The data center fight in Tulare County, California
As of October 1, 2026, Tulare County, California has a data center moratorium in force (action taken Aug 18, 2026; documented end date 2026-10-02).
Status is derived, not stored — a pause with a documented end date flips to Expired on its own — and the source is right next to the claim.
Status today
45-day urgency moratorium (4-1 vote, Townsend dissenting) on acceptance, processing and approval of permits for large-scale data centers in unincorporated county. Triggered by Global Stack USA proposal for edge-node computing at the county fairgrounds. Extendable to 10 mo 15 days, then up to 2 years total
SourceNews
read 2026-09-11
An expiry date is the earliest a pause could have ended — extensions are common, so confirm with the clerk before citing it.
The project on the table
Tulare County Data Center (moratorium) — In review
County Supervisors passed a 45-day moratorium on new data centers in August 2026, pausing all pending applications countywide.
Next: An application is in the record. Ask the planning office for the next hearing date and request formal notice.
Latest in the record
- 2026-08-01 — Tulare County Board of Supervisors passed 45-day moratorium on new data center applications. · source
Full dated timeline on the project tracker.
Source. Read 2026-08-19.
Recent news
13 stories tracked since 2026-08-18 across 11 outlets. 9× Local officials are moving to pause or block the project. 4× A community is pushing back on a nearby data center. Most recent: “Tulare County Supervisors extend data center moratorium into August” (Visalia Times-Delta, 2026-09-28).
- Tulare County Supervisors extend data center moratorium into August
- Tulare County Supervisors extend data center moratorium into August
- Tulare County supervisor sets record straight on his votes on data centers
- Woman removed from Tulare County meeting as data center debate erupts
- Tulare County extends data center moratorium to 2027, formally opposes development
- Data center moratorium extended in Tulare County, as community calls for permanent ban
- Tulare moves past data center moratorium
- California's Tulare County freezes data-center projects for 45 days, but residents want a ban
- Tulare County Residents Continue To Oppose Proposed Data Center
- Tulare County hits pause on AI data centers
- Community urges permanent ban on data centers at Tulare fairgrounds
- Hanford, Tulare County weigh in on AI data centers during Tuesday meetings
+1 more on the story tracker.
Automated news aggregation, not human-verified — follow each link to the original outlet. Part of the story tracker, 13 headlines archived.
What to do next
- Questions to ask at the hearing — force specific answers onto the record.
- Estimate the impact — electricity, water, and rate pressure for any facility size in California.
- Model CBA clauses — copy-paste language communities have actually won.
- California briefing — rates, grid carbon, PUC contacts, and every fight in the state.
Nearby in California
- Patterson (132 mi) — Enactedexpires 2027-07-15
- Gilroy (136 mi) — Enactedexpires soon — 2026-10-29
- Morgan Hill (144 mi) — Enactedexpires soon — 2026-10-10
- Calaveras County (155 mi) — Enactedexpires soon — 2026-10-09
- San Joaquin County (161 mi) — Proposedterm not documented
- Alhambra (162 mi) — Enactedno end date — permanent
- Los Angeles County (163 mi) — Enactedno fixed end — runs until a condition is met
- Monterey Park (165 mi) — Enactedno end date — permanent
All 26 tracked actions in California are on the state page.
As of August 2026 (2m ago) · changes weekly — re-check before citing
Illustrative rather than exhaustive — dozens of localities churn weekly, and this tracks the ones we have read a source for. **Each row carries its own provenance.** Rows showing a verification date link to the ordinance, the enacting body's own page, or a datable report of the vote, and were read on that date. Rows marked *unverified* came from bulk compilation and have not been checked against a primary source — the locality, the year, and the status may all be off. Verify one of those with the town clerk before citing it as precedent. **Expiry is derived, not asserted.** A row with a documented end date flips to *Expired* on its own once that date passes. A time-limited moratorium whose start date was never documented keeps showing as enacted — that is a known gap, not a claim that it is still in force. Moratoriums are also routinely extended, so an expiry date is the earliest it could have ended, not proof that it did.
Part of the U.S. data center moratorium tracker — open data, CC BY 4.0.