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The city of Tucson adopts restrictions for planned data centers.

The federal government delivers a verdict on using Colorado River water and new energy for the Arizona race for governor.

The Press Room starts now.

(upbeat music) Hello and welcome to The Press Room.

I'm Tony Perkins and our panel of journalists, Katya Mendoza from AZPM News, John Washington from Lookout, and Jim Nintzel of the Tucson Sentinel.

Thanks for being with us on The Press Room.

Tucson's Mayor and Council decided on new regulations regarding large scale data centers on Wednesday.

Katya, you were there.

The council was likely to do something after so many people in the community showed up to speak up.

Yeah, the Council approved these regulations after a very lengthy public meeting last night.

I was there until 10 o'clock at night.

But we heard from a lot of community members in protest to data centers.

Many people raised concerns for public health, natural resources, water, extreme heat, government surveillance.

One of the reasons that the council decided to approve the regulations was that they didn't want to be left with nothing.

They didn't want to have no regulations in the event that a potential data center applicant had come to Tucson.

Some of the things are the highlights of these proposed regulations include a definition.

The data center will be defined as a proposed facility exceeding 25,000 square feet, or that uses more than 20 megawatts of energy.

It also must be permitted through special zoning districts.

It also must adhere to the city's noise code and conduct an independent noise study for all frequencies, use generators or batteries for backup energy instead of relying on grid power.

And that was a huge concern for a lot of residents in Tucson.

Some other things include documenting their energy supply mix at the time of application, as well as disclosing energy use and mix, including renewable energy.

Jim, that's a long list.

Why not just ban data centers outright?

Well, it's because when you're dealing with a government jurisdiction, it's sometimes better to have some guidelines that make it impossible to build a data center rather than just saying, you can't build a data center.

But I think hearing what Katya had to say about what they were, the limitations here, you can't build them next to houses, other businesses, open space, you need big buffers, you need the energy supply figured out.

I think it's safe to say that we're not gonna be building data centers in Tucson until the moon is in the seventh house and Jupiter aligns with Mars.

I think it's gonna be basically impossible.

- Right.

- And I will add, so the Mayor and Council did approve the ordinance with the caveat that they would continue to explore a legal pathway to outright ban data centers.

Council Member Schubert motioned to approve the ordinance, but also keeping in mind that her office would be sort of spearheading exploring legal pathways to ban data centers.

And John, this puts Tucson at odds with the Trump administration's idea that companies should be able to build data centers with limited effect from environmental concerns.

Oh, one question for you, is this issue something that is still gonna be strong enough to push and pull on the midterm elections and the campaigns?

I think it certainly could.

That's an interesting dynamic that we're seeing play out, not just in Tucson, but in lots of local jurisdictions throughout the country.

Both red and blue jurisdictions throughout the country have been pushing back very fiercely against them.

This is not just a democratic led issue.

I think a little bit of recent history is good to recall here.

The vote came the day before the one year anniversary of Tucson City Council's rejection of Project Blue, which is what prompted this entire discussion that we saw this week.

And I think that the City Council was really responding to this really big surge of community pressure and this distaste for what data centers would mean, especially in a drought-stricken desert.

And as Katya was saying, that though they did vote to put in some restrictions on where these data centers could be built and how they can be built, how big they can be, et cetera, a lot of people who were at the meeting this week don't see that as enough.

And they point to a couple different sort of carve-outs in these restrictions.

One is the possible location.

Well, I agree with Jim that I think some of the planets would probably need to align before we see a massive or hyperscale data center built in Tucson, but there is still the possibility of it.

And people were pointing out that, for example, in southern Tucson, they have left open these zones where they could potentially be built.

And we know that these places have a long history of environmental injustice.

And again, that these are sort of potentially, I mean, I don't think Council wants this, but potentially they could be, yet again, something like sacrifice zones.

So not only Schubert, but a lot of people in the audience really want them to go another step forward and do an outright ban.

That's maybe a tall order at this point, but there's still some pressure there.

And we should keep in mind that Marana is much more welcoming to these data centers.

They've approved two and have more on the drawing board up there.

So I suspect that the developers of data centers are more likely to move up into that area than they are to try to get something done in the city of Tucson.

