Big Tech’s water-guzzling, energy-hungry data centers are sprawling metal colossi that can run as far as the eye can see, some sizing up to millions of square feet. And people across the country are seeing these facilities announced right in their communities. Nationwide, 3,000 new data centers are being constructed or planned right now. 

However, corporations and their cronies in office are starting to realize there’s trouble when they throw their baseball into the wrong neighbor’s lawn. Communities are fighting back against these behemoths and winning. Here’s what you need to know to join the fight if — or, more likely, when — they come to your community.

How Data Centers Threaten Our Communities

Data centers devour massive amounts of energy and water, threatening our energy bills, drinking water, and climate. Meanwhile, Trump is working to deregulate the AI industry driving this data center boom, and he’s throwing any environmental caution to the smoggy wind. 

His administration is pushing policies that favor climate-wrecking fossil fuels, even extending the lives of dying coal plants to bolster data centers. And the cost of Trump clearly being in cahoots with Big Oil and Big Tech? Us. 

The data center boom is nationwide, but some states are being hit harder than others. Pennsylvania has a rhyming history of having its natural resources churned into energy, and in turn to money for corporate polluters. Now, it’s a hotspot for data center proposals.

“The very first oil well in the United States was in Pennsylvania.  This was followed by the coal industry, then the fracking industry,” said Food & Water Watch PA Organizer Ginny Marcille-Kerslake. “Data centers are the latest chapter in this long history of corporate pollution. They are coming for our energy, land, and water with little or no regard for communities and the environment.”

As developers across the state attempt to change local zoning and pave the way for covering the landscape with hyperscale data centers, people are noticing — and choosing to fight back. This is how they won in Hazle Township, PA.  

Step 1: Know Your Voice Matters 

It’s the people who elect our leaders in the Unites States. We democratically choose who to trust, and in turn, we expect those leaders to not only hear our concerns but to act on them. Last year, Pennsylvanians caught a severance of this trust.

Governor Josh Shapiro began his “Pennsylvania Permit Fast Track Program” to “simplify the permitting process and focus on results… driving economic growth and creating jobs.” However, the track went so fast that it completely skipped the part where people have a say.

NorthPoint Development set its sights on Hazle Township for “Project Hazelnut,” a campus that would house 15 data centers, and Hazelnut became one of the first projects enrolled in the Fast Track Program. 

A data center application should have first gone to Hazle Township’s Zoning Hearing Board as a special exception according to their zoning rules. But when Ashley, a local resident, found out about Project Hazelnut, she couldn’t find any record of this hearing. So she filed a Right-to-Know to get to the bottom of it. 

She discovered that Project Hazelnut never went to the Zoning Hearing Board, which would have presented an opportunity for the community to have their voices heard on the decision of whether to approve the data center.

Ashley understood that constituents are supposed to have a say when an entire campus of data centers is being built in their town. And by submitting a Right-to-Know (a request for public records), she found that the people’s voices had been completely ignored. 

Step 2: Sound the Alarm to Your Community

Community members who would be directly impacted by the data center had a right to know what was heading toward them. So Ginny joined Ashley and other concerned residents in spreading the word. 

There are so many ways to do this in any community. You can write and submit Letters to the Editor to your local newspaper, hand out flyers in parks near the proposed site, and connect with local groups, whether they’re Facebook birding clubs or religious congregations.

When community members began drawing attention to Project Hazelnut, its data centers, and how their government failed its duties, the Board of Supervisors finally met for a legitimate vote — this time with the public. 

Step 3: Apply Pressure to Leaders with the Power

“The response from the community on short notice was outstanding,” said Ginny. “We hoped to get some people to show up, but as I pulled into the parking lot a half hour before the Supervisors’ meeting, it was already full. There ended up being about 200 people there, standing room only!”

At the meeting, neighbors questioned aloud why land clearing was underway despite plans never having been approved. Local resident Bob Zafian asked, “Who’s paying for this? You give someone a 10-year abatement on taxes. Who’s paying? Every single one of these people are paying for it.”

Sherri Homancos said to the Board, “We’ve seen communities in northern Virginia regret approving similar projects, only to face water shortages, bridge strain, and rising utility costs. They also cause increased cancer risk and noise pollution. It’s a loud humming like a generator that never stops.”

In the end, the people’s voices were victorious. The Board of Supervisors unanimously denied NorthPoint Development’s proposal to build Project Hazelnut.

“This huge project which had already been fast-tracked by the state — they were already clearing the land, it was Governor Shapiro’s baby — was denied!” Ginny said. 

YOU Can Join the Fight to Stop Data Centers!

Too often, government officials side with corporate interests over people. But across the country, the people are speaking up — and we’re winning. New York just introduced a bill demanding a statewide moratorium on data center construction. Countless communities all over the country, from California to Missouri to Indiana to Maryland, are stopping planned data centers and passing legislation to prevent new ones.

The people’s playbook is winning. Concerned residents are banding together and pressuring local officials to listen. Food & Water Watch is joining in on the fight, from stopping local projects like Hazelnut to pushing for a nationwide halt on data centers until they’re properly regulated. 

Pennsylvanians learned what was happening in their backyard, and they stood up to stop it. This is how democracy works. And sometimes it’s up to the people to remind their government.