TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — The long-running uncertainty surrounding Project Blue — a proposed data center complex on land just north of the Pima County Fairgrounds — deepened this week after county leaders confirmed Amazon Web Services is no longer tied to the development.
Pima County Supervisor Matt Heinz said the tech giant has stepped away from the project. “In fact, the end user will no longer be Amazon Web Services,” Heinz said, adding that he does not know who the new prospective operator may be. “Of course, that’s not really the role of the county,” he said.
The confirmation reflects months of speculation following the Tucson City Council’s August vote blocking Tucson Water from providing reclaimed water service to the site.
Heinz said the city’s decision played a part in shifting Beale Infrastructure’s plans for how the data center will be cooled. “This would have been triggered by the action taken by the city of Tucson back in August, that prevented Tucson Water from connecting to this specific parcel of land to provide the reclaimed water that was going to do the water cooling,” he said.
Beale has since moved toward air-cooling technology for the facility.
Tucson City Council Member Paul Cunningham, who voted against the water agreement, said he stands by the decision. “I didn’t really believe that they had the contracts that they said they had at the time,” Cunningham said. “And then, of course, after we denied them the water, all of a sudden they had air-cooling technology.”
Beale Infrastructure, which is developing the site, would not confirm or deny that Amazon Web Services is out. In a statement, the company said, “Beale can only speak on behalf of our project, and not to the intention of other companies. Rather, it is up to any companies seeking to come into a market to announce that for themselves.”
Beale also pointed to AWS’ own public comments. In August, Amazon Web Services told Fox Business it had “no agreements in place in Tucson,” stating: “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.”
Despite the uncertainty, Heinz said new prospects are already circling. “Any number of a dozen or more large entities would benefit from this kind of processing infrastructure and capacity,” he said.
Separately, Project Blue is under review at the Arizona Corporation Commission, where Tucson Electric Power is seeking approval of an energy-supply agreement for the project’s first phase. A hearing before the commission took place Wednesday.
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Eddie Celaya is a multimedia journalist at KGUN 9. Born in Tucson and raised in the Phoenix area, Eddie is a life-long Arizonan and graduate of the University of Arizona who loves the desert and mountains and hates the cold. Previously, Eddie worked in print media at the Arizona Daily Star. Share your story ideas with Eddie at edward.celaya@kgun9.com, or by connecting on Facebook or Instagram.
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