Memphis City Council unanimously passed an ordinance on second reading that would temporarily ban new data center development for 12 months.
If the ordinance becomes law, the City of Memphis will develop regulations for data centers and stop approving new data center applications during that time. The ordinance would not apply to data centers already lawfully operating in Memphis, except if they seek to expand their operations.
The bill is likely to be voted on at the city council’s next meeting on September 15th. If the council passes the ordinance, the bill will be sent to Memphis Mayor Paul Young’s desk.
After the city council passed the resolution on Tuesday, State Representative Justin Pearson (D-Memphis), who is also running in the state’s 8th Congressional District race, thanked the council members for bringing the city one step closer to implementing a data center ban.
Pearson said Memphis needs a moratorium to give the city a “responsible amount of time to come up with the regulations that protect [its] community.”
“It is not banning [data centers]. It is doing a responsible timeout,” he explained.
He referenced Republican-led local governments, Knox County, Fayette County, Coffee County, and McMinnville, that implemented temporary bans on data centers.
Before the council approved the ordinance on second reading, Doug McGowan, CEO of Memphis Light, Gas and Water (MLGW), told council members at a committee meeting that a large-load customer, such as a data center, must undergo a thorough application process with MLGW and the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) before being brought online.
McGowan pointed out that, starting on October 1st, TVA is implementing new rules to prevent ratepayers from subsidizing data centers.
MLGW serves 16 data centers, ranging from those that use under 1 megawatt to those that use 150 megawatts, McGowan said. He noted that these data centers serve companies such as the Internal Revenue Service, FedEx, Nike, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and xAI.
McGowan said a new data center will not be coming online in the next six months.
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Zachery Schmidt is the digital editor of The Star News Network. Email tips to Zachery at [email protected].
