Across the country, Americans are debating how their lives might change if new AI data centers are built in their backyards. Data center companies and their customers are promising new jobs and economic growth, but that pitch hasn\u2019t won over a majority of Americans <\/a>who oppose data center construction in their area, often over environmental and energy concerns.<\/p>\n For activist Shawmar Pitts, these concerns aren\u2019t theoretical. He knows better than anyone what it\u2019s like to live in the shadow of American industrialization.<\/p>\n A lifelong resident of the Grays Ferry neighborhood in Southwest Philadelphia, Pitts grew up next to what was then the East Coast\u2019s largest oil refinery<\/a>, which shut down after an explosion<\/a> in 2019. Though many of his friends and family suffered from chronic health conditions, he didn\u2019t realize what might have caused these illnesses until he encountered the environmental justice group Philly Thrive<\/a>, which was tabling in his neighborhood in 2018 about a proposed oil refinery expansion.<\/p>\n \u201cI read the information they had on the table about how living near the refinery affects you, and I\u2019m looking at all the sicknesses on this paper, and I\u2019m like, \u2018My mother has this, my sister has that, my next-door neighbor suffers from this\u2019 \u2013 every house, someone has something on that list,\u201d Pitts told TechCrunch. \u201cFrom that point, I was all the way in.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Pitts, who is now the managing co-director of that same organization, is among those leading the charge for a data center moratorium in Philadelphia. While there have been no formal proposals for construction yet, city officials have identified two potential sites<\/a>: one in Northeast Philadelphia and the other in Pitts\u2019 Grays Ferry neighborhood.<\/p>\n Data center opposition from local residents isn\u2019t unique to Philadelphia. Residents across the United States have pushed back against new data center construction, particularly those living in cities and towns with finite resources. <\/p>\n But the pushback has been particularly swift from people living in communities where big industry\u2019s mark is still felt. <\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t want data centers,\u201d Philly Thrive board president Sonya Sanders said at a rally on Monday at Philadelphia\u2019s City Hall. \u201cWe don\u2019t want the pollution, we don\u2019t want the noise, and we know they\u2019re not going to bring us more jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n Sanders\u2019 husband, who was also a resident of Grays Ferry, died of a rare bone cancer in 2020. She said<\/a> he didn\u2019t smoke or drink, and she believes that emissions from the refinery caused his illness.<\/p>\n \u201cIn my eyes, they killed him,\u201d she said at the rally. \u201cThe pollution killed him. I believe he would be here today if he wasn\u2019t silently murdered, because it was the pursuit of profit that killed him.\u201d<\/p>\n A Philadelphia data center may not have as severe an environmental impact as the now-defunct Philadelphia Energy Solutions refinery, which processed<\/a> up to 335,000 barrels of crude oil daily. But the international race to dominate the AI industry has become so extreme that by 2035, BloombergNEF predicts that U.S. data centers will consume more natural gas<\/a> than Germany and Japan combined.\u00a0That\u2019s almost double the firm\u2019s projection from nine months ago.<\/p>\n Natural gas burns a lot cleaner than other fossil fuels, like oil, but it\u2019s far from harmless. Burning one cubic foot of natural gas releases the equivalent of 60 grams of carbon dioxide<\/a>, and additional data center demand is expected to generate an extra 1 million metric tons of greenhouse gas pollution each day, which is about 12% of all present day U.S. greenhouse gas emissions<\/a>. Harvard University researchers found in 2021 that fossil fuel air pollution is responsible for one in five deaths worldwide<\/a>, a staggering figure that is bound to increase in the age of AI.<\/p>\n \u201cA typical data center planned in Pennsylvania has hundreds of diesel engines that spew air pollution, and even if they\u2019re supposedly reserved for emergencies<\/a>, the government has already said that the data center should use those rather than drawing from an overstressed electrical grid during some heat waves,\u201d said Clean Air Council attorney Annie Fox at the rally. \u201cWe can expect that to get more frequent\u2026 Fossil fuel-hungry data centers will worsen climate change, making those heatwaves more frequent and severe.\u201d<\/p>\n Concerned citizens across the country do seem to be getting through to their officials. In New York, Governor Kathy Hochul signed an executive order that temporarily prevents<\/a> the state from approving new permits for large projects.<\/p>\n \u201cProgress shouldn\u2019t arrive with a higher utility bill, deleted water supply, or noise pollution,\u201d Hochul said at a press conference. \u201cThese data centers can only be built, should only be built in places that want them.\u201d<\/p>\n Data center moratoriums have also been approved in a number of U.S. cities, including Denver<\/a>, Indianapolis<\/a>, Asheville<\/a>, Charlotte<\/a>, and Reno<\/a>. The purpose of these moratoriums is often to allow city officials to collect more information about the potential impacts of building data centers.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m worried about pollution,\u201d Donna Greenberg, a Philadelphia resident who attended the rally, told TechCrunch. \u201cI\u2019m worried about surveillance and the fact that they\u2019re going to have access to information they have no business knowing, and I\u2019m concerned that they\u2019re going to be using water and electricity that takes away from the people and the neighborhoods who need it.\u201d<\/p>\n More than 100 people attended the kick-off rally for the No Data Centers in Philly campaign on Monday, chanting loudly in hopes that city council members would hear them from inside their offices at City Hall.<\/p>\n \u201cI just think that our community standing up and fighting back is tremendous,\u201d Pitts said. \u201cIt takes a lot of effort and a lot of people.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission<\/a>. 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