Which to add, I mean, council member Cunningham did bring up that point that we don't want to outright ban them right now here in Tucson and then have these developers looking to Marana, Sahuarita, and other municipalities in the city of Tucson, but then the audience was like, well, that's already happening in Marana, there's already two and more coming to the state.

And just to be clear, I mean, we've said a couple times that we are likely not to see a hyperscale data center built in Tucson, but there's one being built very close to Tucson right now.

I mean, just outside of city limits, Project Blue is still going forward on county land.

Activists and people against the data center are sort of thinking about potential last Hail Mary's to try to block it, but as of now, it is being built.

And I think they are very unpopular.

I think it's an issue that kind of unites the right and left.

I think people are concerned about the energy usage, concerned about the water usage as we're dealing with this drought here.

They're concerned with what we get out of it and the advances of AI and the way that we are creating this computer program that can just generate an endless amount of nonsense and untrue stories from a journalistic point of view.

And I think it has a 20% chance of eliminating humanity and I just don't see the upside given those potential downsides.

All right, well, it's gonna impact water issues and water quality.

We're gonna talk about water issues next, the Colorado River and cuts that were announced by the federal government.

They came up with their decision regarding the use of water from the Colorado River Lower basin states, Arizona, California, Nevada, seemed to be getting the worst of the deal that was announced.

So Jim, how bad are these cuts and what will it impact Southern Arizona?

Not as bad as they might have been, but they could get a lot worse if the drought continues and the water continues to decline on the Colorado.

It's important to have enough water to keep the dams working on the Colorado River and if you don't have enough water to do that, then there's a lot of energy that we're not gonna be able to provide for people.

So they are looking at reducing particularly what comes to Arizona and Southern Arizona and that's not an immediate problem, but over time, we're gonna run out of all the water that we banked.

We've done a very good job of taking the CAP water in Arizona and Tucson after some weird politics in the 1990s that I won't get into, but basically Tucson has been banking a lot more water than it's been using and so there's a pretty good supply there, but it's gonna be drained alternative sources.

A lot of the stories have been written about how did it affect cities, but it affects people too.

People in Tucson and Southern Arizona cities are gonna be impacted by changes in this policy, but also farmers as well, can't you?

How will some of the rural areas be affected by this change?

Yeah, just thinking back on some reporting that I did a few months ago, there are certain farms and farmers who give CAP water to other farmers who lease that water and who lease their land, so if their CAP allocation is cut, what's gonna happen to the next guys who rely on that water?

And I just wanna echo what Jim was saying about, Tucson Water has done a good job banking our CAP water.

I believe in my reporting, they told me that we have about a six year supply in the event that there are drastic CAP cuts, however, what happens beyond that?

And again, I mean, states such as Arizona and cities like Phoenix and Tucson are now leaning more towards exploring advanced water purification.

It used to be called 'toilet to tap,' but that's not super marketable, but there are minds out there exploring solutions.

John, the current ongoing agreement that they've been using has, it's start a hundred years ago, back before talk about larger populations in Arizona, nevermind a 25-year drought.

So it's been a long time coming.

With the groundwork that's being laid now, what can Arizona and other states still do to maybe bring up a little bit higher what the allocation of water is gonna be for them?

Well, they have been in a pretty fierce fight with those other states, the upper basin states for a long time, and they just haven't been able to come to an agreement.

And that's why we are where we are right now is that the federal government had to step in and say, "This is how you all have to resolve it."

But you're exactly right to recall that the allocations in place were set about a hundred years ago.

And that was not only not during a drought, but that was during an especially wet period.

So we thought we had a lot more water to deal with and to divvy up than we actually have, especially right now.

And again, there's also much more demand for it.

Not only the cities and industries, we were just talking data centers that guzzle up huge amounts of water, but agriculture.

I mean, the number I don't think we threw out was I believe it's over 70% of all water usage in Arizona goes to farms.

And when Governor Hobbs saw this announcement, and I think it's important also to mention that it's just provisional, it won't go into effect until October.

But if it does go into effect, she was worried about a couple different things.

One was supply demand, or supplies for like AI chips and missiles construction and manufacturing, and then ongoing city development.

And those first two things, I think, are very much contested needs or demands for various industries right now.

And so you think about how you're going to start making cuts, and maybe we do have to think really hard about how we want to live in Arizona and what we want to be producing in Arizona.

