Palm Beach County commissioners voted unanimously Thursday to halt new applications for large-scale data centers for up to one year, as the Trump administration pushes to expand the infrastructure needed to support artificial intelligence (AI). The 6-0 vote in Palm Beach County—home to President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate—comes after months of opposition to a proposed expansion of Project Tango, a planned hyperscale AI data center near Arden in western Palm Beach County. The site is about 20 miles west of Trump’s residence and near homes and an elementary school.
Several residents addressed the board Thursday, raising concerns about water, higher power bills, environmental impacts and disruptive noise. Thursday’s vote prohibits the county from accepting, processing or approving new applications for data centers in unincorporated Palm Beach County with an anticipated peak electrical load of at least 50 megawatts. It does not undo Project Tango’s earlier approval.
In July, commissioners rejected a proposal to dramatically expand the development, but a 2016 approval for two 100,000-square-foot data center buildings remains in place. Newsweek reached out to Project Tango for comment. The moratorium gives the county time to develop new rules governing projects that could place significant demands on local power, water and other infrastructure.
Trump has pushed back on similar measures, criticizing New York’s decision in July to impose a one-year moratorium on new large-scale data centers. At the time, Democratic New York Governor Kathy Hochul cited concerns about rising electricity demand, utility costs, environmental impacts and pressure on local communities. Trump called the decision “terrible,” saying data centers are one of the biggest driving forces for jobs in the future.
In late August, Trump pushed back on local opposition to data center projects, writing on Truth Social that municipalities rejecting data centers risk becoming “backwards and poor.” “If they want to be successful and rich, with far lower taxes and jobs all over the place, let Data Reign,” he wrote. A new Pew Research Center survey found Americans’ views of data centers have shifted more negative since the beginning of the year. More than half of Americans, 54 percent, said data centers are mostly bad for the environment, up from 39 percent in January.
Half said they are mostly bad for home energy costs, up from 38 percent, while 49 percent said they are mostly bad for nearby residents' quality of life, up from 30 percent. The survey was conducted from July 20 to August 9 among 10,548 U.S. adults. Palm Beach County joins a growing number of Florida local governments that have moved to restrict or pause large-scale data center development, including Bay, Citrus, Clay, Holmes, Jackson, Leon, Nassau, Pasco and Walton Counties, according to the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
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