The Socorro County Board of Commissioners unanimously adopted a yearlong moratorium on data centers and related infrastructure projects Tuesday evening after residents for months opposed a Canadian tech CEO’s proposal to build a data center and solar array on 10,000 acres of nearby land. … [Green Data CEO Jason] Bak proposed a massive solar array to power the data center and said it would rely on technology called atmospheric water generation to pull moisture out of the air and convert it into usable water, rather than draining local aquifers. … In the months since Bak first unveiled his proposal, residents have packed the room at City Council and New Mexico Tech town hall meetings to oppose the project, often contending that the solar array could harm the surrounding desert environment and that the water technology was not a proven solution.

Other data center water use news around the West:

• Northern Nevada Business Weekly (Reno): Reno extends its data center moratorium into 2027: Here’s what happens next
• KKTV (Colorado Springs, Colo.): Experts weigh in on the largest environmental impacts of data centers
• ABC23 (Bakersfield, Calif.): Eastern Kern County residents urge supervisors to oppose proposed AI data center
• The New York Times: Column: The movement to stop data centers