The Boise City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to place a six-month moratorium on the construction of large new data centers, following an approximately one-hour public hearing at Boise City Hall during which every speaker either supported the pause or asked city leaders to go farther.

A standing-room-only crowd of more than 100 people applauded after the vote.

The moratorium went into effect immediately and applies to all data center projects that are 100,000 square feet or larger or use 20 megawatts of power. With the moratorium in place, Boise will not accept or process any applications for large data centers that fall within those parameters.

McLean Proposed the Pause Before Any Applications Arrived

Boise Mayor Lauren McLean, who proposed the moratorium on Friday, said the six-month measure will put the brakes on hyperscale data centers in Boise to give the city time to better determine and understand the impacts they would have.

McLean said the city does not currently have any 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.

City officials plan to use the moratorium period to review code and policies, study the impact on water, energy use, wastewater, noise and public safety, and gather public feedback.

Chief of Staff Hannah Brass Greer said Boise’s existing code does not 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,” Brass Greer said.

Testimony Urged the City to Go Even Further

Everyone who spoke during the public hearing supported the moratorium or urged stricter action. No one spoke in favor of data centers or asked the council to reconsider the moratorium.

“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 junior at Marsing High School and a fellow at the Idaho Climate Justice League, encouraged the council to approve the moratorium and develop strict permanent regulations around data center construction.

“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.”

Officials from several groups also voiced support, 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 Centers a Rising Issue Across Idaho

Data centers and their energy use, water use, and impact on wildlife have become hot-button public issues in Idaho. Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, recently turned on a new data center south of Kuna.

Conservation Voters for Idaho Executive Director Ryan McGoldrick said he is monitoring multiple data center proposals across Idaho. Those include 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 local government in Idaho to pause data center construction. In July, the Bannock County Board of Commissioners in eastern Idaho signed a 180-day moratorium on accepting or processing data center permit applications to give officials time to study and draft a comprehensive data center ordinance.

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