Oakland extends data center moratorium for a full year

...have decided to extend the city's moratorium on building data centers so it lasts a full year. KTVU's Amanda Quintana is in our newsroom with more on this. Good morning, Amanda. Good morning. There was a vote at last night's city council meeting to unanimously extend the moratorium. It had originally been set for 45 days but that was about to expire next week so now it will last until next October. What this moratorium does is it essentially puts a pause on any approvals for new AI data center projects in the city. A group of West Oakland residents called Care for Community Action spoke out at the meeting. They say they conducted their own survey asking about data centers and about 73 percent of the more than 400 people they spoke to supported a full ban. Development should benefit the people who live here not come at their expense. I'm asking the council to listen to the residents of West Oakland, respect the concerns we've we've heard of thousands of doors and extend moratorium long enough to get real answers because 45 days is not enough time to make decisions that could affect this community community for generations. We are seeing more and more cities take this step, both here in the Bay Area and across the country. Leaders say this gives them time to study data centers and their effects and possibly create new regulations. With the explosion of AI, more large data centers are needed to house high-density computing systems. But experts say we don't know the true impacts of them on the economy, environment, public health, like noise pollution and air quality, and to residents' cost of living related to the site's high water and energy uses. The city has already received requests from companies who want to build data centers in Oakland. One developer is talking about plans to install one inside a downtown office building, but right now that is all on hold. Live in the newsroom, Amanda Quintana, KTVU Fox 2 News. All right, Amanda, thank you.