City council members began presenting data center guardrail proposals as the body’s moratorium passed its second reading.
Council member Philip Spinosa presented a five-piece framework which touched on compliance with environmental standards, rate payer and infrastructure cost protection, aquifer and water security, community and resident protection, local economic participation, and permanent job attraction.
Spinosa’s proposal was presented during the Tuesday meeting of the council’s Planning and Zoning committee.
“Memphis has an opportunity [to] change the game”, Spinosa said. “We need to make sure Memphis, and quite frankly the entire country, participate in this new deal.”
Spinosa likened data center expansions to this generation’s space race, and iterated the importance of community benefit, especially to those “negatively impacted” by these decisions.
The council member encouraged collaboration between the city, the county, Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), Memphis Light, Gas, and Water (MLGW), and community members to come up with solutions.
“This is a first step,” Spinosa said. “It’s not the final word at all, but it is a framework for us and we need to work through them and I hope we work through them. I think it gives us enough to establish the principles, set clear expectations, and move forward thoughtfully.”
Spinosa said the city does not have to close the door to opportunity, but they also don’t have to move on a company’s terms.
Council Attorney Allan Wade explained that if the moratorium ordinance is passed, it would allow the appropriate time to develop a framework like the one Spinosa presented.
“What [this framework] does is move the ball down the road faster than a year,” Wade said. “Once you have something in place that regulates the playing field, the moratorium is not needed anymore. You can’t continue a moratorium indefinitely.”
Warren presented a plan that would ban data centers that use “evaporative large amounts of water” and “large amounts of local water withdrawal” for cooling.
Councilmember Jeff Warren’s framework called for public disclosure, penalties, and enforcement for future expansions.
“My thinking is what everyone really wants is that we don’t want these things coming in where we can’t say how they’re using our resources,” Warren said. “We don’t want to be a data center desert.”
Councilwoman Yolanda Cooper-Sutton said the proposed regulations fail to address the centers being placed in Black communities.
Cooper-Sutton said she and Shelby County Commissioner Erika Sugarmon were working on a framework that she said the council said she couldn’t move forward with.
Criticism of the proposals continued during the public comment period during the council’s regular meeting.
Community organizer Amber Sherman called the committee meeting a “mess,” and said the council failed to address community needs.
“Philip Spinosa introduced a framework for data centers that we didn’t ask for as a response to our ask for a very clear data center moratorium,” Sherman said. “My question is, why do members of this body often disregard what the community is asking for, especially the white ones?”
Sherman said the council was seeking to appease businesses and donors rather than Memphis residents.
Sarah Houston, executive director of Protect Our Aquifer (POA), commended the council for moving the moratorium ordinance closer to passage, and said the pause would allow the city time to “get these guardrails right.”
Houston put emphasis on regulating water impacts and turbines and banning city officials from signing NDAs. She also said the ordinance should be a joint one between the city and county.
“Let’s make this work for the county and city,” Houston said. “Think about data center regulations holistically — that’s going to take time.”
