At least six Bay Area cities are tightening data-center rules, the East Bay Times reported Wednesday, while seven related bills sit unsigned on Gov. Gavin Newsom's desk. [1] Gilroy rewrote notice and hearing requirements after an Amazon hall of 438,500 square feet was already under construction. Oakley has a moratorium. Pittsburg pledged public hearings. Hayward is considering a moratorium. San Jose is rewriting standards and talking community benefits. Santa Clara is studying water limits. [1] Amazon's Gilroy project will not be stopped by the new local rules. It is expected to begin operating by year's end. [1]
Monday's paper treated AB 2469 and AB 2619 as a second chance after last year's water-disclosure veto, not as a signature. Friday's lobbying file was the spend that local siting is now receiving. Wednesday is the receipt: city clerks moving while the governor still has until September 30. [1] [2] Do not write that he signed.
Monterey Park remains the first U.S. city with a permanent ban, passed 88 percent at the ballot. [1] PG&E told the Times it has about 4 gigawatts of data-center demand under construction or in final approval, roughly four times San Jose's average peak. The utility expects electricity demand in its territory to double in 20 years, with about a third of the growth from data centers. [1] Each extra gigawatt, PG&E estimates, could cut the average household bill 1 to 2 percent over time if the load stays connected. If a center connects and then dies, other ratepayers can be left holding the wires. [1]
The seven bills include Padilla's SB 886 and Zbur's AB 2383 on large-user rates, McNerney's SB 1168 on keeping costs off other customers, Padilla's SB 887 on environmental review with a fast-track for qualifying projects, Papan's AB 2469 and AB 2619 on water disclosure, and Bauer-Kahan's AB 1577 on energy reporting. [1] Last year Newsom vetoed a Papan water-disclosure bill, saying he was "reluctant to impose rigid reporting requirements … without understanding the full impact on businesses and the consumers of their technology." [1] [2] That sentence is still the test. Khara Boender of the Data Center Coalition said moratoria send a "worrisome signal" and that any water or power standard should apply to similar industrial users, not the industry alone. [1] San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan said the city cannot "bury our heads in the sand, say 'no' and push the jobs … to states with fewer environmental safeguards." [1]
National copy will call this a civilizational revolt. The East Bay Times copy is planning commissions, recycled-water pipes, and a 15,000-square-foot hearing trigger in Gilroy. [1] A reader of only the goose argument misses the Amazon hall already rising. A reader of only Gilroy misses that the same fight is now a White House talking point and that the water bills are still paper. Local revolt is the story. The unsigned stack is one paragraph, not a second will-he-sign duplicate.
-- THEO KAPLAN, San Francisco