It Could Happen Here How Tucson Beat Amazon’s Data Center
Aug 13, 2025
Karl Kasarda, a member of InRangeTV and a devoted activist, sheds light on Tucson's successful campaign against the Project Blue data center. He delves into the environmental implications of this 290-acre project proposed by Amazon and the spirited grassroots efforts led by groups like No Desert Data Center. The discussion highlights the community's strong activism, emphasizing their commitment to preserving local ecosystems and pushing back against corporate expansion, all while showcasing the power of civic engagement in shaping a sustainable future.
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Scale Of Project Blue
- Project Blue was a proposed 290-acre AI data center south of Tucson that would have consumed vast land and resources.
- Karl Kasarda explains the project's scale by saying its footprint would cover downtown Tucson if overlaid on the city.
What Data Centers Actually Are
- Data centers are massive facilities filled with racks of computing power that run cloud services and AI workloads.
- Karl Kasarda calls them an entire city of machines that require constant maintenance and connectivity.
Incentives Mask Environmental Costs
- Cities frequently offer tax incentives to attract data centers, which can lead to environmental and social harms.
- Karl Kasarda warns those deals often proceed until residents notice and mobilize against them.
