Florida Democrats gathered in northwest Miami-Dade on Tuesday to urge that the construction of data centers in Florida should be halted.
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They spoke just 1.5 miles from the site of an upcoming data center by a company called Iron Mountain.
“A data center moratorium here in Florida would give the residents of Westview a choice,” said Richard Lamondin, who is running for the Florida State Senate. “They’d have time to ask questions, weigh the pros and cons, but instead, ultra-wealthy data center developers are forging on full steam ahead.”
Democrats pointed to data centers impacting water and energy bills, quality of life for nearby residents, and lack of transparency surrounding construction and development of these sites.
“Thanks to hidden negotiations and backroom deals, the Westview community found didn’t find out about the Dana Center’s construction until it was too late,” said Nikki Fried, chair of the Florida Democratic Party. “Now Westview is stuck with a hyper-scale data center and all of its ugliest symptoms.”
But this year Gov. Ron DeSantis signed Senate Bill 484, which passed with bipartisan support, to try and put an end to those concerns.
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The bill’s key takeaways include making sure utility costs aren’t passed on to residents that live near a data center, keeping power within local authority over zoning and land use, requiring the public to know about the projects after an exemption period, and creating stricter regulations and permitting process.
However, the Democrats said they don’t believe it will make a change.
“I think this law was basically wallpapering over a much larger problem, which is there are no clear guidelines and protections in place legislatively right now to make sure that communities have a say in what gets built,” Richard said.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds has been a proponent of data centers in the state. He shared his support for the new law, projects and resident concerns.
“I don’t want one next to me, you don’t want one next to you, that makes total sense,” he said. “We want to empower local governments to make those decisions … the state of Florida has already commissioned a study, it will be back June1, 2027, we look forward to sharing that report with the people of Florida with local officials who have the final say on what’s going to happen in their communities.”
According to Transparency USA, which gives insight into political contributions and donations, Donalds has been given donations to his campaign by developers behind data centers across the state.
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