TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — The company that was working to build the Project Blue data center is hinting that it’s not done trying to place data centers in the Tucson area.
On Tuesday, Tucson City Council voted unanimously to stop any steps to annex land for the project into city limits. That killed a key part of the plan.
But today as part of a news release, Beale Infrastructure, the company working to develop Project Blue says “We continue to believe there is a win-win solution to bring this record-breaking investment to Tucson.”
When KGUN9 asked for clarification the company referred us back to the release.
Pima County Supervisors voted to sell about 290 acres of land near I-10 and Houghton to Beale Infrastructure but the project depended on Tucson City Council agreeing to the land annexation and agreeing to Tucson Water to providing water to cool the center’s electronics.
Objections to the project using millions of gallons of water a day drove public resistance to the plan. Today’s release mentions the potential for alternative cooling methods that would use less water.
The Beale Infrastructure news release says it’s canceling part of the plan: a pipeline for reclaimed water. The pipeline was part of the incentives the company offered. It was to carry reclaimed water to cool the data center, but be oversized to give Tucson extra capacity to provide reclaimed water to other projects.
KGUN9 has not received a response to questions about whether the company plans to go through with the purchase of the land planned for the Project Blue data centers.
