Palm Beach County, home to President Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort, has passed a one-year moratorium on planning and construction of new data centres following a unanimous 6-0 vote by commissioners. This decision comes just weeks after Trump warned that communities rejecting data centres would "end up being backwards and poor", making it a significant local pushback against the President's pro-data-centre agenda. The move is notable because it demonstrates resistance to data centre expansion even in one of the wealthiest counties in the United States, home to 65 billionaires.

The moratorium applies to new applications for data centres with anticipated peak electrical loads of at least 50 megawatts and allows county leadership time to conduct environmental impact reviews before updating zoning regulations. The decision appears largely driven by concerns over "Project Tango", a 202-acre data centre approved in 2016 situated 20 miles from Mar-a-Lago near an elementary school and homes, which commissioners voted 6-1 to reject expanding by 1.67 million square feet in July. Residents have raised concerns about increased electricity bills, environmental damage, noise pollution, and depletion of water resources, though two existing 100,000-square-foot data centre buildings remain approved for construction.