And maybe it just doesn't make sense to grow alfalfa for whatever overseas cattle, or missiles or data chips.

I mean, it's just, you can't have it all.

Now, let's go quickly over to another sort of water issue.

Monsoon has been relatively generous for Southern Arizona this season.

But it's also clear that some places have gotten a little bit more rain than they can handle.

Jim, a place like Nogales, for example, it's brought up, it had a flash flood there, fatalities happened, and it's brought up a question about infrastructure in smaller Arizona towns.

Yeah, it's definitely, Nogales has a lot of challenges with water infrastructure, and a flash flood does not help.

The severe rainstorms are causing damage there, they cause some damage here.

So I think it's, and then they have the sewer issues down there as well that is another huge problem for the infrastructure in Nogales.

And John, the water flows north from out of Mexico, so that brings a little bit more of a complication to trying to solve that issue.

Sure does, and the San Pedro and the Santa Cruz both are affected by border wall construction at the same time.

And so it's a complicated system that is a binational negotiation that needs to take place.

And the infrastructure on the southern side of the border certainly affects the north as well.

And there's a recent spill after a train crash in northern Sonora that could actually impact water supply in Arizona as well.

So yeah, these are all connected, and we'd have to be working with those partners to develop that infrastructure.

Okay, now let's switch over to politics and selections for Lieutenant Governor for Arizona, gubernatorial candidate Andy Biggs made his choice for running mate as former State Senator, Sine Kerr, another Republican.

Now as Democrat incumbent Governor Katie Hobbs' turn, and there's a possibility that she may pick a Republican as well.

Jim, what about that?

It's a pretty smart move by Governor Hobbs to try to reach out to Republicans who are unhappy with the Trump end of the party.

John Giles is a former Mesa Mayor, popular among moderate Republicans and independents, and she's obviously trying to find the same coalition that helped her win four years ago.

And Andy Biggs is leaning pretty heavy on the Trump end of the party, and he is picking a woman which may help him, but I think he's still going after a very narrow base.

Both of the picks are leaning right, which is also interesting.

I think both Biggs and Hobbs looked to their right to pick their Lieutenant Governor running mates.

I wonder, is this a good pick for Hobbs?

I mean, this will, we will see, but I think Giles is certainly not loved by Republicans.

Right now, I mean, he was at the DNC convention stumping for Kamala Harris a couple years ago, and that alienated a lot of his Republican support.

Will that be enough to win over the centrists?

Maybe it could be a smart move, but it could also backfire.

It'll be the first time for Arizonans to get to vote for a team in the governor's race.

Katya, what's that do to strategy and the appeal to the electorate?

You know, I think I'm gonna defer to the expert at the table, Jim.

I'm more curious to what he has to say about it.

What were you, what's that due to the campaign, now that people will have not just one person to change.

Oh, you know, I don't think it's gonna make a huge difference.

I think people will still be focused on the candidate, especially the first time out with a change like this.

All right, still three months to go before the November vote actually happens, and some of the more interesting races that have been sort of bubbling below the surface are gonna be getting to high gear now, specifically Congressional District Six with Juan Ciscomani, the incumbent Republican and Democrat challenger, JoAnna Mendoza.

How do you, John, let's start with you.

How do you think that that race is going to heat up now that they are really looking at the target in sight and the votes are gonna be cast pretty soon?

Yeah, well, you know, Mike Johnson in the state this week is trying to gain some attention for the CD6 race.

This is one of the dozen or so really actually contested Congressional races in the country, which is probably gonna bring in a lot of attention.

It pits a person who has been very reluctant to be open to public, to go to forums, to be available to the media, to somebody who is trying to gain name recognition.

So I think we're gonna see the next couple months pretty different approaches.

Ciscomani has kept his head down and JoAnna Mendoza is really trying to get out there and trying to appeal to voters.

She has probably a pretty appealing track record, especially given her veteran status for maybe the more centrist votes, but Ciscomani campaign is pouring a lot of money into attacking or digging up whatever old comment that she said about whether it's trans rights or immigrant rights and trying to just plaster the roadsides and television ads with that.

If you live in Tucson, you've probably seen rather consistently an opposition to Ciscomani with signs on the side of the road and people demonstrating against him.

