🌩️ Tucson Councilmember Dahl is a "HARD NO" on Project Blue | BUCKMASTER
While storms rage over Mount Lemmon, bigger tempests brew in city chambers as Kevin Dahl declares war on data center colonialism
Based on the Buckmaster Show for 7/2/25, a daily radio show in Tucson, AZ, interviewing local newsmakers. Analysis and opinions are my own.
😽 Keepin’ It Simple Summary for Younger Readers
👧🏾✊🏾👦🏾
🏜️ A Tucson city councilman is fighting against huge computer centers that would use tons of water in our desert, while a university professor is scared that immigration agents might burst into classrooms.
The councilman, Kevin Dahl, thinks these data centers are a bad deal because they'd use 🚰 drinking water to cool 🖥️ computers and only create a few permanent jobs.
Meanwhile, Professor Classen says Trump's government is cutting university research money and making schools afraid of raids, just like what happened in Germany before World War II.
Both stories show how people in power are trying to control information and resources while regular people suffer. 🤔📚💧
🗝️ Takeaways
🚫 Kevin Dahl becomes first Tucson councilman to publicly oppose Project Blue data centers
💧 Data centers would consume millions of gallons of drinking water daily in a desert city
🏫 Universities preparing protocols for potential ICE classroom invasions
🔬 UA loses 67 major research grants under the Trump administration attacks
🏠 Dahl's lone vote against criminalizing homeless camping shows progressive leadership
🤝 Structured campgrounds for the homeless are gaining support among council members
Weathering the Storm: City Council Courage and Academic Anxiety in Trump's Arizona
Originally aired July 2, 2025
While Mount Lemmon got hammered with hail and Tucson braced for monsoon moisture, Bill Buckmaster's Wednesday show delivered its own atmospheric pressure system—a tempest of local politics, academic concerns, and the looming specter of authoritarian overreach. From City Council chambers to college classrooms, the conversation crackled with the electricity of resistance and the rumble of institutional thunder.
As an Indigenous Chicano writer witnessing this second wave of Trumpian terror, I find myself oscillating between rage and recognition.
We've been here before, hermanos y hermanas. Our communities have survived forced removals, boarding schools, and countless attempts to erase our existence. Now we watch academics discover what we've always known: the state can turn violent against anyone who threatens its narrative.
The Context: A Desert Under Siege
Before diving into Wednesday's revelations, let's establish the battlefield.
Arizona—Alĭ ṣonak in O'odham, "small spring"—has become ground zero for multiple overlapping crises. Trump's second administration has weaponized federal agencies against universities, immigrants, and anyone daring to challenge corporate supremacy. Meanwhile, tech companies eye our scarce water resources like conquistadors spotting Aztec gold.
The irony burns hotter than July asphalt: a desert state being colonized by data centers that literally evaporate our most precious resource.
For readers unfamiliar with the political landscape, Tucson operates under a council-manager system where seven council members represent different wards. Kevin Dahl represents Ward 3, which includes parts of central and midtown Tucson—areas that house both university professors and working families, who are increasingly being priced out by gentrification.
Kevin Dahl: Standing Firm Against the Data Deluge
Tucson City Councilman Kevin Dahl made waves—or should we say, washed ashore with clarity—during his monthly appearance, addressing everything from homeless encampments to the controversial Project Blue data center proposal that's got Silicon Valley salivating over Southern Arizona's scarce resources.
The Wash Ordinance: Compassion Over Criminalization
The Supreme Court's decision in Grants Pass v. Johnson essentially criminalized poverty by allowing cities to ban sleeping in public spaces. Because nothing says "American exceptionalism" like making homelessness illegal while housing remains unaffordable. This ruling gave Arizona's punitive politicians carte blanche to weaponize city ordinances against our most vulnerable neighbors.
Dahl's lone dissent on the wash camping ordinance revealed a politician who prioritizes people over platitudes. While his colleagues rushed to criminalize homelessness following the Supreme Court's cruel calculus, Dahl dared to ask the uncomfortable question: Why are we making it illegal to exist while unhoused?
"I thought this was an extra step that wasn't needed," Dahl explained, noting that dangerous conditions already warrant wash clearances during monsoon season. His approach—leading with social workers, not squad cars—demonstrates that progressive governance isn't just possible in red-state Arizona; it's imperative.
The councilman's revelation that a structured campground is finally gaining traction among his colleagues suggests that even conservative minds can evolve when confronted with the futility of playing "whack-a-mole" with human desperation. Progress in Arizona moves slower than a javelina in July heat, but at least it moves.
For Tucsonans reading this, please understand that wash camping isn't a lifestyle choice—it's a matter of survival. Our desert arroyos become refuges for people society has abandoned. When monsoons arrive, these spaces turn deadly, requiring emergency evacuations that cost more than permanent housing solutions. Dahl's position acknowledges this reality, whereas his colleagues prefer to criminalize symptoms rather than address their causes.
