on our electricity grid, our water system, etc…” Councilman Dustin Hillis said in the meeting.
Georgia has more than 50 data centers, according to the Georgia Department of Economic Development. The recent rush of applications for new data centers is a positive sign on the one hand, Thomas Perdue, a policy analyst for the Georgia Public Policy Foundation, told The Center Square.
“Having a lot of data centers in an area, it is a signal in the very least to say the tech industry and all of these other adjacent and connected industries that depend and work on tech to grow their own businesses and help communities, help with job creation and all these different things, it is a signal that it is a fertile environment for tech,” Perdue said.
Data centers come with trade-offs, like land use and environmental concerns, because the data centers use millions of gallons of water. And those “trade-offs” have sparked concerns from local and state officials and residents.
Coweta County commissioners agreed to a 180-day moratorium in May, and Douglas County agreed to a 90-day one in March, according to Government Technology.
The Floyd County Commission in northwest Georgia approved an application for a seven-building, 2,395,000-square-foot data center from Atlas Development with a completion date of 2032, according to WRGA. But local residents told the commission they were concerned, particularly about water use.
Sen. Chuck Hufstetler, R-Rome, whose district includes Floyd County, presented a bill that would require data centers to foot the bill for any increased power use. The bill did not pass.
The Public Service Commission passed a rule in January that requires Georgia Power to charge large load customers using more than 100 megawatts of energy instead of passing it on to the consumer.
But that is not the end of the debate between the commission and Georgia Power over data centers. The Public Service Commission staff accused the utility of over-projecting future materialization rates for data centers and cryptocurrency operations at a hearing over Georgia Power’s Integrated Resource Plan.
The commission will vote on the plan July 15.
