Mayor Brandon Johnson has officially introduced a data center moratorium ordinance, aiming to pump the brakes on these massive infrastructure projects in Chicago for the next year, the Chicago Tribune reports. Now, the ball has landed squarely in the hands of aldermen, and it’s meant to serve as a temporary cooling-off period while the city works to figure out how to manage the real concerns surrounding electricity costs, water usage, and pollution. The mayor’s stance is pretty clear: he believes the city is “open for business,” but “not for sale.” He’s looking to strike a balance where Chicago can still chase innovation and the jobs that come with it, but he wants to ensure that growth doesn’t come at the expense of the health, safety, and quality of life for residents. As he put it, “We welcome innovation, investment and the jobs and opportunities that come with it, but growth must be done responsibly and in a way that protects the health, safety and quality of life of Chicago residents.” This proposal follows an executive order from early last month where the mayor directed city departments to keep a much closer eye on new data center developments. While that order kicked off the formation of a task force to write up new rules, the new ordinance is an attempt to turn that vision into a concrete legislative reality. Not everyone is on board with the pause, though The Data Center Coalition, which represents the industry, is pushing back. Brad Tietz, the group’s director of Midwest state government affairs, argued that a moratorium would actually hurt the city by driving away union jobs and stalling investments in clean energy. He’s calling for “reasonable regulatory frameworks that meet local needs without deterring the industry and the benefits it can bring.” Chicago mayor seeks to block data center expansion: ‘We are not for sale’https://t.co/0fS3X3WIJx— The Hill (@thehill) September 23, 2026 Inside the City Council, the debate is heating up. Ald. Bill Conway is pushing his own legislation, arguing that the city needs immediate action rather than another task force. His plan would treat data centers as planned developments, which would force them to undergo community review and follow stricter environmental standards. Conway has been quite vocal about his frustrations, noting that recent projects moved forward without any real oversight. He believes the mayor’s proposal is just a recipe for years of litigation while the problems of rising utility bills and environmental strain continue. The political friction was on full display Wednesday. When the mayor’s moratorium was set to move toward committee, Ald. Marty Quinn used a parliamentary maneuver to delay it. Not long after, Ald. Matt O’Shea did the exact same thing to Conway’s competing ordinance. Despite the pushback, some officials see the moratorium as a necessary step to modernize the city’s approach. Ald. Maria Hadden, who is cosponsoring the legislation, described it as “a year safeguard.” She emphasized that the goal isn’t to ban data centers entirely but to make sure they are sustainable. “If we do this right, this moratorium doesn’t even have to last the year, right? Let’s get together, let’s get industry to the table, let’s get organizations to the table and let’s get our regulatory framework together so that we don’t have to impede progress,” she said. In the meantime, the City Council did pass a separate measure on Wednesday that requires existing data centers to report their energy and water usage to the city. It’s a significant step toward transparency for the 39 facilities already operating in Chicago. As Jared Policicchio from the Department of Environment noted, the city is just trying to catch up to a rapidly changing landscape.