Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes is wading into the state’s political fight over data center development for artificial intelligence, saying that a proposed project outside of Tucson could raise electricity rates for utility customers.
Mayes, a Democrat, filed a request on Monday for state regulators to reconsider approval of an electricity contract between utility Tucson Electric Power and a private developer to serve a new data center. Developer Beale Infrastructure sought 286 megawatts of power for a site known as Project Blue, with the potential to add more power for future expansions.
Arizona has emerged as a hot spot for data center development, in large part because of state tax incentives. Several local communities have started pushing back against construction, with the $3.6 billion Project Blue as a key battleground.
The Arizona Corporation Commission signed off on the Project Blue electricity contract in December, but Mayes argues regulators did not do enough to probe the potential impacts on utility customers when they “rubber-stamped” the application.
