Photo Credit: City of Oakland / Councilmember Carroll Fife
(OAKLAND, Calif.) – Aligning with several California cities’ measures to mitigate the potentially harmful effects of data centers, Oakland’s Life Enrichment Committee approved a data center moratorium on September 22– to be voted on by the full council on October 6th. The moratorium puts a 45-day halt on approving new permits or land-use agreements for data centers in the city.
The legislation is the result of months of work by District 3’s councilmember and Life Enrichment Committee chairperson Carroll Fife, who presented it to the committee on Tuesday. She asked that the motion be approved without additional amendments, and iterated that this pause enables the city to collect data on the new center’s potential impacts.
“Data centers in Oakland have existed for a long time and throughout the country they have existed. But with the proliferation of artificial intelligence, there has been an increase in data centers that are more resource intensive than they have ever been in the past.”
This legislation mirrors actions taken across the state. Bay Area cities like Gilroy, Richmond, and Morgan Hill have approved temporary moratoriums in the last month– with Monterey Park and Oakley approving complete bans on the development of new data center projects.
The sentiment holds true on the state level: On September 21, Governor Newsom signed a package of seven bills aimed to “force the data center industry to pay its own way in California,” according to the CalMatters website.
Three of these laws prevent data centers from shifting costs to everyday ratepayers, three call for transparency surrounding data center water use, supply, and drought planning, and the last law prohibits data centers from being ineligible for blanket environmental exemptions.
In Oakland’s case, the moratorium emerged in part because of a new data center project proposed by Behring Companies at 415 20th street in Downtown Oakland. The center would occupy the building’s ground floor, in a facility that already has the capacity to generate up to 20 megawatts of power.
Last month, Councilmember Fife hosted a press conference in collaboration with Behring Companies’ CEO, Colin Behring at the project site. Fife clarified that the organization of the conference did not mean she was in support of the center’s construction.
“I think that transparency is so key to rebuilding the trust that residents have lost when it comes to their city government. And I’ m making a commitment today to work towards rebuilding that trust through communication and engagement,” Fife said.
Over 60 in-person speakers took to the podium in public comment on Tuesday to speak on the moratorium. Among these were members of the Food and Water Watch, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, Fossil Free California, and the Oakland Freedom Project– most of whom were energetically in support.
“It’s very clear from the people in this room that the people in Oakland want projects that support people, that don’t support billionaires,” said Nicole Ghio, the California Director at Food and Water Watch. “That supports clean water, a clean environment, building housing, the things that we actually need and which we desperately need in the city of Oakland.”
Photo Citation: City of Oakland / Nicole Ghio speaking to the council on September 22.
According to Ghio, her organization spanning the nation is currently working with communities across California to fight data centers and the associated rise in electricity rates, water pollution and other harms.
Another commenter, District 1 resident and member of Fossil Free California raised a point that councilmember Fife asserted with her presentation of the moratorium. That is, that a lack of knowledge warrants a pause.
“We know very little about the circumstances of the AI data centers and manufacturing businesses they proposed. This alone is reason enough for us to stop them dead in their tracks.”
As mentioned, the moratorium will be voted on by the full council on October 6th, and is eligible for extension after the 45-day period is up
To add to or correct any information in this report, please contact me at macey.w@lead4earth.org or leave a comment below with your thoughts.
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