After a city council meeting on data centers devolved into chaos, Memphis will vote on whether to pause new construction

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Memphis leaders are set to consider a contentious plan Tuesday to pause new data center developments for up to a year — two weeks after a meeting on the issue led to protests, calls to police and a fist fight at City Hall.

The moratorium vote comes more than two years after some communities in Memphis got a new life courtesy of trillionaire Elon Musk, as his artificial intelligence company moved in amid a local effort to make the city a hotspot for advanced technology. But the effort ended up angering residents as the company installed dozens of gas-powered turbines, known to produce a cocktail of toxic pollutants.

A surge of new data center construction to fuel the booming AI industry is escalating public resentment and fear of both the energy-sucking infrastructure and AI itself in the US, roiling communities from coast to coast and transforming localized energy debates into a high-stakes, multi-million-dollar battleground for the 2026 midterm elections .

At an early October council meeting in Memphis — a city used to fighting for clean air as the home to more than a dozen polluting facilities — fierce opposition was on full display. More than 100 people filed into the chamber to hear about the moratorium, bearing witness to clashes between anti-data center protesters and council members, and between the city officials themselves. Two women were also restrained in the lobby as they swung fists at each other.

All eyes will be on City Hall as it considers the moratorium, which, if passed, would put a temporary pause on new data centers and on the expansion of existing ones, as well as develop a study committee to establish regulations. It would not shutter data centers already operating legally in Memphis, nor smaller data usages at facilities like hospitals and universities.

Here’s what we know:

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An abandoned factory in southwest Memphis got a makeover in June 2024, as the AI company owned by the world’s richest man, now called SpaceXAI , worked to turn the building into the “world’s largest supercomputer.”

Dubbed “Colossus,” the data center was hailed by Musk at the time as the “most powerful AI training system in the world,” and the company’s website heralded plans for a second facility in the area to quickly follow.

For some residents in the southwest Memphis suburb of Boxtown, a historic, majority Black and economically disadvantaged community that has long endured industrial pollution, the new gas-powered turbines represented yet another threat to their health. About 10 miles to the east in Southaven, Mississippi, more SpaceXAI turbines would chug to life at the new site of Colossus 2 — which fuels its Grok AI chatbot.

CNN has reached out to SpaceXAI for comment.

The NAACP filed a federal lawsuit against SpaceXAI in April of this year under the Clean Air Act, alleging it was operating dozens of unpermitted turbines in Southaven. The Department of Justice has since urged the court to throw out the lawsuit , saying the Grok AI chatbot was “critical” to national security. The case remains active, though tied up in appeals.

The data centers have also caused a myriad of disruptions to daily life in Memphis, including relentless noise pollution and physical vibrations from the centers as described in a noise complaint filed by residents; concerns of dangerous emissions from the turbines brought by state officials; and an offer from SpaceXAI to buy Southaven residents’ homes in exchange for not signing onto a class action lawsuit against it.

But it was at an August meeting — where the moratorium passed its first reading — that Memphis City Council Member JB Smiley Jr. said he proposed the measure to temporarily halt new data center builds after learning Musk’s company was planning a data center expansion in the city from a post on social media.

“Not only did the council not know about the expansion of the data center, the community residents did not know,” Smiley said at the meeting. “I was intentional about bringing this ordinance because I think the people deserve an opportunity to voice their concerns; I think the council deserves to be treated with respect by the folks who are pushing these data centers in our community.”

Members of the Memphis City Council voted on whether to delay making a decision on the moratorium for two weeks at an October 6 meeting. When the effort to delay passed 7-5, the chamber erupted.

“Officers, we need to clear it out,” council Chairwoman Jana Swearengen-Washington said from the podium as observers began shouting. As people rose from their seats in the chamber and a woman shouted chants into a megaphone speaker, the chairwoman repeatedly slammed her gavel, saying, “Get that f**king bullhorn!”

