Palm Beach County Rejects Expansion of Data Center Near the Everglades
Palm Beach County Commissioners-Beach, Florida, voted 5 to 1 to reject developers’ proposal to expand the planned massive 600-megawatt Project Tango data center near the northern edge of the Everglades. The facility is proposed to be built on a 202-acre (82-hectare) site, approximately 26 km west of the Mar-a-Lago estate, according to The Guardian.
During the hearings, which lasted more than 12 hours, local residents raised concerns about the proximity of the future data center to an elementary school—approximately 1,200 feet, or 366 meters. They expressed concerns about noise, traffic, heat pollution, a potential decline in property values, and rising electricity bills.
Environmentalists believe that heat from the facility could raise water temperatures in water systems connected to the Everglades and increase the risk of toxic cyanobacterial blooms. The nearby canals already contain phosphorus and nitrogen that have accumulated there as a result of years of agricultural runoff. Cyanobacteria produce microcystin—a toxin capable of causing illness in humans and animals and contaminating drinking water. On July 30, the Florida Department of Health in Palm Beach County issued a warning about the presence of cyanobacteria in Lake Okeechobee, from which water flows into the Everglades.
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Reinaldo Diaz, founder of the environmental organization Lake Worth Waterkeeper, stated that even a temperature increase of a few degrees can contribute to cyanobacterial blooms in the canals connected to the Everglades and drinking water supply systems. The Project Tango site is located across from a pumping station, which is the first stage in supplying freshwater to the southern Everglades.
The project applicant, PBA Holdings Inc., claims that the data center will use a closed-loop cooling system with water recirculation, which should reduce water consumption. At the same time, a safety and health impact assessment commissioned by the company acknowledges a possible 1–2°C increase in air temperature near the cooling equipment. The document does not address the risk of toxic cyanobacterial blooms.
The developers still have two pending administrative applications that could increase the data center’s footprint. Next month, Palm Beach County commissioners are set to vote on a moratorium on large data centers; several other Florida counties have already implemented similar restrictions.
