Dozens of protesters gathered near the Pima County Fairgrounds before sunrise Friday, determined to block construction crews from breaking ground on Project Blue, the data center they say was forced on Tucson despite the community's opposition.

The center is being built on annexed land approved by the Pima County Board of Supervisors, despite the Tucson City Council voting against the project. This "no" vote represented a win for the No Desert Data Center Coalition and many Tucson residents, but developer Beale Infrastructure redesigned the center's plan and it was approved by the Arizona Corporation Commission in December.

The new plan, revealed in September, uses air cooling on a closed-loop system to cool the center's servers, meaning the system does not use any water.

"This system uses minimal amounts of water that are continuously recirculated, thereby eliminating water loss and the need to consume water for industrial purposes," according to a news release announcing the amended plan.

The No Desert Data Center Coalition organized last week's protest in response to the recent start of construction.

"We respect the community's right to voice their opinions, but the safety of the public and our crews is paramount," Beale Infrastructure said in a statement. "We remain open to direct dialogue regarding our Pima County investments, this project and the community partnerships we are bringing to Pima County."

Protesters were unmoved by the company's statement.

"We're here to show that the domination of big tech over our lives is not inevitable, that we don't have to accept it," said Reed Spurling, one of the protest's organizers and a coalition member.

Spurling has been working with the coalition since last summer, when Project Blue was first announced to the public.

Spurling and other members showed up Friday feeling angry, but not defeated.

"We did not want this data center to be built, because data centers like these power the tech that ICE uses to tear families apart," they said. "Data centers around the country like this are driving up energy bills, using vast amounts of water and we simply don't have more water to give in Southern Arizona."

Beale Infrastructure had previously told the Board of Supervisors and the coalition that the project would be dead without water service, according to Spurling.

"That was a lie. They betrayed us," they said. "Our elected officials on the county Board of Supervisors betrayed us and that's why we're here today."

That feeling of betrayal was felt by other members of the group, as protesters dressed in red gathered at 7 a.m. at the construction site at Houghton and Breece Road.

They held signs that read "Stop Project Blue" and "We said no," and shouted phrases including "Hey Hey, Ho Ho, data centers have got to go."

Protesters tried to block construction workers from leaving and entering the property, eventually getting into their cars to slow down traffic in the area. A few protesters pointed out that the annexed land is tribal land belonging to the Tohono O'odham Nation.

"Our resources should be ours, it shouldn't belong to big corporations," said Brinely Carrillo, a member of BorderLinks, a nonprofit that focuses on migrant justice and education about the environment, militarization and how that has affected migration patterns, ecosystems and water. "I think that all of our struggles and liberation are deeply connected, whether that be immigrant rights, environmental rights, LGBTQ rights, Palestine rights, it's all connected."

Carrillo said Beale has not been transparent about the data center from the start, comparing the project to the colonization of Indigenous people.

"We've seen the violence with an Indigenous history of colonization and now we're seeing the violence of destroying our deserts," she said.

Carrillo said she's confident Project Blue will not be completed, with Spurling saying they plan to continue protesting until the project is stopped.

"Large data centers are not for us. They're for the billionaires. These are wealth concentration machines that turn electricity and water into money for shareholders and while providing very few jobs to our communities," Spurling said. "And it's simply unacceptable."

Arilynn Hyatt is a journalism major at the University of Arizona and Tucson Spotlight intern. Contact her at arilynndhyatt@arizona.edu.

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