A livestream of the meeting showed dozens of protesters gathering at the front of the room, fists in the air as they chanted above the council members’ shouts to stop, yelling, “Ain’t no power like the power of the people ‘cause the power of the people fight back!” before the livestream went dark.

Councilwoman Yolanda Cooper-Sutton clashed with members of the crowd, according to CNN affiliate WMC, as she told one attendee, “You pipe down baby, I clap back.” She also lashed out at Smiley, who voted against postponing the vote on his moratorium, shouting that he “confuse(s) the people over and over,” as she was ushered out of the room by staffers.

In the lobby of the building, a fist fight broke out between two women, WMC reported.

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Memphis police were called to the disturbance at City Hall, but according to WMC, a department spokesperson said no one was harmed or detained.

Days after the chaotic meeting, Memphis Mayor Paul Young issued an executive order to establish a 90-day study “to develop clear, actionable recommendations for regulating large and hyperscale data centers in Memphis.”

“The study will proceed concurrently with the Memphis City Council’s ongoing consideration of data center legislation,” the mayor’s office wrote in a press release . “The executive order does not suspend, delay, restrict, or interfere with Council action.”

In a First Amendment lawsuit filed last week, state Rep. Justin J. Pearson, along with four other people, said they were banned from attending Tuesday’s City Council meeting after opposing AI data centers at the October 6 meeting and asked for a temporary restraining order to block the ban imposed on them.

In separate letters addressed to the individuals stating that they have been banned from the upcoming October 20 and November 10 sessions — all signed by Swearengen-Washington, according to documents filed — the council cited alleged violations of its decorum policy, which prohibits speech including “gossip,” personal attacks and abusive or vulgar language. The plaintiffs said those terms are vague, and that the council selectively used them to silence prominent critics, violating their First Amendment rights.

“Each of the banned Plaintiffs is an active community leader and well-known activist in Memphis who was targeted because of their consistent and sustained advocacy and leadership in the fight against AI data centers, not because of any disruptive behavior,” the lawsuit says.

CNN has reached out to chairwoman Swearengen-Washington and the City of Memphis.

Allan J. Wade, an attorney for the city and the chairwoman, declined to comment on the lawsuit, citing pending litigation.

Tuesday’s meeting will feature enhanced security measures as a result of the chaos earlier this month, court documents show.

The chairwoman’s office on Monday issued a new security plan for council meetings “following the events of October 6,” which include security inspections of the committee room and chambers before meetings, a relocation of the public speaking podium away from the chamber floor, along with a new clear bag policy and more restricted building access to non-city employees, according to court filings.

As thousands of new data centers have been built to feed the power-hungry artificial intelligence industry, public resentment against the energy-intensive infrastructure and AI itself is escalating, plunging small towns and suburban communities from coast to coast into uncertainty and a growing national debate.

Many Republican and Democratic politicians have pivoted away from backing data centers ahead of the midterms, but others — namely President Donald Trump — have doubled down on their development. Amid these political debates, some extremism researchers warn that the risk of violence may be growing.

Police have been called into action to investigate dozens of threats to data centers, from bomb claims etched on bathroom walls to online incitements to “use bullets on city council members” to suggestions that protesters should “unalive” pro-development officials, according to a CNN review of more than 100 police reports filed since last year.

Communities are also taking their concerns with data centers into polling booths this fall, with the politics of data centers emerging as the 2026 midterms’ unlikely villain.

As demand for the computer processing that powers artificial intelligence has skyrocketed, big tech companies are scrambling to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on new infrastructure — including on more than 2,000 data centers in planning stages, according to the tracking firm Cleanview.

Until recently, that construction boom was a political non-issue. In 2024, there wasn’t a single election ad on broadcast TV that mentioned data centers, according to tracking from the firm AdImpact, and in most of 2025, only a handful discussed them, largely in down-ballot state races.

