California in Depth
· 6 min
Why cities are pausing new data centers, and what comes next
San Francisco, Oakland and San Diego have paused new data centers. Los Angeles County's supervisors referred a motion to have planners draft a ban on large-scale data centers back to its sponsor with no action, San Jose and Burbank have rules or reports in the works, and Pasadena's Planning Commission has a public hearing on data centers set for November 18. Why are they pausing or tightening the rules, and what happens next?