Seattle votes on data center ban amid 369MW AI power surge
seattle city council votes on a one-year data center moratorium supported by amazon staff, as proposed ai centers threaten a 369mw demand spike.
the seattle city council will vote on a one-year moratorium for new data centers following testimony from amazon employees and residents against the unchecked expansion of ai infrastructure. the proposed centers, four anonymous projects, would demand 369 megawatts of power, exceeding the city's current capacity by ten times and threatening to spike electricity prices. the moratorium aims to buy time to draft legislation protecting local resources from the energy intensity of large-scale ai model training and inference. this local resistance signals a growing tension between the massive energy requirements of the ai race and community sustainability concerns.