But over the last year, there’s been a tectonic shift in public sentiment, driven by skepticism about the industry and concerns over property rights, environmental impacts and especially spiking utility bills.

The data centers that run AI use powerful computing chips that are more energy-intensive than previous generations, which could lead to a 6% rise in electricity bills nationally over the next year, a Goldman Sachs analysis projected , with the biggest jumps for those living near data centers.

Americans regard the growth and development of AI technology with far more fear and concern than hope and excitement, according to a September CNN poll conducted by SSRS, with broad partisan agreement that the federal government ought to do more to regulate it.

Those concerns stretch across the realities of AI’s growth today and more speculative possibilities raised by some technologists and whistle-blowers .

All told, 75% of Americans say their feelings about the growth and development of AI technology are closer to fear and concern than hope and excitement, and 43% feel that way strongly.

Nearly 9 in 10 Americans say they’re more concerned than excited by the possibility that AI could one day surpass human intelligence, and, more concretely, a similar number lean to concern over excitement about the growing number of data centers being constructed to support AI technology.

“Data centers have picked up a unique bipartisan opposition in large part because they are so local as an issue,” Daniel King, a research fellow at the Foundation for American Innovation, previously told CNN. “Regardless of where party lines fall at the national level or on larger issues, both sides have been able to really pick up the spike.”

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孟菲斯领导人将于周二审议一项备受争议的计划，该计划将暂停新建数据中心长达一年——此前两周，就此问题举行的一次会议引发了抗议、报警以及在市政厅发生的斗殴事件。

在亿万富翁埃隆·马斯克的帮助下，孟菲斯的一些社区焕发新生两年多之后，这项暂停令投票出炉。当时，他的人工智能公司进驻孟菲斯，正值当地政府努力将这座城市打造成为先进技术中心之际。然而，这项努力最终激怒了居民，因为该公司安装了数十台燃气轮机，而众所周知，这些涡轮机会产生多种有毒污染物。

为了推动蓬勃发展的人工智能产业，美国新建数据中心如雨后春笋般涌现，这加剧了公众对耗能基础设施和人工智能本身的不满和恐惧，搅动了美国各地社区，并将地方性的能源辩论转变为 2026 年中期选举中一场高风险、价值数百万美元的战场。

10月初，孟菲斯市议会召开会议，激烈的反对声浪扑面而来。孟菲斯拥有十几家污染严重的设施，长期以来一直为争取清洁空气而抗争。一百多名市民涌入会议室，听取关于暂停数据中心建设的通知，他们目睹了反数据中心抗议者与市议员之间，以及市政府官员之间的冲突。两名女子在大厅里互相挥拳，最终被制止。

所有人的目光都将聚焦在市政厅，关注其对这项暂停令的审议。如果该暂停令获得通过，将暂时中止新建数据中心和现有数据中心的扩建，并成立一个研究委员会来制定相关法规。该暂停令不会关闭目前在孟菲斯合法运营的数据中心，也不会影响医院和大学等机构的小型数据使用。

我们目前掌握的情况如下：

克里斯·肯宁/今日美国网络/Imagn Images

2024 年 6 月，孟菲斯西南部的一座废弃工厂进行了改造，当时世界首富拥有的 AI 公司 SpaceXAI 正在努力将这座建筑改造成“世界上最大的超级计算机”。

该数据中心被命名为“巨像”，当时马斯克称其为“世界上最强大的AI训练系统”，该公司网站也宣布计划在该地区迅速建设第二个设施。

对于孟菲斯西南郊区博克斯敦的一些居民来说，这些新的燃气轮机对他们的健康构成了又一威胁。博克斯敦是一个历史悠久的社区，黑人居民占多数，经济状况欠佳，长期以来饱受工业污染之苦。在东边约10英里的密西西比州绍斯黑文，SpaceXAI公司的“巨像2号”火箭的新址上，更多的燃气轮机将开始运转——这些燃气轮机为SpaceXAI的Grok人工智能聊天机器人提供动力。

