Why did Arizona wait on data-center noise?
Muegge tells Council that a Chandler, Arizona, data center created high-frequency noise from 2014 until protections took effect in 2022-23. He also cites a 2023 meta-analysis on health effects associated with noise pollution.
“I think we have an opportunity here to avoid eight years of really awful impacts to human health”
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CENTERS AS I STAND HERE BEFORE YOU TALKING AS A BOARD MEMBER OF THE SPOKANE RIVERKEEPER IS OF COURSE WATER. BUT I WANT TO TALK ABOUT SOMETHING THAT IS AN EMERGING SCIENCE RELATING TO HUMAN HEALTH IMPACTS AND THAT IS NOISE POLLUTION. SO THERE HAS BEEN EMERGING RESEARCH ON NOISE POLLUTION, PARTICULARLY AND ITS IMPACT ON HUMAN HEALTH AND WILDLIFE HEALTH PARTICULARLY ABOUT IMPACT IN CARDIOVASCULAR HEALTH FROM NOISE POLLUTION. THERE ARE NUMEROUS STUDIES COMING OUT. THERE IS A REALLY LARGE METADATA METADATA ANALYSIS STUDY IN 20 23 THAT LINKS ADVERSE HEALTH EFFECTS SUCH AS CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE, DIABETES, HEARING IMPAIRMENT AND REPRODUCTIVE OUTCOMES TO NOISE POLLUTION. THERE'S JUST FROM A SURVEY OF RESEARCH THAT I DID OVER THE PAST COUPLE OF WEEKS REALLY LAST WEEK, THE NOISE POLLUTION IMPACT SEEMED TO IMPACT WOMEN MORE SO THAN MEN. THAT WAS A COMMON THREAD THROUGHOUT THE RESEARCH THAT I FOUND WHICH I FOUND TO BE REALLY CONCERNING AMONG AMONG MANY OTHER THINGS. BUT I BRING ALL OF THIS UP TO SAY THAT IT DOESN'T TAKE VERY MUCH RESEARCH TO ALSO SEE HOW NOISE POLLUTION IMPACTS FROM DATA CENTERS HAVE BEEN HAVE BEEN IMPACTING COMMUNITIES THROUGHOUT THIS COUNTRY JUST AS A CASE STUDY THAT I WOULD ENCOURAGE THE COUNCIL AND THE CLIMATE AND RESILIENCY BOARD AND THE PLANNING COMMISSION TO EVALUATE IS THE CASE STUDY IN CHANDLER, ARIZONA FROM 2014 THE CITY OF CHANDLER, ARIZONA PUT IN A PROVEN DATA CENTER THAT GOT BUILT ADJACENT TO A NEIGHBORHOOD. THERE WERE HIGH FREQUENCY NOISE EMITTED THROUGHOUT ITS CONSTRUCTION AND THEN FINALLY DURING ITS ACTUAL FINISHED PHASE DURING PRODUCTION ON IMPACT QUALITY OF LIFE SUBSTANTIALLY OF THOSE COMMUNITIES ACROSS A WIDE CONTINUUM. THIS LED TO A STRENGTHENING OF PROTECTIONS THAT THEIR CITY COUNCIL PASSED AND THOSE REGULATIONS WENT INTO EFFECT IN 20 22 OR 2023 I SHOULD SAY. AND THEY WERE INFLUENTIAL INFLUENTIAL IN THE COUNCIL'S UNANIMOUS REJECTION IN 2025 OF ANOTHER PROPOSED DATA CENTER. AND I WANT TO BRING ALL THIS UP TO SAY I THINK WE HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY HERE TO AVOID EIGHT YEARS OF REALLY AWFUL IMPACTS TO HUMAN HEALTH AND I REALLY WOULD ENCOURAGE THE COUNCIL TO DURING THIS DATA CENTER MORATORIUM REALLY LEAN INTO THE SCIENCE AND THE NEGATIVE IMPACTS THAT DATA CENTERS HAVE IN THEIR CURRENT FORM ON HUMAN HEALTH AND DECIDE THAT DATA CENTERS IN SPOKANE COUNTY AND SPOKANE ARE NOT FOR US. THANK YOU. THANK YOU. UP NEXT IS KATHERINE ALEXANDER AND THEN WE'LL GO DOWN TO JAMES DANIELS NEXT.