SEATTLE — The Seattle Land Use and Sustainability Committee voted unanimously on Wednesday to approve a one-year moratorium on new large-scale AI data centers. Three Amazon employees publicly called for regulations on new data centers at Seattle City Council hearings the same day.
These employees are members of Amazon Employees for Climate Justice, a group of current and former Amazon workers advocating for the company to address its environmental impact. Seattle currently lacks specific rules for data centers, though city officials had been considering a one-year pause on permits to establish regulations.
Amazon senior software engineer Liesl Wigand, who has worked for Amazon for over 12 years, testified before the committee. Wigand stated, "Local governments, in collaboration with community stakeholders, should be setting the terms for data center buildout." She added, "The biggest issue is a belief that AI should be how we solve everything, while ignoring the resources that it costs."
Amazon software engineer Patrick Schloesser stated that data centers should provide more renewable energy than they use and offer power storage to support the electricity grid. He called for new taxes on technology companies and the establishment of worker-led safety committees to report to the city about AI tools posing risks to Seattle. Schloesser, who has been with Amazon for nearly six years, said, "It's been reported that this year, Amazon is spending $200 billion dollars on capital, with most of it going to data centers and AI." He also noted, "Meanwhile, the leaders at my company have laid off 30,000 corporate employees in the last eight months."
Another Amazon software engineer, Darius Irani, suggested the city mandate transparency regarding the companies operating data center projects and their water and electricity consumption. Irani said, "There’s a world in which more data centers could bring us closer to a good future, but it will exist only if we dream big and keep power in the hands of the people."
Amazon spokesperson Margaret Callahan stated that the company does not currently plan to build data centers within Seattle city limits. Callahan said, "We respect our colleagues' right to voice our opinions." She added, "Across the communities where we do operate data centers, we’re committed to being a responsible neighbor—investing in local economic development while prioritizing water and energy efficiency that exceeds industry standards." Callahan also said, "We engage regularly with community stakeholders to understand local priorities and address concerns transparently, supporting both technological innovation and the specific needs of each region where we operate."
Several companies have shown interest in developing large-scale data centers in Seattle, which currently hosts some smaller facilities. Four developers had approached a local Seattle utility provider to propose building five large-scale data center facilities in the city, with two of these proposals later withdrawn.