The Trump administration has made it clear that it doesn’t care about the health of our communities or our environment. That’s why we need to come together to protect each other and the places we love and call home. 

We know we have our work cut out for us. But thanks to dedicated people like you — who build up our people power and strengthen our movement — we will make progress and defend our livable future.

Here are some of the recent protections for our food, water, and climate you made possible.

Milestones to Celebrate

1. Defeated Data Center Proposals in New Jersey, California, and Pennsylvania

Across the country, public opposition to water-guzzling, energy-hungry, and noise-polluting AI data centers is growing. People of all walks of life, from rural to urban communities, are reaching out to Food & Water Watch to help them fight — and stop — data centers from threatening their hometowns. 

From this February to May alone, together we’ve helped stop data centers in Montour County, East Whiteland, and East Vincent, Pennsylvania, New Brunswick, New Jersey, and Monterey Park, California. In each of these victories, the local community banded together to stand up and win against Big Tech. 

2. Banned Data Centers in Monroe Township, New Jersey

Monroe Township, New Jersey, took the fight against the data center building boom head-on. Amid strong community pressure, the Township Council voted to ban the construction of all new AI data centers in the municipality.

This win is a testament to the power of grassroots organizing and citizen engagement. The people of Monroe Township showed up and spoke up for their farms, their lakes, their open spaces, and for the future of the Pinelands, which could be endangered by data center proliferation. This is people power in action!

3. Successfully Urged Congress to Introduce a National Data Center Moratorium Bill

Last October, Food & Water Watch became the first national organization to call for a nationwide moratorium on the approval and construction of new data centers. We sent a letter to Congress in December, with more than 230 national, state, and local allied organizations from across the country echoing this call. 

This March, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) announced the Artificial Intelligence Data Center Moratorium Act, legislation that “would impose a moratorium on the construction of all new AI data centers until strong national safeguards are in place to protect workers, consumers, and communities, defend privacy and civil rights, and ensure these technologies do not harm our environment.”

4. Pressed New York State Legislators to Introduce and Pass a Statewide Data Center Moratorium Bill 

More than 50 organizations in New York joined our letter to Congress in December calling for a moratorium on data centers. A couple of months later, State Senator Liz Krueger and Assemblymember Anna Kelles introduced legislation to establish a statewide moratorium on new data centers. 

Then, this June, the state legislature passed the Responsible Data Center Development Act, a one-year pause on the construction of data centers using more than 20 megawatts of power. The bill also requires a statewide data center impact report. Food & Water Watch is now pressing New York Governor Kathy Hochul to pass this bill, which would be the first of its kind in the nation. 

This legislation is logical, timely, and will give state leaders the time needed to properly assess the many inherent harms and hazards that data centers bring. It’s also a signal of the power of our movement, as we stand up for our communities against Big Tech. 

5. Welcomed Adoption of Nitrate Pollution Rules in Northeastern Oregon

The Oregon Department of Agriculture finalized groundbreaking rules to monitor and manage nitrate pollution in the Lower Umatilla Basin Groundwater Management Area. The rules require large farms to establish nitrate management plans, which must be certified by an agronomist (an expert in soil management science), and submit them to regulators. The largest farms will be subject to audits by state regulators.

These rules stem from the 2020 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) emergency action petition that Food & Water Watch led, along with advocacy with our allies, which elevated nitrate contamination into a prominent statewide issue. This is welcome progress for people living in northern Morrow and Umatilla counties who have dealt with polluted drinking water for decades.

6. Pushed the EPA to Prioritize Microplastics for Future Drinking Water Regulation 

Together with you, Food & Water Watch has been pressuring the EPA for years to monitor microplastics in our drinking water to help jump-start the process to establish drinking water protections. In April, the EPA announced that it planned to take an initial step in the regulatory process by proposing to include microplastics in the Sixth Contaminant Candidate List (CCL). In doing so, the EPA has identified microplastics as a priority for future regulation. 

This designation will hopefully strengthen our main campaign to have the EPA include microplastics in the Sixth Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR) to create a nationwide monitoring program.

While we celebrate this important progress, we’ll continue to push the EPA to do more and to include microplastics in the UCMR. We have a right to know if microplastics are in our water.

7. Stripped the Cancer Gag Act from the Farm Bill 

Thanks to pressure from our Food & Water Watch community and allies, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to strip Cancer Gag Act language from the Farm Bill. The provision would have shielded pesticide manufacturers, such as Bayer, the maker of Roundup, from health-related lawsuits. 

This is a huge win for our health and our environment. Our research team mapped the U.S. counties that spray the most glyphosate, the primary active ingredient in Roundup and other widely used herbicides, and the incidence rate for non-Hodgkin Lymphoma, a type of blood cancer. Evidence shows a clear overlap, indicating that pesticide use is linked to higher rates of non-Hodgkin Lymphoma.

8. Stopped Subsidies of Hydrogen Pipelines in Los Angeles

In April, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) voted to stop SoCalGas, the country’s largest natural gas utility, from charging customers $266 million to pay for costs related to its Angeles Link hydrogen pipeline project. If built, this dangerous pipeline would move hydrogen gas across Los Angeles and other parts of Southern California.

Hydrogen is too water-intensive to be a viable climate solution, produces more noxious pollutants than natural gas, and ultimately is an industry scheme that will entrench the fossil fuel industry. Food & Water Watch and our allies have been vocal opponents of Angeles Link since its inception. We applaud the CPUC for protecting ratepayers over corporate profits.

9. Won a Court Decision that Protects California’s Oil and Gas Health Buffer Law

This spring, a federal court denied the Trump administration’s request to pause enforcement of California’s landmark oil and gas health buffer law. This means the law, which prohibits new oil and gas drilling within 3,200 feet of homes, schools, hospitals, and other sensitive places, remains in effect.

In January, the Trump administration’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) sued California, claiming that federal laws override the state’s buffer law for federal land or leases. The BLM then asked the court to stop the state from enforcing protections while its lawsuit is pending. This would have endangered people living near thousands of acres of federal lands throughout California.

Food & Water Watch and a coalition of advocacy groups, who have moved to intervene in the case, opposed that request. We applaud the court for keeping this important protection in place while Trump’s attack on Californians’ health and safety plays out in court.

Each victory listed above was made possible by dedicated people — like you — who keep our fight for safe food, clean water, and a livable climate going strong. Thank you!