The Memphis city council is considering an ordinance that would temporarily halt new data center development in the city, according to Yahoo News. The measure has not yet been voted on, and council members have not specified how long a development pause would last. Memphis has attracted data center interest due to its central geographic location, power infrastructure, and land availability.
A Memphis moratorium would extend the geographic range of municipal data center restrictions further into the South, a region that has been relatively more hospitable to development than the Northeast or Mid-Atlantic. If passed, it could signal that opposition is no longer regionally concentrated.
Named city (Memphis), specific legislative mechanism (ordinance), and geographic significance triggered selection. This ranked below Rochester because the Memphis measure is still under consideration rather than enacted.