While some speakers such as union representatives supported the draft standards and called for the city to enforce fair wages for workers building out data center projects, other public commenters took issue with what they see as weak environmental protections \u2014 and wording in the rules that could let developers skirt city enforcement.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of community members have told the ways that the standards fall short,\u201d Dashiel Leeds, conservation coordinator for the Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter, said at the meeting. \u201cYou\u2019re not covering the heat island effect at all. You\u2019re not studying low-frequency infrasound at all. Diesel backup generators can still pollute our communities with nitrous oxide. The data centers getting approved by the planning director and not the city council just is not accountability.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Union workers stood up in support of data center standards the city is developing, as members went up to speak at the meeting. Photo by Joyce Chu.<\/p>\n
In the proposed standards<\/a>, data center developers will be encouraged to enroll with San Jose Clean Energy, which supplies\u00a0renewable power. If the developer chooses to opt out, it will be required to submit an annual report to prove it\u2019s operating with 100% carbon-neutral electricity, or that carbon emissions are being offset by capturing the methane.<\/p>\n Diesel backup generators must follow the strictest federal emission standards, and can only run when there are power outages, according to the proposed standards.<\/p>\n Data centers use water to cool sensitive electronic equipment. The proposal plans to prohibit open loop cooling systems that use drinkable water and can consume millions of gallons of water a year. Instead, the city will require data centers to use recycled water or a closed loop system that circulates water through pipes to absorb heat from the electronics.<\/p>\n Linda Hutchins-Knowles, co-founder of environmental advocacy group Mothers Out Front Silicon Valley, said the requirement for 100% carbon-neutral electricity is a step in the right direction. She wants a mandate for water to be treated on site before it gets released and more stringent enforcement of these standards.<\/p>\n \u201cSo much of these standards, if you look at it, are (using) words like \u2018encourage\u2019 and \u2018monitor,\u2019\u201d she told San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight. \u201cThere isn\u2019t any teeth. The standards are just not ready. We need the pause (on data centers) so we can get them ready.\u201d<\/p>\n There are two data centers set to be approved before the new standards are finalized, Deputy City Manager Manuel Pineda said at the meeting.<\/p>\n Data center operators will track their own water and electricity usage and submit annual reports to the city, Pineda said. Data centers will also monitor the discharge of dissolved metals and chemicals produced from cooling\u00a0the equipment, which can\u00a0pollute local drinking water<\/a> and rivers if not properly treated.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can\u2019t have the fox monitor the henhouse,\u201d Hutchins-Knowles said. \u201cThe city needs to be out there monitoring and enforcing it.\u201d<\/p>\n The city will require an independent audit every five years to ensure water and electricity usage fall within the limits the standards will set, and the city can test water quality and usage at any time. Pineda said city officials are open to adjusting how they monitor data centers.<\/p>\n \u201cThe data centers standards are not done, so that\u2019s why we\u2019re here because we\u2019re open to feedback,\u201d Pineda told San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight.<\/p>\n Danny Mangan, a union representative with Sprinkle Fitters Local 483, said data centers provide jobs, and the proposed standards help promote safe and high-quality construction. San Jose\u2019s standards would encourage data center developers to use skilled workers to build these facilities and pay a prevailing wage that includes benefits and overtime.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve been building data centers right here in the Bay Area for quite some time, and we want to see that continue,\u201d Mangan said at the meeting. \u201cBut as long as they\u2019re done correctly \u2026 that means good jobs, strong labor standards and a requirement of a skilled and trained workforce in every project of this type.\u201d<\/p>\n As it stands, data centers can be built in San Jose in various zoning districts with a special-use permit, including areas zoned light industrial.<\/p>\n Alice Kaufman, policy director at environmental nonprofit Green Foothills, said if a project is proposed in one of those permissible areas and meets all the standards, then the city council has no legal authority to stop a data center from being built.<\/p>\n She wants the city to consider a change in the zoning law which would allow the council to consider each project on a case by case basis, requiring a data center to obtain a planned development permit. She points to the former IBM Almaden Research Center<\/a>, which is being acquired by a data center development and investment firm, as an example of why the current policy isn\u2019t working. But Pineda said the city isn\u2019t considering changes in zoning at the moment.<\/p>\n \u201cThe IBM Almaden site, which is industrially zoned, is surrounded by hundreds of acres of open space that has rare plants on it, that is used as a wildlife corridor,\u201d she told San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight. \u201cRight now there is absolutely no way that the city could stop a data center from going on that site.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"In-line](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1792322424_742_interactive-321838904008.png\")
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