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Escambia Commission To Consider Hearings For 12-Month Data Center Moratorium
September 8, 2026
This week, the Escambia County Commission is set to consider setting a public hearing on the way to establishing a data center moratorium, which will be in addition to previous anti-data center actions.
In July, the commission approved a resolution going on record to memorialize its interpretation that data centers are not allowed as principal uses under the Escambia County Land Development Code. And, in August, the commission approved an ordinance banning large-scale data centers.
On Thursday, the BOCC will consider advertising two public hearings in order to vote on a 12-month moratorium on “certain data center facilities.” As currently drafted, the ordinance would impose the moratorium on data centers with an anticipated monthly peak load of at least 10 megawatts but less than 50 megawatts to allow county staff time “to evaluate the potential impacts of such facilities on public infrastructure, natural resources, and surrounding communities and to determine whether additional action is necessary or appropriate.”
At or above 50 megawatts, a state law kicks in to ensure large-scale data centers pay for their own energy and infrastructure costs instead of shifting those expenses onto residential and small business utility ratepayers.
If the commission moves forward at its meeting on Thursday, September 10, the moratorium public hearings will be held October 1 at 5:31 p.m. and October 15 at 9:01 a.m.
To read the complete orginance, click here (pdf).
Comments
5 Responses to “Escambia Commission To Consider Hearings For 12-Month Data Center Moratorium”
AI is not your friend! It’s dangerous!
How will a data center affect the power outages that occur during hurricane or extreme storms? Just hoping they don’t interfere with restoring electricity for the people.
when I have an issue enough to call – I want a human being I hang up when it is AI I do not want to discuss personal business with a damned machine
The county commissioners must be loving this. They get to vote against something no one has asked to build for voter brownie points. Now if it was a vote on a zoning variance so a developer can build 500 houses on 100 acres in the rural part of the county, something that could actually happen, they could care less what the voters and the zoning board say.
So long as a facility pays for its own infrastructure, electrical needs, and receives no tax incentives, here is a potential site that is already noisy, surrounded by industrial operations and rail, unused, treeless, and a good use of otherwise totally vacant property:
— Escambia Treating Superfund/Brownfield site. Between Palafox/29 and I-110.
The contaminated soil piles are long gone, and it is totally unused land that simply needs to be capped over with a massive slab and a parking lot with stormwater control.