To: Cochise County Planning and Zoning Commission and Cochise County Board of Supervisors We, the undersigned residents and property owners of Cochise County, oppose the Special Use Authorization sought by Tombstone Resources L.L.C. for a nine-building data center on 57 parcels along U.S. Highway 191 near Apache Station. Our families depend entirely on groundwater from an aquifer the State of Arizona has already declared over-drafted. Wells in the Sulphur Springs Valley are going dry, and residents are re-drilling and hauling water today. The developer has not disclosed how much water or power this project will use. It would place industrial buildings up to 40 feet tall, battery storage yards, and gas generators within 150 to 300 feet of homes, on a site outside any fire district.
We ask the County to: (1) deny the Special Use Authorization for this project; (2) require full public disclosure of water and power demand before any hearing; (3) protect rural groundwater by adopting a net-zero water rule or a moratorium on data centers in our basins.
We've already seen the negative impacts on ground water and electric bills in areas where data centers are going in. Bad enough for county leadership to consider a facility that will so dramatically affect the utility bills of local residents, but worse is the impact this would have on ground water. Leadership at all levels in Arizona have long encouraged conservation and careful water usage, and then they go and consider an application like this? Please don't do it!