Palm Beach County approved a one-year moratorium on new data center planning and construction in a 6-0 vote to allow environmental and infrastructure reviews. The pause targets new applications with an expected peak electrical load of at least 50 megawatts and follows local opposition—centered on the previously approved 202-acre Project Tango—over higher power bills, noise, water use and environmental impacts. County officials will use the moratorium to complete impact assessments and update zoning rules.
Palm Beach County Imposes One-Year Pause On Data Center Approvals Amid Environmental, Energy Concerns
Donald Trump sitting at a table holding up a picture of a data center during a meeting.
Palm Beach County — home to President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate and one of the wealthiest counties in the U.S. — voted unanimously Thursday to impose a one-year moratorium on new data center planning and construction while officials conduct a comprehensive review of their environmental and infrastructure impacts.
The 6-0 vote temporarily halts new applications for data centers that anticipate a peak electrical load of at least 50 megawatts. The pause is not a permanent ban; county leaders say it will provide time to complete environmental impact assessments and update zoning rules that determine where such large facilities may be sited.
U.S. President Donald Trump holds up a picture of a data center as he holds a cabinet meeting with members of his administration in the Cabinet Room of the White House on August 26, 2025 in Washington, DC. This is the seventh cabinet meeting of Trump's second term. Seated next to President Trump was Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Local Concerns Drive Decision
Residents who spoke at the meeting cited familiar concerns that have surfaced in communities nationwide: higher residential electric bills, strain on local power grids, noise pollution, depletion of water resources and potential environmental harm. Several speakers pointed to Project Tango — a previously approved, 202-acre AI data center roughly 20 miles from Mar-a-Lago — as the main catalyst for the moratorium.
"Many communities want the economic benefits a data center brings, but we all fear the higher power bills, the negative environmental impact, disruptive noise, the depletion of water resources," one resident said during public comment.
Opposition to Project Tango has been significant. In July, county commissioners voted 6-1 to reject a proposal that would have expanded Project Tango by about 1.67 million square feet, though existing approvals for two 100,000-square-foot data center buildings remain intact.
A woman holds signs during a nationwide protest against AI data center expansion outside Peace Hall in New Port Richey, Florida on July 18, 2026.
National Context
The move comes as the Trump administration has pushed to expand data center capacity and accelerate artificial intelligence deployment, warning that the U.S. cannot cede the AI race to China. President Trump recently criticized communities that oppose data centers, saying they would "end up being backwards and poor."
Data centers are the physical backbone of AI and many cloud services: large facilities that house thousands of powerful servers and consume significant amounts of electricity and water while generating heat and, in some cases, noticeable noise.
An aerial view of President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate, Aug. 10, 2022, in Palm Beach, Fla.
The county's moratorium applies to new data center applications meeting the 50-megawatt threshold and is intended to allow time for: environmental reviews, grid-impact studies, updated zoning provisions and community input about siting near schools, neighborhoods and sensitive ecosystems such as the nearby Everglades.
Fox News Digital contacted the White House and Palm Beach County commissioners for comment.
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