Facing legal challenges and growing industrial pressures, the Imperial County Board of Supervisors will vote Tuesday on whether to freeze new data center developments across all unincorporated lands for nearly another year. The proposed 10-month and 15-day extension of an urgency moratorium underscores a deepening regulatory anxiety over how these power-hungry facilities will affect the region’s strained electric grid and vital water resources. Beyond the data center freeze, Chairwoman Peggy Price will advance the framework for a new data center advisory committee. The group will attempt to bring order to the gold rush by appointing an 11-member advisory panel representing a cross-section of conflicting interests.

Other data center water use news:

• Cowboy State Daily (Cheyenne, Wyo.): Ranchlands near Wheatland eyed for $26 billion ‘transformational’ data center
• Data Centre Magazine: How Amazon is cutting water use in its global data centres
• Pasadena Now (Calif.): Opinion: Why Pasadena must ban data centers: a former mayor’s call