Amazon Employees Support Seattle's Proposed One-Year Moratorium on New Data Centers
Tags Infrastructure · Enterprise
Amazon employees, including senior software engineer Liesl Wigand from the Amazon Employees for Climate Justice group, testified in favor of a Seattle City Council moratorium on new data centers on June 9, 2026. Four unnamed companies proposed building five large-scale data centers with combined maximum demand of 369 megawatts — about one-third of Seattle's average daily electricity use and 10x more than Seattle's existing 30 data centers combined. Over 1,000 Amazon employees previously signed an open letter demanding 100% additional renewable energy for data centers. Former Amazon engineer Patrick Schloesser called for mandatory renewable energy requirements and layoff taxes for data center developers.
Technical significance
The 369 MW power demand from just five proposed data centers illustrates why AI infrastructure is becoming a local political issue. If Seattle passes the moratorium, it would join a growing list of jurisdictions grappling with data center power consumption. The unusual alignment of tech workers opposing their own company's expansion plans signals a potential shift in how AI buildout is perceived even within the industry.