Pasco weighs temporary pause on data centers to study noise, energy impacts
Pasco council members agreed to consider a moratorium to better understand the environmental, energy and noise impacts of data centers before deciding whether to support their construction in the city.
There are four proposed data center developments across the Tri-Cities area. There are no current plans for one in Pasco, but the city has extensive industrial land available and has proposed a Targeted Urban Area to encourage more business growth.
Details of the moratorium could be worked out at a later meeting.
The Department of Energy has announced plans to build a small data center, at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, in Richland that could begin operating as early as 2028.
The data center’s goal is to support researchers using artificial intelligence to advance scientific research.
Atlas Agro, a company that plans to construct a low-carbon fertilizer plant in North Richland, is also planning a $500 million data center as part of its development.
In West Richland, Trammell Crow Company, a global real estate firm with a data center division, has confirmed it is evaluating a site within the Lewis & Clark Ranch development, although no additional details have been released.
Meanwhile, Amazon Web Services plans to invest $5 billion to build a campus of 16 data centers at Wallula Gap Business Park to support its artificial intelligence operations.
Council members agree more study needed
Council member Leo Perales proposed a temporary moratorium to give city staff time to study how data centers could affect Pasco.
He said the city should draft an environmental impact study and use its findings to develop regulations for where and how data centers could be built and operate within the city.
“I think we need to be a little bit more proactive on it rather than all of a sudden in a month or two or a year someone comes in with a permit for a data center and this room is going to be full,” Perales said at Monday’s city council meeting. “So I think we need to get out in front of it and study it.”
Council member Mark Figueroa said he supports a temporary moratorium to give the city time to study the potential benefits and drawbacks of data centers.
Figueroa cited a Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory study, published by the U.S. Department of Energy, which found that data centers consumed about 4.4% of the nation’s electricity in 2023.
According to the study, that share is a projected to grow to between 6.7% and 12% by 2028.
“That’s triple today’s share, and that’s what’s needed to power around 26 million households,” Figueroa said, citing the report Investing in the Rising Data Center Economy.
He also said he has heard of schools located near data centers where students struggled to concentrate because of noise generated by the facilities.
“I’m not saying they’re all bad. We have to weigh the tradeoffs. We also have to consider water rights and everything else that comes with them, so I would support that idea,” he said.