CNN已联系SpaceXAI寻求置评。

今年4月，美国有色人种协进会（NAACP）根据《清洁空气法》对SpaceXAI提起联邦诉讼，指控其在南哈文市未经许可运营数十台涡轮机。司法部随后敦促法院驳回此案，称Grok AI聊天机器人对国家安全“至关重要”。该案目前仍在审理中，但已进入上诉阶段。

这些数据中心也给孟菲斯的日常生活带来了诸多干扰，包括居民在噪音投诉中描述的数据中心造成的持续不断的噪音污染和物理震动；州政府官员提出的对涡轮机排放危险物质的担忧；以及SpaceXAI公司提出购买Southaven居民的房屋，以换取居民不签署针对该公司的集体诉讼。

但正是在 8 月份的一次会议上——该暂停令在会上获得一读通过——孟菲斯市议员 JB Smiley Jr. 表示，他是在社交媒体上看到马斯克的公司计划在该市扩建数据中心后，才提出这项措施，暂时停止新建数据中心。

“不仅市议会对数据中心扩建一事毫不知情，就连社区居民也毫不知情，”斯迈利在会议上说道。“我之所以提出这项法令，是因为我认为民众应该有机会表达他们的担忧；我认为，那些在我们社区大力推进数据中心建设的人，理应给予市议会应有的尊重。”

孟菲斯市议会成员在10月6日的会议上投票决定是否将暂停令的决定推迟两周。当推迟决定的动议以7比5获得通过时，议会大厅一片哗然。

“警员们，我们需要清场！”议会主席贾娜·斯韦伦根-华盛顿在讲台上说道，旁听者们开始高声喊叫。随着人们从会议室的座位上站起来，一名女子对着扩音器高喊口号，主席反复敲击议事槌，喊道：“把那该死的扩音器拿来！”

会议的直播画面显示，数十名抗议者聚集在房间前面，高举拳头，高喊着“没有什么力量比得上人民的力量，因为人民的力量会反击！”，盖过了议员们要求停止的喊声，随后直播画面中断。

据CNN附属电视台WMC报道，市议员约兰达·库珀-萨顿与人群发生冲突，她对一名与会者说：“你给我闭嘴，宝贝，我还要回击。”她还抨击了投票反对推迟对其暂停令进行投票的斯迈利，高喊他“一次又一次地把人们搞糊涂”，随后被工作人员带出了房间。

据WMC报道，大楼大厅内两名女子发生肢体冲突。

Neil Strebig/《商业呼吁报》/今日美国网络/Imagn Images

孟菲斯警方接到报警称市政厅发生骚乱，但据 WMC 报道，警方发言人表示无人受伤或被拘留。

在这次混乱的会议几天后，孟菲斯市长保罗·杨发布了一项行政命令，启动一项为期 90 天的研究，“以制定明确、可行的建议，来规范孟菲斯的大型和超大规模数据中心”。

市长办公室在一份新闻稿中写道：“这项研究将与孟菲斯市议会正在进行的数据中心立法审议同步进行。该行政命令不会暂停、延迟、限制或干扰市议会的行动。”

上周，州众议员贾斯汀·J·皮尔森和其他四人提起了一项第一修正案诉讼，称他们在 10 月 6 日的市议会会议上反对人工智能数据中心后，被禁止参加周二的市议会会议，并要求发布临时限制令以阻止对他们实施的禁令。

根据提交的文件，市议会分别致函相关人士，告知他们已被禁止参加即将于10月20日和11月10日举行的会议。所有信函均由斯韦伦根-华盛顿签署。信中，市议会援引了他们涉嫌违反其礼仪规定的言论，该规定禁止包括“八卦”、人身攻击以及辱骂或粗俗语言在内的言论。原告称，这些措辞含糊不清，市议会有选择地使用这些措辞来压制知名批评人士，侵犯了他们的第一修正案权利。

