# Fight over data centers hits Richmond > Source: > Published: 2026-09-16 23:12:42+00:00 **Getting your** [Trinity Audio](//trinityaudio.ai)player ready... RICHMOND — Data centers are now under a temporary ban in Richmond, following a council vote Tuesday night, making the city the third in the region to put the brakes on the rapidly-growing industry. The council agreed to ban data centers for 45 days, a period that can be extended up to an additional 22 months and 15 days, with the aim of giving the city time to evaluate whether and how data centers can fit into the community. Richmond has no data centers and hasn’t received any applications for one, but officials expressed a need to get ahead of what they see as an environmental and health threat to residents. “We need to ensure that our residents are not subjected to additional pollution burdens and that our power infrastructure is not pushed beyond what it can reasonably sustain,” Mayor Eduardo Martinez told Bay Area News Group in a statement. “Richmond must put the health, safety, and long-term interests of our residents first.” Public resistance to data centers nationwide largely stems from concerns about the amount of water the facilities use to keep cool, their increased pressure on electrical grids that have caused rate increases, possible pollution from diesel-gas-powered generators, and a buzzing noise that radiates from the systems, among other worries “As a teacher I think about the future of my students and their families and I’m alarmed,” said Christopher Taft, a former preschool teacher living in Richmond. “Let us not bequeath to them a future of water shortages, rising power costs, severe environmental toxicity, and perhaps worst, domination by artificial intelligence systems which require such data centers to be built.” Other regional cities are also moving quickly to regulate data centers. The Gilroy City Council approved a moratorium Monday, while Oakley became the first in the region to implement a temporary data center ban back in April. Brentwood and Hayward officials have also asked staff to research possible bans. This increased scrutiny comes as there’s been a rapidly-growing AI-fueled demand for new data centers in a region that already has dozens, particularly in Santa Clara County. Prologis, a data center developer, [filed an application](https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2026/08/28/tech-san-jose-data-center-ai-build-property-develop-real-estate-economy/) for a 514,000-square-foot data center in San Jose just last month. Pittsburg approved a new data center project in 2024, sparking public pushback and promises of [stronger scrutiny of similar projects](https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2026/08/04/pittsburg-pledges-greater-public-scrutiny-of-data-centers-after-backlash/) by the city moving forward. What occurred in Pittsburg underscored a need to get ahead of the issue, Councilmember Claudia Jimenez said in an interview Wednesday. Richmond has already long faced years of environmental and health impacts due to the Chevron Refinery, the lawmaker said, citing a recently released [preliminary report by the Bay Area Air District](https://www.baaqmd.gov/en/News-and-Events/Page-Resources/2026-News/082526-Chevron-HRA) that found that health risks for people living near the refinery are three times higher than allowed. “When it comes to corporations we want to bring to the city, I’m really interested in looking at what are the benefits — not only to the community but also the environment — because we don’t want to add more negative effects to what we already have,” Jimenez said. The urgency ordinance approved Tuesday required a super majority to pass, which was met with a 6-0-1 vote, with Councilmember Jamelia Brown abstaining. Before the vote, Brown and Councilmembers Cesar Zepeda raised questions about whether the findings met the legal threshold for enacting the emergency ban. Interim City Attorney Shannon Moore said during the meeting all city actions come with some level of risks but staff have done what they can to draft a measure that could withstand a possible challenge in court. Zepeda said in an interview Wednesday that the intent behind his questioning was to find a possible solution that posed the least amount of legal risk to the city. The council member also shares the public’s concerns about the environmental impacts data centers pose. Whether the businesses are allowed to establish in the city depends on whether the industry develops solutions for reducing impacts on electrical grids and water resources. Data centers have also historically staffed few employees, meaning few people to frequent surrounding businesses, Zepeda said. “Our community now wants to be in Richmond and have cleaner businesses and less pollution. They’re asking for something different than what we’ve had before and I don’t know that a data center would be that solution,” Zepeda said. “We’ve been fighting to bring in more green and blue businesses in Richmond and right now, based on the information that’s out there, (a data center) is not the fit.”