This has been going on for several months through the entire primary season.

It sounds like it's something where maybe people have seen so many of these signs that they're ignoring them or they're going to be reminded.

Now they have an alternative to Ciscomani that they can look at.

Yeah, I think the challenge for JoAnna Mendoza as John said is getting her name ID up, but she has a lot of money to be able to do that.

She's been a very successful fundraiser out there.

Juan Ciscomani is a very slick politician and has managed to win that seat now twice, but there is a national mood that he's definitely swimming against.

So there will be, I think it's gonna be a close race and we'll just have to wait and see what the voters decide.

Okay, well it's been another difficult week for Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos.

Katya has been six months since Tucson and Nancy Guthrie disappeared, that case is still unsolved.

A new report generated a fresh sense of outrage about the investigation and what happened.

Well, last week the Pima County Sheriff's Department decided to release the two ransom notes that have been considered legitimate by investigators.

They include details that only her, Nancy Guthrie's potential kidnappers would know, such as an Apple Watch lying on the floor, but also the second note also details an apology expressing remorse in the fact that Nancy Guthrie died while she was in the hands of her potential abductors.

So the Sheriff's Department released those two ransom notes about a week after the details had been disclosed on the true crime podcast, Crime Junkie.

And so I think last week by releasing that information, definitely spurred more dialogue and criticism towards the Sheriff's Department in terms of how Sheriff Nanos has potentially handled the case.

And as time goes on, another anniversary comes up and that's sort of something that is always gonna be written about whether by here, those of us locally in the press and nationally as well, because this is a national news story.

John, does it get any easier?

No, I don't think it gets any easier.

You know, we've learned a lot over the past six months, but we have not learned tragically is the whereabouts of Nancy Guthrie.

We have learned a lot about the management of the Sheriff's Department.

And there's story after story showing that the way that this investigation has been run is really questionable.

And a lot of people have been pushing back and calling this an accountability crisis, and yet another accountability crisis for the Sheriff.

Right, and Sheriff Nanos now faces a $176 million civil lawsuit in the unrelated case.

This is about Axeel Melendez.

He was left paralyzed after a deputy shot him in a false case that they swatted his house.

And now that's gonna cost the city, the county, more money.

It's an accountability issue.

How much is the county going to suffer from these cases involving the Sheriff's Department?

I don't know the answer to that, but that case with that poor young man who alerted the Sheriff's Department that he might be a victim of swatting, and then the cops showed up and they shot him is absolutely tragic and just unbelievably sad.

Just to add to that, the deputies who were responding to this call, according to Axeel's attorney, Dev Sethi, there were a couple of red flags that had been missed by the deputies.

One being the call came from an out-of-state area code, and two, the fact that the caller was impersonating Axeel and mispronounced his own name as Axel.

Additionally, another deputy notified the deputies who were responding to Axeel's house, said this house might be a potential target for swatting.

In some reports, one of the responding deputies said, yes, I heard that, but I treated the call as if it were still real.

And so that's just an interesting response.

Yeah, we're talking about the Sheriff's Department.

I must mention also something that I think all of us have covered is that we've now seen four deaths in the Pima County Jail again in the last two months.

And that has been another ongoing, really serious, tragic problem that the county has been facing for a long time, including lawsuits around the deaths and other types of mistreatment in the jail.

So there's a lot swirling around the Sheriff's Department right now.

All right, let's go and focus on what's next: what stories, will you be looking at and covering or generating interest in the weeks ahead?

Jim?

We are still continuing our 2026 project on reporting on homelessness and solutions and challenges that the community faces in trying - to tackle that problem.

- John?

Well, as we speak, there's somebody up in a tree in Lochiel, Arizona.

We've mentioned this on the show before, trying to protect a hundreds-year-old cottonwood from being knocked down so they can continue building the border wall.

And that's something I have my eyes on this coming week.

- Katya?

- For me, it's always water, so definitely seeing what happens with the Colorado River negotiations as they continue, but also water consumption by large facilities like data centers.

Okay, excellent, thank you very much.

That'll do it for The Press Room for this week.

Thanks to all of our guests and for all the staff and crew at The Press Room.

Thanks for being with us.

We'll see you next week.

I'm Linda O'Bryon And I'm Nicole Cox.

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This has been an original production of AZPM News.