In the “progressive” city of Tucson, with its all Democratic mayor and council, violators of the wash camping ordinance could face anything from community service and a $250 fine to up to ten days in jail.
Project Blue: A Hard No to Data Center Domination
But Dahl's most consequential stand came with his emphatic rejection of Project Blue—the mysterious data center complex that promises jobs but delivers environmental devastation.
In a moment of political poetry, Dahl declared himself a "hard no" on a project that would guzzle groundwater like a digital vampire while hiding behind NDAs thicker than Arizona summer humidity.
"Data centers take a lot of water and a lot of energy," Dahl noted with understated urgency. "Those are two issues that we have in our community." Indeed, in a desert city where residents face 14% utility rate hikes, the audacity of importing water-intensive industries borders on the absurd.
Let me explain this clearly for readers who might think data centers just need electricity: these facilities require massive cooling systems that consume water at rates that would make Phoenix golf courses blush. A single large data center can use millions of gallons daily—equivalent to the consumption of thousands of households.
In a region where groundwater depletion threatens our future, Project Blue represents environmental colonialism disguised as economic development.
The comparison to constructing a concentration camp—while generating similar employment—may have been hyperbolic, but it cut through corporate doublespeak with surgical precision.
"We wouldn't be supporting constructing a concentration camp that might make the same number of jobs," Dahl argued. "We want to construct much more sustainable industries and commercial operations that employ more people going forward."
That sound you hear? It's the collective gasp of tech bros realizing someone actually read past their talking points.
Dahl's concerns about cryptocurrency, AI, and potential Trump-adjacent ownership add layers of legitimate worry. "Is it going to be a cryptocurrency company owned by President Trump? Is it going to be an Elon Musk project?" These aren't idle questions—they're essential inquiries about who controls our community's future.
For Tucson residents, Project Blue represents everything wrong with modern capitalism: secretive deals, environmental exploitation, and the false promise of prosperity through resource extraction. The 180 permanent jobs projected for Phase One work out to roughly $64,000 annually—decent wages that pale compared to the environmental costs. We're essentially paying corporations to steal our water while calling it economic development.
The "Water Positive" Mirage
The developers have spun a particularly clever piece of corporate alchemy, claiming their project would be "water positive" through environmental sleight of hand. Dahl addressed this greenwashing directly, acknowledging their proposed mitigation efforts while maintaining his skepticism.
"I like that they have tried to figure out a way to do it with net-zero water. They're calling ‘water positive’ by investing in treating a well that's poisoned by industrial activity and making that water usable and using reclaimed water and also investing in other ways to do water conservation," Dahl explained.
Translation: "We'll clean up someone else's mess, use recycled water eventually, and maybe do some conservation projects—therefore, trust us to drain your aquifer!"
But Dahl wasn't buying the corporate carbon—err, water—offset shell game.
"I think any new big development, whether it's an industry or a big residential community, needs to think about how they do maximum water conservation and how they help pay for the to conserve water to balance out what they'll be using. But even so, that means a lot of our water supply will be going to this one industry."
Here's the beautiful irony of "water positive" claims: it's like a casino promising to be "money positive" because they'll donate a fraction of your losses to charity. Sure, technically some good happens, but the house always wins.
According to recent reporting, these data centers would initially rely on potable water—drinking water—until reclaimed water infrastructure could be developed. Because nothing says "technological innovation" like using drinking water to cool computers while families struggle with utility bills, then promising to maybe switch to recycled water someday if the infrastructure gods smile upon us.
Professor Albrecht Classen: Medieval Wisdom for Modern Madness
From Vermont's verdant valleys, University of Arizona Regents Professor Albrecht Classen, a distinguished medieval scholar, brought a sobering perspective on the precarious position of higher education in Trump's America.
Teaching at Middlebury's legendary language immersion program, where students surrender English for seven weeks of Germanic grammar, Classen embodied the kind of intellectual dedication that autocrats find threatening.
It's fitting that a medieval scholar would recognize fascism—he's literally studied how civilizations collapse.
ICE Age Anxiety
The professor's revelation that universities now require protocols for potential ICE classroom invasions should chill every American who values academic freedom. When distinguished scholars—contributors to humanity's intellectual treasury—must strategize against government storm troopers, we've crossed a terrifying threshold.
"We got really specific instructions on what to do in case ICE people or agents come and try to penetrate into our classrooms. We are so scared. This is a very scary scenario," Classen admitted with refreshing honesty.
For Indigenous and Chicano communities, ICE raids aren't theoretical—they're traumatic realities that have separated families and terrorized neighborhoods for decades. Now the terror spreads to previously protected spaces like universities.
His comparison between 2025 America and 1933 Germany wasn't hyperbole—it was historical pattern recognition from someone who's dedicated his career to understanding how civilizations crumble.
"I'm very worried about the parallels between Hitler, Germany in 1933 and the United States in 2025. They are really scary parallels."
