Reject Data Centers That Do Not Fit Within Locality’s Goals

Due to existing laws or political conditions, not every local government can ban the development of data centers outright. Instead, local governments can build in mechanisms throughout the data center approval process to reject data center applications that fail to comply with established city or county goals. These may include the locality’s

• water usage plan,
• energy usage plan,
• heat mitigation plan,
• economic development plan,
• environmental standards (such as air pollution and emissions),
• environmental justice goals,
• public health goals, and
• city equity plans.

Mechanisms to ensure that this process is feasible include the following: