Arizona Shouldn’t Pay the Price for Big Tech’s Data Centers
Arizona can welcome innovation and economic growth without sacrificing the water, power and neighborhoods Arizona families depend on.
Big Tech wants to build massive data centers across Arizona. So I offered a modest, not-so-tongue-in-cheek proposal: start with Washington, D.C.
Empty out the IRS and Department of Education buildings. Repurpose that space for data centers. Reduce the size of the federal government while we are at it, and leave Arizona’s water, power and neighborhoods alone.
The proposal may have been delivered with some humor, but the concern behind it is serious.
Arizona Is Not an Empty Map
A data center is not simply another warehouse. These facilities can occupy enormous sites and require significant amounts of electricity. Depending on their design and cooling systems, they can also place demands on local water supplies. They may require new generation, transmission capacity, substations, roads and other infrastructure that nearby communities must live with long after the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Salt River Project reports that newer large-scale data centers may require hundreds of megawatts of power. Some of the larger facilities in its system have capacity loads of 200 megawatts, and data centers accounted for 5.1 percent of SRP’s record summer peak demand in 2025. SRP expects them to be its fastest-growing customer segment. (SRP: Data Centers and SRP)
That does not mean every data center is bad for Arizona. It means no project should receive automatic approval simply because a large technology company promises investment.
Arizona is our home. Our water, electrical grid and communities are not unlimited resources to be handed over without asking hard questions.
Growth Must Work for Arizona
I support economic growth, technological innovation and bringing good businesses to Arizona. These projects can create construction work, strengthen our tax base and support the technology economy. But a multibillion-dollar investment is not automatically a good deal for the people who already live here.
Every major project should be evaluated on its actual benefits, costs and long-term consequences:
Where will its water come from, and how much will it use during Arizona’s hottest months?
How much electricity will it require, and what new infrastructure will be needed?
Will the company pay those costs, or will families and small businesses see them shifted onto their utility bills?
How many permanent jobs will remain after construction?
What tax incentives are being offered, and what will Arizona receive in return?
How will nearby neighborhoods be affected by noise, heat, traffic and construction?
The standard should be simple: Is this good for Arizona, or does it leave Arizona families carrying the cost?
Growth Should Pay for Growth
SRP has already adopted safeguards intended to prevent large customers from shifting infrastructure costs onto residential customers. Its process requires qualifying large-load customers to pay upfront for project-specific upgrades, and its rate structure includes minimum billing requirements based on forecasted demand.
That is the kind of accountability Arizona should insist on. If a company creates the need for major new infrastructure, Arizona families should not be handed the bill. Growth should pay for growth.
Promises are not enough. We need transparent numbers, measurable benefits and enforceable commitments.
Congress Has a Role, but Arizona Must Lead
Many decisions involving water use, utility planning, land use and zoning belong at the state and local levels. A member of Congress should not pretend otherwise.
But Congress makes decisions affecting interstate water, federal land and property, energy infrastructure, permitting, tax policy and incentives. It can help Arizona build a reliable energy future, or make that job more expensive and difficult. It can protect taxpayers, or reward politically connected projects without demanding accountability.
As Arizona’s representative, my responsibility would be to fight for our state’s water interests, support the reliable energy and infrastructure Arizona needs, scrutinize federal incentives and push for productive use of federal property where it makes sense.
Washington should not impose costs on Arizona and then leave our communities to deal with the consequences.
Younger Americans Are Asking the Right Questions
Many younger Americans understand that this conversation is bigger than a collection of buildings. They are asking serious questions about Big Tech, artificial intelligence, privacy, the concentration of data and the growing relationship between powerful corporations and Big Government.
Those concerns should not be dismissed. Innovation can improve lives, create opportunity and strengthen our economy. It can also concentrate enormous power in institutions that are rarely transparent and not always accountable to the people affected by their decisions.
We should welcome innovation without surrendering our rights, resources or control over our communities.
Arizona Must Come First
This is not a choice between economic growth and protecting Arizona. Responsible leadership requires us to do both.
We can welcome new technology while protecting our water. We can build energy capacity without forcing families to subsidize Big Tech. We can create jobs while demanding transparency about the real costs and benefits. We can grow without sacrificing the quality of life that brought people to Arizona in the first place.
My position is straightforward: Arizona’s families, resources and communities come first.
If you agree that Arizona’s future should be decided by Arizonans, not Big Tech executives or Washington bureaucrats, I need you in this fight.
Stand with me. Make your voice heard. Join our campaign, and help us bring accountability and common sense back to Washington.
