Data center proposal sparks pushback from some Cochise County residents

COCHISE COUNTY, Ariz. (NBC, KYMA) - A massive data center campus and battery energy storage system proposed for a rural Cochise County, Arizona area has sparked immediate pushback from some county residents.

"This is not the valley to build this thing in. I think they probably picked this location because they probably think we are just a bunch of dumb hicks," said Vincent Fiore, who grew up in the area.

Fiore was among several in the crowd that shouted as speakers with SpaceX tried to talk. Hecklers started as soon as the company's presentation began.

"We are committed to living and working and being dedicated, energetic community members," said Riley Trettle, Head of Energy and Supercomputer Department for SpaceX.

The project would sit east of U.S. Highway 191, next to land of the apache generating station. The land is currently zoned rural.

The application said the campus would include nine computing buildings and need roughly six-gigawatts.

The company said the project would create about 1,000 permanent jobs, and could help lower electricity bills for customers of Sulphur Springs Valley Electric Cooperative, but water is one of the biggest concerns for people who live in the area.

SpaceX said the data center would use a dry-cooling system, meaning it would use air instead of water to cool its computers.

The company also said it would not pump groundwater from the Willcox Basin for the campus's industrial or other non-drinking water needs, but Fiore said he's still concerned about how a project this large could affect the community.

"We're the people that live in this valley and again, when they going to build all this, then five years when there is noise and there is problems and they are using water. Then who do we complain to?" Fiore expressed.