{"slug": "let-them-go-someplace-else-eureka-council-enacts-45-day-ban-on-data-centers", "title": "‘Let them go someplace else’: Eureka council enacts 45‑day ban on data centers", "summary": "The Eureka City Council unanimously approved a 45-day moratorium on new data centers within city limits on Tuesday, citing concerns over water, power, and public safety. City Manager Miles Slattery said staff will return with a regulatory framework before the window closes, likely at the council's first meeting in October. Councilmember Katie Moulton raised fire risks from large battery banks, and Councilmember Renee Contreras-DeLoach noted already high electricity rates.", "body_md": "**Getting your**\n\n[Trinity Audio](//trinityaudio.ai)player ready...The Eureka City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved a 45‑day moratorium on new data centers within city limits, launching a fast‑tracked review of how or if such facilities should be allowed in the future. The move follows a growing statewide concern over the water, power and public‑safety demands associated with large‑scale computing operations.\n\nCity Manager Miles Slattery told councilmembers the pause gives staff time to return with options for regulating data centers, including limits based on water consumption, electrical load or facility size. Most parcels suitable for such projects fall within the coastal zone, meaning long‑term rules would require updates to both inland and coastal zoning codes.\n\nCity Attorney Robert Black said the moratorium is allowed under state law and can be extended with a public hearing and a four‑fifths vote for up to two years.\n\n“Data centers are a complex subject because they have impacts in so many different ways, in terms of water, energy, water rates, energy rates, disposal of cooling water,” said Black. “You would not want to do so without a well‑thought‑out regulatory plan.”\n\nCouncilmembers emphasized the need to distinguish between everyday business server use and industrial‑scale facilities that support artificial intelligence or cloud‑computing operations. Several noted that the definition of “data center” will need refinement before any long‑term rules are adopted.\n\nCouncilmember Katie Moulton added a public safety concern not yet discussed, pointing to fire risks associated with large battery banks commonly used for backup power in high‑load computing facilities.\n\n“Wherever you find a lot of computers, you find high power usage, and you usually also find very large battery banks,” said Moulton, urging staff to consider how on‑site energy storage could complicate fire suppression.\n\nCouncilmember G. Mario Fernandez immediately followed, saying Moulton’s point underscored a hazard he had not previously considered.\n\n“Thank you for that… I hadn’t thought about that until you started talking about batteries,” said Fernandez. “If something were to catch fire, now we’re talking about a lithium‑ion fire.”\n\nOther members pointed to potential impacts on electricity rates, water supply and the city’s character being disrupted by the site of industrial buildings. Councilmember Renee Contreras‑DeLoach said communities must prioritize resident health and safety.\n\n“Electricity rates are already astounding,” said Contreras‑DeLoach. “We can build all the low‑income housing in the world, but if people can’t afford their power bills… the high rates of water consumption, cooling systems competing with agricultural or other needs our job is to protect the health and safety of the people living in the community.”\n\nDuring public comment, residents urged the council to keep the moratorium broad and to consider regional coordination with other jurisdictions; it was also mentioned that ratepayers near large data centers elsewhere have faced higher utility costs and environmental impacts.\n\n“I recognize that as long as we’re dependent on AI, however you define it, somebody somewhere is going to have to have a data center in their backyard. But this is a hill I will die on. I don’t want it here,” said Deborah Dukes to the council. “I would urge you to use the 45 days and up to two years as thoroughly as you possibly can, to either keep these things completely out of Eureka, or with limitations up the wazoo, and let them go someplace else.”\n\nSlattery said staff will return with a proposed framework before the 45‑day window closes, likely at the council’s first meeting in October. If extended, the moratorium could remain in place while the city updates its Local Coastal Program, a process he said should be achievable within two years. The council approved the moratorium on a 5‑0 vote.\n\n*Maranda Vargas can be reached at 707-441-0504*", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/let-them-go-someplace-else-eureka-council-enacts-45-day-ban-on-data-centers", "canonical_source": "https://www.mercurynews.com/2026/09/02/let-them-go-someplace-else-eureka-council-enacts-45-day-ban-on-data-centers/", "published_at": "2026-09-02 21:39:40+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-09-02 22:52:13.179323+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-infrastructure", "ai-policy"], "entities": ["Eureka City Council", "Miles Slattery", "Robert Black", "Katie Moulton", "G. Mario Fernandez", "Renee Contreras-DeLoach", "Deborah Dukes"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/let-them-go-someplace-else-eureka-council-enacts-45-day-ban-on-data-centers", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/let-them-go-someplace-else-eureka-council-enacts-45-day-ban-on-data-centers.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/let-them-go-someplace-else-eureka-council-enacts-45-day-ban-on-data-centers.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/let-them-go-someplace-else-eureka-council-enacts-45-day-ban-on-data-centers.jsonld"}}