San Francisco’s board of supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to impose a 45-day moratorium on new data centers, a pause that can be extended up to 22 months. Despite San Francisco being the home of AI development in the United States, one city official said of data centers, “We need to know what these impacts are. Until we know what that is, it needs to stop.”
\n\nBloomberg reports that the measure halts new projects while city planning officials study their effects on energy, water, air quality, land use and surrounding communities. A hearing on those findings is due by November, according to Mission Local, which reported on the vote.
\n\n“We need to know what these impacts are. Until we know what that is, it needs to stop,” Supervisor Shamann Walton said.
\n\nSan Francisco is home to AI giants OpenAI and Anthropic, but the city doesn’t actually know how many data centers it already hosts. Bloomberg found no comprehensive tally. The San Francisco Standard counts six sites.
\n\nTwo projects are now on hold because of the freeze. One is NOVVA’s facility at 400 Paul Avenue in Bayview, which currently draws 9 megawatts of power but had applied to expand to 36 megawatts.
Original source: https://www.breitbart.com/economy/
