LAUREN GILGER: ... Data centers are proving controversial across the country, and now tech firms are targeting Indian Country, where they’re being met with a new round of intense opposition.
Here in Arizona, the Hualapai Tribe in northern Arizona is enacting a moratorium on data center development on its nearly 1 million-acre reservation. This as the community is facing several potential data center developments in the region.
KJZZ’s Gabriel Pietrorazio covers Indigenous affairs for us and joins us now with more. Good morning, Gabe.
GABRIEL PIETRORAZIO: Good morning.
LAUREN GILGER: OK, so talk about the Hualapai Tribe first and what prompted this move from them.
GABRIEL PIETRORAZIO: Sure thing. I think that just like any community in this country, we’re seeing lots of conversations around data centers and how they impact everyday life for all communities, including Tribal nations. And what we’re seeing there, especially as I mentioned before, that the Hualapai Tribe depends greatly on the Colorado River. Their reservation hugs 108 miles of the Colorado River. I recently whitewater-rafted with the tribe and was experiencing that and seeing this precious resource that they want to protect.
And so part of that is the reason behind the council moving for this resolution that basically outlines how they are against the irresponsible development of these hyperscale data centers on the Hualapai Reservation. And I recently spoke to Chairman Dwayne Clark about that.
DWAYNE CLARK: We definitely want to make our stance known that we oppose anything here on the Hualapai Reservation. We also want to look out for Arizonans.
LAUREN GILGER: So, Gabe, there’s another interesting example of this kind of controversy happening nearby in Page, right near Horseshoe Bend, this kind of amazing tourist destination up there in the north part of the state, where the City Council there in Page overwhelmingly approved this data center development. But then there’s the Navajo Nation chapter nearby, and they’re not so happy about this, right?
GABRIEL PIETRORAZIO: That’s right. We’re looking at now almost a year since the sale, the pending sale, for 500 acres to this company, Huntley LLC, which looks to potentially build a $10 billion, 500-megawatt data center there near the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, which is near Lake Powell, the iconic Horseshoe Bend that everyone sees on social media.
And we’re seeing — there’s pending feasibility study to determine whether this is even possible. ... That’s what the sale is kind of contingent on. And the local LeChee Chapter, which is the closest part of like the northern end of the Navajo Nation that sits just south of Page, passed a resolution last year — earlier this year, excuse me, in February, and basically said that: “We’re against that sale." They weren’t really consulted, nor were the impacts of a possible data center coming to Page considered for like the Navajo people who live in and around there and the considerations for the environment.
To the city’s own credit, they acknowledged that they’re not even sure where the water would come from, and that would be the responsibility of Huntley, the data center developer, to determine where that legal means of water would be acquired from. There was speculation they mentioned on their website about that it could come from Lake Powell, but there’s nothing that’s concrete at this time.
LAUREN GILGER: But Lake Powell at historic lows, we should note. OK, so this is also not only happening in Arizona, this targeting of kind of Big Tech to tribal land for data centers. It’s also an issue that’s arising in the New Mexico governor’s race, right?
GABRIEL PIETRORAZIO: That’s correct. And we’re hearing a lot about this now as Deb Haaland, who was Biden’s former Interior secretary, who was the first Native American woman cabinet member, speak about data centers and making a pledge on the campaign trail ahead of the November election.
LAUREN GILGER: Let’s hear from her there.
DEB HAALAND: Data centers must go above and beyond these guardrails to be eligible for aid from state business programs. All of this must come with careful monitoring, real enforcement and accountability for any failure to uphold their end of the deal.
LAUREN GILGER: So that’s also in the Southwest, Gabe, but this goes beyond that. The Cherokee Nation is speaking out about this as well, and that’s one of the largest groups in the country. What do they have to say?
GABRIEL PIETRORAZIO: And before we get to Cherokee, a quick disclaimer as well that the Haaland campaign also received monies from executives who are tied to Oracle, as well as Clayco, which is one of the construction partners for Project Jupiter, which is like a really big data center project that’s being considered in New Mexico at this time.
So we’re hearing kind of these guardrails being set up by former Interior Secretary Haaland, but at the same time, there’s money that is potentially coming from data center developers trying to possibly influence future policy if she were to be elected. Because her idea is to create essentially a moratorium on day one statewide for New Mexico.
LAUREN GILGER: Which we’ve also seen other states do as well. Yeah, tell us about Cherokee.
GABRIEL PIETRORAZIO: Yeah, and so Cherokee was interesting. Oklahoma as a whole is really where a lot of the data center Indigenous movement has really started in Oklahoma. Because traditionally conservative, right, like Republican state, a lot of the tribes lean more conservative generally speaking, and with their leadership as well. But they’ve taken a very like proactive role.
Cherokee Nation in particular created a task force that was just for data centers. They offered a published report — it’s like 37 pages — it focuses on the study of the impact of data centers on the economy and natural environment. And this, the findings essentially of this survey and what they found, led to this banning of data center development and projects on the reservation itself, but also like adjacent trust lands that they own.
LAUREN GILGER: OK. Last minute or so here, Gabe. Put this into context for us. Like, why are we seeing, you think, Big Tech target tribal land here? And, you know, there are some big environmental questions at play in places that are often environmentally kind of targeted.
GABRIEL PIETRORAZIO: For sure. Honor the Earth, the nonprofit, has been tracking over 100 data center proposals in and around tribal lands across the United States. It gives you a bit of perspective. As we know, Tribal lands often intersect with rural lands and rural communities. And as we’re seeing now with the federal agenda for sell-offs of public lands, we’re seeing that a lot of these places where they intersect and overlap are on the table now for development — whether that’s housing and in this case, data centers, big, large swaths of land.
And the federal government is trying to facilitate some of that at a time when, you know, we’re talking about AI not being necessarily regulated by the federal government despite calls from Congress and other people to do so. So we’re seeing a lot of competing interests play, but again, tribal lands, rural lands of America are at risk to data center development because of the lack of regulation that comes with projects of that sort being developed on those sites, essentially.
LAUREN GILGER: Yeah. OK, leave it there for now. Lots to watch for, though. KJZZ’s Gabriel Pietrorazio joining us, covers Indigenous affairs here at the station. Thank you so much, Gabe, appreciate it.
GABRIEL PIETRORAZIO: Thanks for having me.
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