诉讼称：“每位被禁原告都是孟菲斯活跃的社区领袖和知名活动家，他们之所以成为目标，是因为他们持续不断地倡导和领导反对人工智能数据中心的斗争，而不是因为他们有任何扰乱秩序的行为。”

CNN已联系了主席斯韦伦根-华盛顿和孟菲斯市政府。

市府律师兼主席艾伦·J·韦德以诉讼正在进行为由，拒绝就此诉讼发表评论。

法庭文件显示，由于本月初发生的混乱事件，周二的会议将采取更严格的安保措施。

根据法庭文件，主席办公室周一发布了一项新的市议会会议安全计划，“以应对 10 月 6 日发生的事件”，其中包括在会议开始前对委员会会议室和议事厅进行安全检查，将公众发言台从议事厅地面移开，以及实施新的透明包政策，并更加限制非市政员工进入建筑物。

为了满足耗能巨大的人工智能行业的需求，成千上万个新的数据中心拔地而起，公众对高耗能基础设施和人工智能本身的不满情绪日益高涨，使全国各地的小城镇和郊区社区陷入不确定性，并引发了一场日益激烈的全国性辩论。

在中期选举前，许多共和党和民主党政客都已不再支持数据中心建设，但也有一些人——尤其是唐纳德·特朗普总统——加倍支持数据中心的发展。在这些政治争论中，一些极端主义研究人员警告说，暴力风险可能正在增加。

据 CNN 对去年以来提交的 100 多份警方报告的审查显示，警方已采取行动调查数十起针对数据中心的威胁，从在浴室墙上刻下炸弹威胁到在网上煽动“用子弹射杀市议员”，再到建议抗议者应该“杀死”支持开发的官员。

今年秋季，各社区也将对数据中心的担忧带到了投票站，数据中心的政治问题成为了 2026 年中期选举中一个意想不到的“反派”。

随着人工智能所需的计算机处理能力需求激增，大型科技公司正争相斥资数千亿美元建设新的基础设施——据追踪公司 Cleanview 称，其中包括 2000 多个处于规划阶段的数据中心。

直到最近，这场建设热潮还算不上什么政治议题。据广告公司AdImpact的追踪数据显示，2024年，电视广播上没有任何一则选举广告提及数据中心；而到了2025年的大部分时间里，也只有少数广告讨论过数据中心，而且大多是在州级选举中。

但在过去一年里，公众情绪发生了巨大的转变，这主要是由于人们对该行业的怀疑，以及对产权、环境影响，尤其是不断上涨的公用事业账单的担忧。

高盛的一项分析预测，运行人工智能的数据中心使用比前几代更耗能的强大计算芯片，这可能导致未来一年全国电费上涨 6%，而居住在数据中心附近的人受到的影响最大。

根据 SSRS 于 9 月进行的 CNN 民意调查显示，美国人对人工智能技术的增长和发展更多的是恐惧和担忧，而不是希望和兴奋，各党派人士普遍认为联邦政府应该采取更多措施来监管它。

这些担忧既包括人工智能当前发展的现实，也包括一些技术专家和举报人提出的更具推测性的可能性。

总的来说，75%的美国人表示，他们对人工智能技术的增长和发展更多的是恐惧和担忧，而不是希望和兴奋，其中43%的人强烈地有这种感觉。

近九成美国人表示，他们对人工智能有朝一日可能超越人类智能的可能性感到担忧而非兴奋；更具体地说，同样数量的人对为支持人工智能技术而建造的数据中心数量不断增加感到担忧而非兴奋。

“数据中心问题之所以会遭到两党独特的反对，很大程度上是因为它本身就是一个地域性问题，”美国创新基金会的研究员丹尼尔·金此前告诉CNN。“无论两党在国家层面或更广泛的问题上的立场如何，双方都能够真正抓住这一问题的激增。”