Tucson protesters challenge Project Blue’s water and power demands as construction proceeds

Construction is proceeding at a 600-megawatt data center near Tucson despite organized opposition over its water and electricity demands. In an October 29 report, The Verge’s Gaby Del Valle traces how Beale Infrastructure’s Project Blue advanced through contested land decisions—and how its electricity agreement became the subject of a state legal challenge.

Del Valle attended an August 1 protest outside the 290-acre site, where about a dozen people gathered with the No Desert Data Center Coalition. Organizers reminded people to drink water and leave if the heat became too much. Their banner made the objection explicit: “BEALE’S DATA CENTER WILL SUCK US DRY.”

The water promise includes new infrastructure

Beale’s answer involves more than a claim about the facility itself. According to a county memo described by The Verge, the developer promised “100% renewable water resources” and committed to building an 18-mile pipe extension and an aquifer recharge facility at its own expense. Those are developer commitments, not demonstrated operating results.

Water service also helped determine which governments had to approve the development. Pima County owned the land, but the deal required Tucson to annex the property and approve the sale because the city would be responsible for supplying its water. The project therefore depended on decisions beyond the county’s land transaction.

That proposed infrastructure sits against a tightening statewide water supply. The Verge says Arizona is expected to lose access to nearly 30 percent of the water it receives from the Colorado River. It also describes growing bipartisan opposition to newer, larger data-center developments in a state that already has 172 data centers.

A divided vote followed limited disclosure

Information about Project Blue began emerging in spring 2025, while a nondisclosure agreement between the county and the prospective developer limited what officials would say. In June 2025, County Administrator Jan Lesher submitted a 44-page memo to supervisors. The words “data center” first appeared on its fourth page, Del Valle reports.

Pima County supervisors voted 3–2 to rezone the tract and separately voted to sell it to Beale for around $20 million. Those votes were important approvals, but they did not eliminate the city’s role in the deal. Tucson’s annexation and approval were conditions tied to its responsibility for water service.

The Commission does not have the power to let a utility and a data center operator quietly agree to set their own rates, cut the public out of the process, and call it a day.

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, February 19, 2026

The electricity dispute concerns who sets the price

The legal challenge predates the new reporting. On February 19, 2026, Attorney General Kris Mayes filed an appeal in Maricopa County Superior Court against the Arizona Corporation Commission’s approval of a special energy agreement between Tucson Electric Power and Beale. The commission had approved the agreement in December 2025 and denied her request for rehearing.

The challenged provision allows TEP and Beale to set electricity rate schedules between themselves. Mayes argues that Arizona’s Constitution reserves that authority exclusively for the commission, which must set just and reasonable utility rates. Her objection is therefore about public rate-setting authority, not simply the amount of electricity Project Blue would use.

The state asked the court to vacate the commission’s decision and send it back with instructions to remove that provision. That requested remedy targets the electricity agreement’s terms; it is not an announcement that construction has been stopped. The Verge’s October account describes buildings continuing to rise despite the opposition.