Iowa City Hits Pause on Data Centers
Waterloo officials approved a 90-day moratorium on new data centers.
WASHINGTON, Sept. 15, 2026 - Some Iowa cities are hitting pause on data centers.
Hours after the U.S. Department of Energy announced a nearly $2 billion loan to restart the Duane Arnold Energy Center – a 615-megawatt nuclear plant near Palo, Iowa – the city of Waterloo joined a growing list of Iowa communities voting to temporarily block new data center projects. Palo is about 55 miles southeast of Waterloo.
The Duane Arnold Energy Center is set to restart by early 2029, and it will power a proposed Google data center.
The Waterloo City Council approved a three-month moratorium on data centers at its meeting on September 8. Council member David Morrow says the pause will allow council members to properly regulate projects.
“And three months, I understand, many people wanted it longer than that, but three months was what we could come to an agreement on,” Morrow said, as quoted in an article by Radio Iowa.
The city council plans to vote to finalize a six-month pause on hyperscale projects at a future meeting. Residents have pushed for the measure since learning Waterloo approved an initial agreement with a data center developer on a 12-acre industrial site last December.
Council member Steve Schmitt says the three-month moratorium will allow city leaders to pause before taking any next steps.
Dubuque is also moving toward adopting a data center moratorium.
The moratorium takes effect immediately, leaving Waterloo’s data center pipeline on hold while the council works out longer-term rules.