The specific mention of border patrol agents "entered almost violently a private home in southeast Tucson just a few days ago" without warrants demonstrates how quickly constitutional protections evaporate under authoritarian pressure. When federal agents can storm private homes without legal justification, we've officially entered the "papers, please" phase of American fascism.
The Research Massacre
With 67 major research grants eliminated at the University of Arizona, we're witnessing intellectual evisceration in real time. As Classen noted, cutting hydrology research while facing water crises is "suicidal"—a perfect metaphor for a political movement that mistakes ignorance for ideology.
"Think about water, for example... So the hydrologists need to come up with new ideas and understand the conditions much better. If that is cut, for example, then we're cutting off our own legs. This is suicidal."
The cosmic irony burns: while Dahl fights data centers that consume water, the very researchers who could solve our water challenges are being defunded by federal fascists who prefer Facebook theories to scientific facts.
For university communities, these cuts represent more than budget line items—they're attacks on knowledge itself. Research grants fund graduate students, support innovative projects, and contribute to solutions for global challenges. Eliminating them doesn't just hurt universities; it handicaps humanity's ability to address climate change, disease, and inequality.
Miracles and Meaning
Classen's forthcoming book on medieval miracles offers unexpected contemporary relevance. In an age where alternative facts masquerade as truth, studying how past societies navigated belief and knowledge feels prophetic.
"We have lots of examples of similar experiences, but again, I don't want to dismiss them... There are indeed many strange things when prayer has helped prayers to relics, for example."
Perhaps understanding historical gullibility can inoculate us against modern manipulation—though I suspect medieval peasants had more critical thinking skills than today's Twitter users.
The Bigger Picture: Colonialism in Digital Drag
Both stories—Dahl's resistance to Project Blue and Classen's academic anxiety—reflect broader patterns of contemporary colonialism. Tech companies extracting water mirrors historical resource theft, while federal attacks on universities echo past efforts to destroy Indigenous knowledge systems.
We've seen this movie before: outsiders arrive promising prosperity, extract what they need, and leave communities damaged. The only difference now is they use PowerPoint presentations instead of cavalry charges.
For Tucson residents, these interconnected crises require a coordinated response. We cannot address homelessness while ignoring housing costs driven by tech industry speculation. We cannot protect academic freedom while allowing corporate secrecy to dominate municipal decision-making.
Questions for Consideration
As Tucson faces these converging crises—from homeless criminalization to data center colonization, from academic attacks to environmental exploitation—several questions demand our attention:
Can local resistance movements like Dahl's principled stands create meaningful change when federal forces seem determined to dismantle democratic institutions?
How do we balance economic development with environmental sustainability when corporate interests wield NDAs like weapons and politicians chase construction jobs instead of long-term prosperity?
Finding Hope in Resistance and Getting Involved
Despite the storm clouds—both meteorological and political—gathering over Arizona, Wednesday's Buckmaster Show illuminated something powerful: the persistence of principled leadership and intellectual courage. From Dahl's compassionate governance to Classen's scholarly dedication, we glimpsed the possibility that democracy's defenders might yet weather this authoritarian tempest.
Like those monsoon clouds building over the Catalinas, resistance movements often appear suddenly, surge dramatically, and can reshape the landscape in ways that seemed impossible just hours before. In Tucson's case, that landscape includes both our physical desert and our political terrain—and both deserve better than what's being offered by those who mistake cruelty for strength.
The hail may have melted on Mount Lemmon, but the resolve of those fighting for justice burns eternal.
How to Get Involved
Attend Tucson City Council meetings - Public comment periods allow community input on issues like Project Blue
Support Kevin Dahl's re-election campaign - Ward 3 residents can volunteer or donate
Contact other council members - Express opposition to environmentally destructive projects
Join local housing advocacy groups - Fight for affordable housing solutions instead of criminalizing homelessness
Support university faculty and students - Attend rallies, write letters, oppose research funding cuts
Subscribe to Three Sonorans Substack - Stay informed about local progressive politics and resistance efforts
Knowledge is power, and in times like these, staying informed isn't just helpful—it's essential for survival. Support independent media like Three Sonorans that amplify the voices of resistance and hold power accountable.
What Do You Think?
The conversations on Buckmaster's show raise critical questions about our community's future. How do we balance economic development with environmental protection? What role should universities play in resisting authoritarianism? Share your thoughts below—your voice matters in shaping Tucson's response to these challenges.
Remember: every great movement started with ordinary people refusing to accept the unacceptable. The question isn't whether change is possible—it's whether we'll be part of making it happen.
Have a scoop or a story you want us to follow up on? Send us a message!
Argh! Mamdani is the spelling and a pox on my own house for getting it wrong!
Another way to get involved is to support Sadie Shaw's election campaign for Ward 3. While it is refreshing to see Dahl's recent departures from groupthink, i think we would see more with a younger and more diverse set of city councilfolk. And if Democrats cannot recognize that pull throughout government ( which obviously scares the sh$t out of them as evidenced by the blowback against Momdoni's win in NY) they/ we are destined to fail completely to be a relevant party.