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WA cities pause data center construction to weigh electricity use
Story published 08/17/2026
Data center development is moving fast — faster than the laws meant to regulate it. Now some cities are calling for a pause to catch up.
We sat down with a councilmember from the state's largest city to find out why he's proposed and passed a moratorium on large-scale data centers — right as utilities and municipalities brace for a surge in electricity demand.
“We did not and do not have a definition of data centers in our land use code. So what that means is they are largely unregulated at this point, a and so we needed the time to build in to study the issue, put in the appropriate regulations.”
I’m not convinced that this within city limits is the right place for mega data centers, but you know, again, that's the whole purpose of the moratorium is for us to explore that issue.
In WA there are approximately 126 data centers and related facilities with a footprint of nearly 7 million square feet, according to the research firm Baxtel.
Along with Seattle; ten other cities or counties have passed moratoriums on the building of data centers.
Lawmakers and residents worry the electricity demand coming from current and future data centers will strain the already stretched power grid increasing rates for everyone else.
Water usage and noise are also raising concerns, as these facilities run 24/7 ... and some rely on large amounts of water each day for cooling.
“I think there's a potential win-win if these data, you know, large-scale data center companies can help us build the the electric grid, the transmission lines to power their needs, but also that can power our you know cities and region more generally. Like that's a potential win-win. But if they if we're not regulating it correctly and they're just soaking up all the energy or making our climate goals even harder to achieve, you know that that would be pretty devastating for our region.
