Plain-English framing: a 'moratorium' is a city or county council voting to stop accepting, reviewing, or approving any new data-center applications for a fixed window (here ranging 30 days to 12 months) while staff study water, power, and noise impacts. It...
WGLT / WAND / CBS Minnesota / KUNR / Seattle City Council ↗
ColoradoIllinoisWashingtonMinnesotaMoratorium
Read why it matters →Why a town of 2,000 people matters to a national platform: Cave City is the cleanest example of the 'pre-emptive' moratorium pattern, where a council pauses data centers before any project has actually been proposed or built. It was triggered by a developer...
WBKO / Spectrum News 1 KY / WKYU / WCLU Radio ↗
ColoradoMoratorium
Read why it matters →Denver is the cleanest 'yes' outcome of the four. Unanimous (13-0), one-year duration, immediate three-day window before effect (May 21), and the moratorium is scoped specifically to data center as the 'proposed primary use' — meaning a data center...
Denverite / Denver Gazette / 9news / CBS Colorado ↗
ColoradoNorth CarolinaMoratorium
Read why it matters →Charlotte is the contrast case to Denver: same kind of city-council moratorium proposal, similar developer/anti-developer split, but the mayor's tie-break vote went against the procedural fast-track. The substance question is not actually decided yet — the...
Govtech / WBTV / Axios Charlotte / WFAE / AOL ↗
ColoradoNorth CarolinaMoratorium
Read why it matters →Cheyenne is the weakest of the four outcomes for the pause camp. A motion failing to get a second in committee is the procedural equivalent of zero councilors other than the sponsor being willing to publicly support advancing the proposal. The 'no...
Cap City News / Wyoming News / Cowboy State Daily / Wyoming Public Media ↗
VirginiaColoradoNorth CarolinaArizonaMoratoriumHyperscaler
Read why it matters →Cave City is the smallest jurisdiction of the four (population ~2,000) but the most structurally interesting because it's the first Kentucky moratorium in a small town that has NOT yet seen any data center construction. Discovery (a developer Raymond will...
WBKO / Spectrum News 1 KY / WCLU Radio / Bowling Green Daily News / WKMS ↗
ColoradoNorth CarolinaMoratorium
Read why it matters →Three structurally different state-level outcomes in one week, all in the ratepayer-protection family. Oklahoma is the cleanest version: statute-only, no PUC tariff layer, 75 MW threshold, effective July 1, and the 60-day pre-acquisition notice provision is...
KGOU / OKCFOX / Fox23 / Oklahoma House / Oklahoma Voice / The Gazette CO / Colorado Newsline / Westword / Virginia Mercury / WYDaily / Office of the Governor of Virginia ↗
PJMVirginiaColoradoWisconsinMoratoriumRatepayer protection
Read why it matters →Reno is the second Mountain West city to enact a data-center moratorium this month (after Denver's May 18 vote, which is happening today), and the first in Nevada to do so at any level of government. The 6-1 vote at a 7-hour special meeting is one of the...
The Nevada Independent / Las Vegas Review-Journal / KOLO / Fox Reno / MyNews4 / Govtech / This Is Reno ↗
ColoradoWashingtonMoratorium
Read why it matters →Today is the single highest-density 'moratorium decision day' of 2026 so far. Four municipal-level decisions in geographically distinct markets (Mountain West urban, Sun Belt urban, central Kentucky rural, Mountain West regional capital) plus a structurally...
9news / CBS Colorado / Yellow Scene / Denver Gazette / Cap City News / Wyoming Public Media / WBTV / Axios Charlotte / Govtech / WCLU Radio / Utility Dive ↗
PJMFERCEPATexasMoratoriumInterconnectionBehind-the-meter
Read why it matters →Cheyenne is the first city anywhere west of the Mississippi to introduce a data-center moratorium ordinance at the council level in 2026 (the Wisconsin/Michigan/Ohio/Indiana cluster is Midwest; the GA/NC/FL/AL cluster is Sun Belt; Texas has no moratorium tape...
Cowboy State Daily / KGAB / Cap City News / Wyoming News / Casper Star-Tribune ↗
ERCOTTexasVirginiaColoradoMoratoriumHyperscaler
Read why it matters →Pending-item resolution for May 11. Colorado SB 102 (Sen. Cathy Kipp, March 18 introduction): the bill would have banned utility economic agreements incentivizing data centers and required 100% new-renewable sourcing by 2031. Per Colorado Politics ('Despite...
Colorado Politics / CPR / Seehafer News / 9News Denver / WBTV / ERCOT ↗
ERCOTPJMFERCColoradoMoratoriumInterconnectionRatepayer protection
Read why it matters →HB 1030 was Colorado's primary 2026 attempt to attract data-center investment via tax incentives — the bill was first introduced in January and modeled loosely on the sales-and-use exemption regimes that Texas, Virginia, Georgia, Ohio, Iowa, Nebraska, and...
KUNC / CPR News / The Colorado Sun / The Durango Herald ↗
ERCOTPJMMISOTexasMoratoriumTax incentiveRatepayer protection
Read why it matters →Denver City Council scheduled a second reading and public hearing on the proposed data center moratorium for May 18 with an anticipated effective date of May 21 if it passes. The pause would block all new zoning permits and site development plans for data...
9News Denver ↗
ColoradoMoratoriumAir permit
Read why it matters →