Boise Apply Six-Month Moratorium on Data Centers 100,000 Square Feet or Larger in the US

The Boise City Council voted Tuesday night unanimously to impose an immediate six-month moratorium on large data center construction, a decision met with applause from a standing-room-only crowd of more than 100 people at Boise City Hall.

The pause, proposed by Mayor Lauren McLean just days earlier, took effect immediately and blocks the city from accepting or processing any applications for data centers of 100,000 square feet or larger, or those using 20 megawatts of power.

A Pause Proposed Before Any Applications Arrived

McLean put the moratorium forward on Friday, ahead of any formal applications. City officials confirmed Boise has no large data center applications pending.

"I'm doing this now before we have an application so that we can be sure that we get it right," McLean said, explaining that the measure is meant to put the brakes on hyperscale data centers while the city determines and understands their potential impacts. Chief of Staff Hannah Brass Greer noted that Boise's existing code does not currently address data centers.

"One of the things we would be doing is looking at our code and where it would fit and what restrictions or guidelines we want to put in place," she said. Over the six-month window, city officials plan to review code and policies, gather public feedback, and study the impact of large data centers on water, energy use, wastewater, noise and public safety.

Public Hearing Brought No Voices of Opposition

The vote followed an approximately one-hour public hearing in which every speaker either backed the pause or asked city leaders to go further. No one spoke in favor of data centers or asked the council to reconsider. "Just please don't sell off our future to the highest bidder," said Sydney Hair.

"I am very concerned about this. AI has taken so much from my generation and it is taking so much from the planet." Mia Benson, a Marsing High School junior and fellow at the Idaho Climate Justice League, urged the council to pair the moratorium with strict permanent regulations.

"I encourage the city of Boise to collaborate with the local community to develop accountability policies within the next coming months that require future data center projects to cover 100% of their power costs, use 100% clean energy, pay 100% of their taxes, and be 100% transparent on anything that impacts the public," Benson said.

"Data centers are not worth the intense pollution and depletion of our water resources." Several organizations also voiced support at the hearing, including the Golden Eagle Audubon Society, Conservation Voters for Idaho, the Idaho Conservation League, the Wilderness Society and Idaho Data Center Reform.

"Given the potential long-term and irreversible impacts these centers may have on our landscapes and lives, we applaud the foresight this ordinance provides," said Cynthia Wallace of the Golden Eagle Audubon Society. "Voting to approve this ordinance could also inspire other governments to preemptively evaluate and regulate data center permit requests."

Lisa Young, director of the Idaho Chapter of the Sierra Club, commended McLean and the council in a written statement. "We commend Mayor McLean for hearing the growing concerns of Boiseans and proposing a moratorium on data centers within Idaho's largest municipality, and we hope this will encourage other neighboring cities and Ada County to do the same," Young said.

Data Center Proposals Mounting Across Idaho

Data centers, and their energy use, water use, and impact on wildlife, have become hot-button public issues across Idaho. Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, recently turned on a new data center south of Kuna. Ryan McGoldrick, executive director of Conservation Voters for Idaho, said he is monitoring multiple data center proposals statewide.

Among them is a proposed 4-million-square-foot Rhea Data data center south of Boise, whose proposed existence was first reported by the Washington Sun, and another data center proposed outside of Twin Falls.

Boise is not the first Idaho local government to hit pause. In July, the Bannock County Board of Commissioners in eastern Idaho signed a 180-day moratorium on accepting or processing data center permit applications, giving officials time to study and draft a comprehensive data center ordinance.