On Wednesday, July 23rd, an informational community meeting was held at Mica Mountain High School about Project Blue…a proposed data center economic development project. The general information in this article was taken directly from the city of Tucson website:
tucsonaz.gov/Government/Office-of-the-city-manager/project-blue-information
Those presenters that night were:
City of Tucson
Timothy Thomure- City Manager
Scott Schladweiler- Tucson Water Deputy Director
Mike Czechowski- Senior Project Manager, Economic Initiatives
Beale Infrastructure
Keri Silvyn- Consultant- Lazurus & Silvyn
Christina Casler- Director, Water
Logan Craig- Vice President, Development
Arnaud Dusser, Director, Development
Tucson Electric Power
Ryan Anderson, Manager, Business Development
Pima County
Scott DiBiase, Director, Department of Environmental Quality
Many questions were asked of the presenters at the meeting. I have included three general questions and answers from the speakers.
– The project value is $1.2 billion dollars in construction and $2.4 billion in equipment. Beale Infrastructure is the project developer. They anticipate 7 to 10 years of construction jobs. Annexation by the City of Tucson is required for the project to go forward. A public hearing about the annexation will be held August 19, 2025. At that meeting ,will be a request of mayor and council to initiate a one year process to collect the necessary signatures to go through the steps to bring it back to mayor and council at a subsequent meeting for final adoption. If mayor and council provide that direction, then they have to provide the translation zoning which was adopted by Pima County and the June 17 BOS meeting.
– Project Blue identified Tucson as a potential location for a data center due to its location near major markets such as Phoenix, Los Angeles and Las Vegas which makes it a prime hub for interconnectivity between major population centers. The region also features low natural disaster risks, strong availability of long-haul transport, and a strong and diversified pool of skilled labor.
– Project Blue’s Primary Project site, a 290-acre parcel west of Houghton Road and north of Brekke Road (just north of the Pima County Fairgrounds), is located within the Pima County Southeast Employment and Logistics Center (SELC).
– The Initial Phase of the primary project could be operational as soon as 2027. A secondary project is under exploration within the Tucson City limits and would also utilize the reclaimed water infrastructure. Exact location is still being determined.
– Feasibility studies are under way for a third site in the metro area, but outside of Tucson city limits. Only the primary and secondary projects are contemplated in the Fact Sheet (scan QR code here) and the Draft Development Agreement for Mayor & Council Review (scan QR code here) with the City of Tucson.
– Project Blue is intended to be constructed in phases. Phase 1 entails an estimated $3.6 billion capital investment by the developer, Beale Infrastructure.
Those presenters that night were:
City of Tucson
Timothy Thomure- City Manager
Scott Schladweiler- Tucson Water Deputy Director
Mike Czechowski- Senior Project Manager, Economic Initiatives
Beale Infrastructure
Keri Silvyn- Consultant- Lazurus & Silvyn
Christina Casler- Director, Water
Logan Craig- Vice President, Development
Arnaud Dusser, Director, Development
Tucson Electric Power
Ryan Anderson, Manager, Business Development
Pima County
Scott DiBiase, Director, Department of Environmental Quality
Many questions were asked of the presenters at the meeting. I have included three general questions and answers from the speakers.
Question: Does the city have an idea what they will do if Project Blue overdraws on their water promise?
Answered by Timothy Thomure
This is in the draft development agreement, and we will continue to work on it as a team. It has an allocation of water, and if they use more than that allocation of water, they pay a higher rate. It goes to a 150 percent rate. And they replace the water ..and then it goes to 200 percent, and they replace the water,. So there is a financial incentive. The project would have the possibility of incurring liquidated damages if it goes over a ten year period..which means they would have to replace the water and pay fines above the increased cost. The fine is 500 thousand dollars for the first ten years if your average is over the amount. That is what is currently in the draft agreement.
Answered by Christina Casler
If you continue to go over there is an annual fine in addition to all your excess penalties. There is also consistently a requirement to prove water positivity via the rate that will have to go through real projects that bring water into the Tucson water portfolio. However, if there is any point where the project is no longer water positive, and if we cannot meet the commitment, I would expect the project would be treated like any other customer who does not pay their rates. And if they cannot commit to a water positive continually then I would expect like every other Tucson Water customer, who is not paying their rates, there would be a shut off.
Question from the audience: What is Beale Infrastructure’s commitment to using a local construction workforce and a local day to day workforce?
Answered by Logan Craig
We are already in discussion with the union folk, and we will be inviting all the unions to bid on this project in order to maximize the amount of locals that work of this project. It is to the benefit of the project to hire locally. There are thousands of construction jobs that are being created and we want them to be filled by the people of Tucson. We are here answering your questions and being involved and engaging with you all because we do care about the community.
Information compiled by Lucretia Free
