Across the country, Americans are debating how their lives would change if new AI data centers were built in their backyards. Data center companies and their customers are promising new jobs and economic growth, but that argument is not bought by the majority of Americans who oppose building data centers locally due to environmental and energy concerns.
For activist Shomer Pitts, these concerns are not theoretical. He knows better than anyone what it’s like to live in the shadow of American industrialization.
A lifelong resident of the Grays Ferry neighborhood in Southwest Philadelphia, Pitts grew up next door to what was then the East Coast’s largest oil refinery, which closed in 2019 following an explosion. Many of his friends and family members suffered from chronic health conditions, but they didn’t realize what was causing them until 2018, when they met Philly Thrive, an environmental justice group that was working in the neighborhood about the refinery’s expansion plans.
“I read the information that they had on the table about how living near a refinery affects you, and when you look at all the diseases that are in this paper, you’re like, ‘My mom has this, my sister has this, the house next door is suffering from this.’ In every house, someone has something on that list,” Pitts told TechCrunch. “From that point on, I was in it all the time.”
Pitts, now the organization’s executive co-director, was one of the leaders in Philadelphia’s data center moratorium. No formal construction proposal has been submitted yet, but city officials have identified two possible sites: one in Northeast Philadelphia and one in the Grays Ferry area of Pitts.
Local opposition to data centers is not limited to Philadelphia. Residents across the country, especially those living in cities and towns with limited resources, oppose the construction of new data centers.
But the backlash was particularly swift from people living in areas where the traces of big industry were still felt.
“We don’t want data centers,” said Sonya Sanders, president of the Philadelphia Thrive Board of Directors, at a rally Monday at Philadelphia City Hall. “We don’t want pollution, we don’t want noise, and we know that noise won’t bring us more jobs.”
Sanders’ husband, also a Grays Ferry resident, passed away in 2020 from a rare bone cancer. Mr Sanders said he did not smoke or drink and believed exhaust fumes from the refinery were the cause of his illness.
“In my eyes, it looked like they killed him,” she told the rally. “Pollution killed him. I believe that if he hadn’t been killed in silence, he would be here now, because it was the pursuit of profit that killed him.”
The Philadelphia data center may not have as severe an environmental impact as the now-defunct Philadelphia Energy Solutions refinery, which processed up to 335,000 barrels of crude oil each day. But the international competition to dominate the AI industry has become so extreme that by 2035, BloombergNEF predicts that U.S. data centers will consume more natural gas than Germany and Japan combined. This is nearly double the company’s forecast nine months ago.
Although natural gas burns much cleaner than other fossil fuels such as oil, it is not harmless. Burning one cubic foot of natural gas releases the equivalent of 60 grams of carbon dioxide, and increased demand for data centers is expected to generate an additional 1 million tons of greenhouse gas pollution each day, about 12% of all current U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. Researchers at Harvard University found in 2021 that air pollution from fossil fuels is responsible for one in five deaths around the world, and this alarming number is sure to increase in the age of AI.
“A typical data center planned in Pennsylvania will have hundreds of air-polluting diesel engines that should be reserved for emergencies, but the government has already said data centers should use them instead of drawing power from the grid, which is overburdened during some heat waves,” Clean Air Council attorney Annie Fox said at the rally. “It is expected to become more frequent… Fossil fuel-intensive data centers will exacerbate climate change, further exacerbating the frequency and severity of heat waves.”
Concerned citizens across the country appear to be conveying their concerns to authorities. In New York, Governor Kathy Hochul signed an executive order temporarily prohibiting the state from approving new permits for large projects.
“Progress should not be brought about by rising utility bills, shutting down water services, or noise pollution,” Hochul said at a news conference. “These data centers can and should only be built where we want them.”
Data center suspensions have also been approved in a number of U.S. cities, including Denver, Indianapolis, Asheville, Charlotte, and Reno. The purpose of these moratoriums is often to allow city officials to gather more information about the potential impacts of data center construction.
“I’m worried about contamination,” Donna Greenberg, a Philadelphia resident who attended the rally, told TechCrunch. “I’m concerned about the surveillance and the fact that they’re going to have access to information that they don’t need to know. I’m also concerned that they’re going to take water and electricity away from people and neighbors who need it.”
More than 100 people attended Monday’s kickoff rally for Philadelphia’s anti-data center movement, shouting chants from inside their City Hall offices in hopes of hearing their voices heard by city council members.
“I think it’s great to see our community stand up and fight back,” Pitts said. “It takes a lot of effort and a lot of manpower.”
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