Pima County agreed to keep Amazon Web Services’ role in Project Blue secret for five years, according to a non-disclosure agreement obtained by Arizona Luminaria. The deal, signed in 2023, sheds new light on how the county negotiated with the developers of the controversial — and largely secretive — data center.
The non-disclosure agreement, obtained through a public records request, was signed by Pima County’s now-retired procurement director. It names Amazon Web Services as the data center company, and promises to keep the company secret for five years from signing or until the project is completed, whichever comes first.
Arizona Luminaria reported in July that Amazon Web Services was the company behind Project Blue, but county officials have not publicly confirmed it.
While Amazon itself provoked community ire, public outcry over developers’ efforts to bring the project to the Sonoran Desert focused on the projected use of water and energy resources, as well as the initial secrecy.
Since then, Tucson adopted an ordinance requiring large water users to apply for city service and show their conservation efforts. On Sept. 3, Pima County passed a series of policy changes related to non-disclosure agreements, including a mandatory sunshine period, in which the county must publicly disclose companies’ names “prior to any requested approval or vote by a County public body.” Tucson has also initiated an NDA revamp.
The non-disclosure agreement also says the county will not share the name of the final user for Project Blue with county personnel unless it is legally obligated. Additionally, it lays out that, if the information was requested through an open records request, the county would give the business 10 days of prior notice to allow them to seek a protective order in court.
Beale Infrastructure, the company developing the data center, said there are no agreements in place between Beale and Amazon Web Services. “There is no company behind Project Blue other than Beale Infrastructure,” the statement said.
In a previous statement to Arizona Luminaria, Amazon Web Services said they had previously engaged in a standard due diligence process in Arizona, as they did in other geographic locations where they considered building.
Amazon Web Services “will continue to assess all potential geographic regions to ensure our data center developments provide the best possible product and value for our customers, while bringing positive benefits to the local communities where we operate,” the statement said.
On Sept. 17, the data center’s developer Beale Infrastructure said it is moving forward with Project Blue, this time promising a greener proposal that will use new low-water air-cooling technology.
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