Durham Residents Demand County Commissioners Drop Moratorium Loophole Allowing 100 MW Hyperscale Data Centers
Members of the Stop Data Centers in Durham Coalition and other concerned residents attended the general public comment period of the Durham County Commissioner Work Session on Tuesday, September 8 to demand Commissioners Lee, Jacobs, Burton, and Valentine stop selling out Durham and delete their massive loopholes allowing 100,000 sq. ft. data centers, which can use 100 MW of energy. That’s hyperscale! Only commissioner Allam stood with residents against this carve out. The only way we can assure all of Durham is protected from AI and data center harms is to strictly regulate all of it. Since data centers aren't yet defined in our land use policies, Durham residents are demanding that commissioners seize this opportunity and uphold their civic duty to safeguard Durham now and for generations to come.
On August 24, all 61 residents (except two two paid lobbyists) who spoke at the county hearing demanded a real moratorium without loopholes, including teachers, city workers, military vets, tech workers (even ones working in RTP), Black residents living near RTP, and so many more. The only voices in support of gutting protections were two corporate lobbyists: one from the RTP Foundation and another from the Chamber of Commerce. Lee, Jacobs, Burton and Valentine voted to fulfill the corporate lobbyists’ wishes against the will of the people of Durham.
Contrary to the four corporate-aligned commissioners’ public statements, which much of the press published as fact, 100,000 sq ft is not “small”. A typical Home Depot warehouse is this size and uses about 0.5 MW of energy. 100,000 sq ft data centers, however, can use 100 MW of energy, enough to power 80,000 to 100,000 homes! Since existing data centers in Durham already use 82 to 100 MW of energy, just three more built out at the highest allowed capacity would mean data centers in Durham would use as much energy as all residents of our city and county combined. However, Planning Director admitted the department isn’t monitoring the industry or its harms here. She also said she has no idea how many data centers already exist in Durham since they can be filed under different uses, thus, their existing impact can be well over the previous approximation. The county’s major loophole also means that any company that submits a permit for a new data center or an expansion before they close the loophole or pass strong permanent protections is allowed to use 24/7 methane gas generators and cause constant noise pollution, air pollution, water pollution, PFAS in our drinking water, job loss, surveillance, energy rate hikes, and so much more.
Chair Lee, who works for an agentic AI company called Avalara, led the charge for loopholes stating he wanted exemptions for data centers up to 75 to 80 MW (60,000 to 80,000 homes' worth of energy each) at the August 3rd Work Session. This is also considered hyperscale! The Planning Department clarified that they cannot monitor energy or water use. Even though size is not an accurate indicator of scale and impact, they went with 100,000 sq. ft. allowances, which aligned with Lee’s preferences. Lee admitted he had a conflict of interest via email to the Stop Data Centers in Durham Coalition by saying, “unless your coalition has carve-outs for companies with regular-sized data centers, such as the company I work at, I am not interested in meeting. I cannot support a blanket ban or moratorium on data centers when I rely on them in my work every single day.” However, he refused to recuse himself and continued presiding over the process of regulating the industry he works for, which has resulted in the worst moratorium in the entire state.
The Stop Data Centers In Durham Coalition and residents across the city and county will continue to turn out and remind our reps that we are the biggest stakeholders in Durham and deserve a say in what gets developed here. Our electeds were elected to represent our best interests and our health, not the monied interests of the 1%.
The Stop Data Centers In Durham Coalition is calling on residents to join them in the fight to close the loopholes and win the best permanent protections for all of Durham! Learn more here.
This article was first emailed out by Community Land and Power as a press release.
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