LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — When it comes to bringing businesses to Southern Nevada, data centers aren't the top focus.
But neither are they off the table.
That's what Danielle Casey, president and CEO of the Las Vegas Global Economic Alliance, told Channel 13 in an interview marking her one-year anniversary in the job.
She said the alliance has decided to focus on five key areas, including advanced manufacturing concentrated on national defense, a job she said requires human employees.
Data centers, which don't generate the kinds of jobs that other industries targeted by the alliance do, are not on the priority list.
"So, in terms of the larger question, the community conversations, I would say no, because the proactive work that we are doing to advance our strategic plan is not focused on attracting data centers," she said. "I'll be clear, though, it's also not focused on completely disallowing them."
WATCH | Economic development chief talks data centers
Although some data centers — such as Switch — have operated for years in Las Vegas and elsewhere without complaints, data centers have become controversial of late, as artificial intelligence requires more and larger centers.
In Reno, the city council voted for a temporary moratorium on data centers, and in Pahrump, the Nye County Commission voted to ban data centers in a particular hydrographic basin because of concerns over water. The Henderson City Council voted to reject a data-center ban, but a planned center in that city has been scrapped.
And in Boulder City, a controversial data center drew vocal opposition before developers moved it to federal land, where it's been stalled by an administrative judge.
The controversy surrounding data centers led Gov. Joe Lombardo to issue an executive order to prevent data centers from raising electricity rates or using water for cooling, and to force the centers to pay the portion of the state sales tax that goes to pay for schools.
Meanwhile, state Sen. Dina Neal, D-Clark County, has requested a bill that would repeal data center tax breaks first passed in 2015 and impose a moratorium on new data centers in the state.
According to a memo from the Legislative Counsel Bureau, there are 70 data centers either operating or planned for Nevada.
For her part, Casey said an outright ban would not be helpful, especially for rural communities.
"A ban would prevent the good projects from coming forward," she said. "The ones that are truly beneficial, and you're also seeing a lot of different data centers and other investments. Some of them are really well suited for certain rural communities because they're a large capital investment."
Casey said data centers — which have their own association here in Nevada — are trying to become more a part of local communities.
"So many have been or are becoming much more outwardly clear about their social consciousness, meaning how do they invest back in the community, and that's a good thing," she said. "So yes, completely banning anything prevents other good things. But guardrails are always important."
Among those guardrails: the demand for new energy. NV Energy, in a fact sheet posted on its website, said "...the scale and pace of this potential growth is unlike anything previously planned for in Nevada."
While the utility is planning to serve large data centers, it said it will protect existing customers from increased costs, maintain reliable service and meet the state's long-term energy and economic goals.
One of those goals? A voter-approved constitutional mandate to generate 50% of the state's energy from renewable sources by 2030. A company official said it will likely miss that goal because of high demand from data centers, according to The Nevada Independent.
