Pima County supervisors took a final step to advance an agreement between the county and Beale Infrastructure — the developer behind the controversial data center known as Project Blue.
The data center would be housed on a roughly 290-acre stretch of Pima County land on Tucson's southeast side. The agreement before the county board this week outlined Beale infrastructure’s commitments and stated benefits the data center would bring to the community.
But Supervisor Andrés Cano argued Project Blue was being pushed through without guardrails in place to protect public health and resources. He said Tucson has a long history of industrial issues — like in the city's southside, where chemicals used by defense contractors and military bases have caused years of illness due to water contamination.
“We cannot rush deals like this for short term gains, because the costs do not stay short term. They linger, in our bodies, in our neighborhoods, and in our public trust,” he said. “Our community has lived the price of ‘trust us,’ we have lived the consequences of secrecy. We have lived the damage done when public health is treated as an afterthought.”
Cano is one of two supervisors who have consistently voted against Project Blue. Supervisor Rex Scott, who has supported the project, argued residents would be protected from increased utility costs.
“What this memorandum of agreement provides is a path forward for ensuring that Beale’s commitment to match 100% of its energy consumption with renewable energy is met,” he said.
Scott also said the memorandum commits Beale to use a closed-loop system for cooling the data center — rather than the original plan, which used evaporative cooling and required water from the city of Tucson.
Supervisors voted 3-2 to pass the agreement during the board’s meeting this week, where members of the group No Desert Data Coalition spoke against the project and union workers wearing yellow construction vests spoke in favor during a call to the public.
Earlier this month, the Arizona Corporation Commission approved a partnership allowing Beale to use electricity from Tucson Electric Power to cool off the data center — a plan forged after Beale’s original plan to use city water was rejected by Tucson leaders.
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