MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A one-year pause on new data centers in Memphis comes back before the City Council on Tuesday, two weeks after a heated meeting ended with the decision pushed off.
At the Oct. 6 session, council members voted 7-5 to delay action on the moratorium. That meeting was cut short and recessed after protests stretched on in the chamber. The following day, Mayor Paul Young signed a 90-day executive order directing a study of data centers and calling for recommendations on guardrails that the council and other agencies could adopt.
Tuesday is also the first meeting under new rules for the public. Starting Oct. 20, the council is enforcing new limits on what people may bring into meetings and how they are expected to behave once inside, a response to the data center protest that halted the Oct. 6 session.
The fight over data centers has been building for more than a year, since the SpaceXAI data centers went up in the Boxtown and Whitehaven areas and drew complaints from neighbors worried about air quality and health. Shelby County Commissioner Henri E. Brooks recently held a community forum in Binghampton to hear from residents about the facilities and what limits they would like to see.
The issue has spilled into the race for governor as well, with both major-party candidates saying data centers need stronger rules, from making the companies pay their own way to protecting local water and air. The council vote will decide whether Memphis puts new projects on hold while the mayor’s study plays out or lets them keep moving forward.
Section: More Memphis TN politics news
Filed under: Memphis TN Politics News
