Phoenix’s expanding data center boom, one Arizona advocate says, could intensify heat in the neighborhoods around those projects. The concern comes as extreme temperatures already make outdoor construction work in the city a matter of survival.
What’s happening?
In a commentary for the Arizona Capitol Times, south Phoenix native Jocelyn Anaya Galvan wrote that she received a call from her father while he was helping build a massive data center in north Phoenix. During the call, he told her he had a “pounding headache and a sharp pain in his right arm.”
Galvan wrote that her father is part of a workforce, mostly Latino men over the age of 50, that is particularly vulnerable to Arizona’s extreme heat. She noted that Latinos represented 23% of Maricopa County heat-related deaths last year and 52% of the construction industry workforce.
In addition to the dangers of working outside, Galvan wrote that her father’s employer does not offer health insurance…