News

On Monday, Durham City Council voted to put a halt on data center development in the city.

Neuse Riverkeeper Samantha Krop was one of many people who spoke in support of a moratorium at the City’s Monday night meeting.

“Over 40 people spoke, and those speakers were representing neighbors, educators, environmentalists, healthcare workers and even those employed by Big Tech, and not one of those folks spoke in favor of data centers or opposed a moratorium,” Samantha said.

Though the approved moratorium only covers 60 days, a longer one is in the works.

“Initially the intent was for the Durham Council to decide on a 24-month moratorium — the longest yet in North Carolina — and this was an effort brought forth by a number of community organizations that formed a coalition: Community Land and Power, Clean Water NC, Neustro Barrio, Sound Rivers and many others,” Samantha said. “The moratorium was brought by those folks and introduced by Councilman Nate Baker, but at the last moment, on the day of the hearing, it was changed to a 60-day moratorium because the planning staff realized Durham’s unified development ordinance has a limit of 12 months on moratoriums.”

The City’s plan is to align with a 12-month moratorium that Durham County is currently considering.

“In the meantime, this 60-day moratorium is looking to buy some time so there’s no gap in coverage,” Samantha said.

While the majority of Durham’s City Council is pro-development, that doesn’t seem to extend to data centers.

“There seems to be a major difference in how they view data centers because the moratorium was unanimously approved, and the entire council seem to strongly opposed to data centers,” she said. “They brought up concerns about water quality, water quantity, noise, air pollution, increasing rate-payer costs and poor use of land. Even the pro-development councilmembers objected to land being used for data centers that could be used for housing.”

Samantha said the 60-day moratorium is just a starting point.

“The real questions is how long the next moratorium will be and what will be accomplished while the moratorium is in place,” she said. “The City needs to use that time to get some answers about water usage, about what’s in the discharge, put permitting processes and enforcement mechanisms in place and pass protections for sensitive water resources — pass strong protections so those can’t be impacted.”

Samantha said there will be a future public comment period with the longer moratorium.

“We need to make sure that Durham planning staff answer the questions, put in place the regulations and put in place the protections,” she said.

Listen to Sam’s comments at the public hearing below. Like the work your Riverkeeper is doing to advocate for your waterways? We do, too! Donate today to support her work!