TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Right outside of Tucson City Hall, about 50 members of the No Desert Data Center group held a rally celebrating the Tucson Mayor and City Council voting down plans to construct Project Blue, a proposed data center.
“Today was a huge victory for the people of Tucson and it wouldn’t have happened without thousands of people,” Lee Ziesche said.
Lee Ziesche With No Desert Data Center, a group against the project, has been protesting the amount of water that would have been used.
“In Tucson we can all feel how vital and scared water is,” she said.
Ziesche said Tucsonans will always stand up to corporations like Beale Infrastructure, the developers, and Amazon Web Services, which the news outlet AZ Luminaria said was behind the project.
“It is an incredibly precious resources and Beale wanted to use millions of gallons a day. That is completely unacceptable,” Ziesche said.
For Ziesche and No Desert Data Center, the city council’s vote sends a message to future companies who want to invest.
“You cannot come into Tucson and think that you can extract from us, pollute our community. This is a community-oriented place,” she said.
Earlier this week, the Western States Regional Council Of Carpenters Local 1912 said they were talking to Beale Infrastructure about working on the project. KGUN9 News reporter Andrew Christiansen requested an interview with them about the project’s denial but they didn’t get back to him about the interview.
“We’re the ones that build these projects so they want to ensure that they’re protecting the working class and protecting the work,” Jorge Pereyda said on Monday.
On Monday, Jorge Pereyda with the union said the job would have been more convenient for members.
“It would also mean that our members could have more stable work closer to home,” he said on Monday.
However, Ziesche said the project wasn’t worth the jobs.
“We absolutely want our union brothers and sisters to have work here locally but this project wasn’t the answer,” she said.
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UPDATE AUGUST 7
Amazon Web Services said they do not have any commitments to develop this project.
"AWS has previously engaged in standard due diligence processes in Arizona, like we do in any geographic location we consider building and operating our infrastructure. We do not have any commitments or agreements in place to develop this project and will continue to assess all potential geographic regions to ensure our data center developments provide the best possible product and value for our customers, while bringing positive benefits to the local communities where we operate.”
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Andrew Christiansen is a reporter for KGUN 9. Before joining the team, Andrew reported in Corpus Christi, Texas for KRIS6 News, Action 10 News and guest reported in Spanish for Telemundo Corpus Christi. Share your story ideas with Andrew by emailing andrew.christiansen@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook, or Twitter.
