San Francisco supervisors vote to pause new data centers for 45 days to study their impacts

San Francisco's board of supervisors voted unanimously on Tuesday to impose a 45-day moratorium on new data centers, a pause that can be extended up to 22 months. The measure halts new projects while city officials study their effects on energy, water, air quality, land use, and surrounding communities. Supervisor Shamann Walton said, "We need to know what these impacts are. Until we know what that is, it needs to stop." The city is home to AI giants OpenAI and Anthropic, but it lacks a comprehensive count of its existing data centers. Two projects are now on hold, including a proposed expansion in Bayview and a new facility in Dogpatch.