Washington, D.C. – Today the national environmental group Food & Water Watch released a comprehensive, deeply researched report that makes a compelling, urgent case for a nationwide moratorium on the construction of new AI-driven data centers. The highly detailed report lays out the wide range of harms and hazards associated with the sudden explosion of the data center industry in America, including:

• Enormous and unsustainable consumption of power and water resources, already resulting in skyrocketing utility bills for families and small businesses.
• Dangerous new demand for fossil fuels, posing heightened risks of air and water pollution for impacted communities and a grave threat to our global climate.
• A host of other societal threats, from national economic catastrophe, to loss of critical farmland, to unrelenting noise pollution, to threats to children and democracy.

The report, The Urgent Case Against Data Centers, comes two weeks after hundreds of residents descended on a New Brunswick City Council meeting to oppose plans that would have allowed data centers as part of a redevelopment plan for Jersey Avenue. The opposition campaign, spearheaded by Food & Water Watch, led the Council to reverse course, removing data centers from the plan and restoring language calling for a park on the site instead.

Meanwhile, a pending proposal in Vineland would include a 2.6 million square-foot facility and occupy 107 acres. The site plan includes an on-site LNG facility and LNG storage tank, as well as multiple biosludge tanks. The facility would use 300 megawatts of electricity – twice the amount of electricity currently used by the entire city of Vineland. 

The report methodically outlines the need for a moratorium on new data center construction nationwide, so that local, state and federal leaders can take the time needed to thoroughly and adequately evaluate these and other inherent harms and threats from this aggressive, profit-driven industry. Its release coincides with a growing national awakening on this issue, including the recent introduction of bills in numerous state legislatures to enact strong statewide moratoria on new data centers.

“As this report clearly shows, we need a halt to the explosive growth of new data center construction now, because political and community leaders across the country have been caught completely off guard by this aggressive, profit-hungry industry. It has yet to be determined if – not how – the industry can ever operate in a manner that sufficiently protects people and society from the profusion of inherent hazards and harms that data centers bring wherever they appear,” said Wenonah Hauter, founder and executive director of Food & Water Watch. 

Last October, Food & Water Watch became the first national organization in the country to call for a full nationwide moratorium on the approval and construction of new data centers. In a letter to Congress in December, more than 230 national, state and local organizations from across the country echoed this call. Meanwhile, Food & Water Watch has been active in fighting numerous proposals in many states, including California, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania. 

“The explosive growth of AI data centers is moving faster than the rules meant to protect our communities. New Jersey needs clear guardrails on energy and water consumption, and transparency of ownership structures before more projects move forward,” said Ben Dziobek, Climate Revolution Action Network Executive Director. “We also need strong workforce protections to address the real labor impacts of AI driven automation, including job displacement and economic disruption. Without these safeguards in place, the costs and risks will continue to fall on residents while the benefits flow to the billionaires who control Big Tech.”

“We don’t want these kinds of centers in here that are going to take resources from the community,” said Bruce Morgan, President of the New Brunswick Area Branch of the NAACP, and 1st Vice President of the NJ State Conference of the NAACP. “We are all collective owners of the commons- the management of our shared resources is something that we should all have a say in. Generative AI data center development in general and DataOne’s build out in Vineland, NJ specifically, extract disproportionately while providing little to nothing in return. Vineland residents have been stonewalled by their elected officials on an independent environment study, a community benefits agreement, and requests that this facility be taxed in full.”

“Current regulatory frameworks are grossly insufficient to protect communities from the encroachment of generative AI data centers. There is no reason that cities should not already have planning protocol and zoning criteria for these sorts of facilities within their Master Plan. Expanding the local tax base is an important part of the function of local government, but to pursue these ratables at the expense of residents’ quality of life and local environment is an indignity to their constituents,” said a spokesperson for Sustain SJ.