JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Governor Ron DeSantis signed SB484 into law Thursday. The bill would place many restrictions on data center companies and protect the communities where they operate.
“You should not pay one more red cent for electricity because of a hyperscale data center as an individual,” Governor DeSantis said at a press conference Thursday. “That’s just not right for the most wealthy companies in the history of the world to come in and have individual Floridians or Americans subsidize these hyperscale data centers.”
Under the new law:
- Local governments maintain the authority to oversee the development of property by “large load customers.”
- Public utilities must require data centers to pay for service costs, not ratepayers.
- Water management districts or the Department of Environmental Protection are prohibited from issuing consumptive water use permits to a large-scale data center under certain circumstances.
It comes over a month after a company called NextNRG suggested 400 acres of land on a parcel it was leasing in Nassau County would be well-suited for a data center.
Action News Jax reached out to NextNRG to see if the new law would deter them from considering building a data center in Nassau County.
They replied, stating:
“NextNRG’s plan for Nassau County has always been to build a smart microgrid that generates clean energy for the community and creates local jobs. That remains our focus, and the signing of SB484 does not change our plans or our direction.
While we may evaluate complementary opportunities in the future, including potential data center applications, any such development would be supported by dedicated onsite power infrastructure and would not rely on the existing utility grid in a manner that impacts local ratepayers.”
“We don’t need them,” said Nassau County resident Melissa Toompas about the idea of a data center in Nassau County. “They use too much natural resources and technology is going to be the downfall.”
Action News Jax reached out to Nassau County Commissioner, Alyson McCullough (R-District 4) and asked, with the Governor signing this new law, if they still planned on voting on whether to place a moratorium on data center proposals for a year. She says they still do.
>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<
[DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks]
[SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter]
Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live.