More than 230 environmental organizations, including Food & Water Watch, Friends of the Earth, and Greenpeace, last week urged members of Congress to support a national moratorium on the approval and construction of new data centers.
The groups have cited rising electricity and water consumption as energy demand for data centers has soared. Consumers have also expressed concerns regarding utility bills.
The letter to Congress stated, “The rapid, largely unregulated rise of data centers to fuel the AI and crypto frenzy is disrupting communities across the country and threatening Americans’ economic, environmental, climate and water security.”
Studies have linked higher energy prices to the establishment of new data centers in a region. A recent survey, commissioned by solar installer Sunrun, found that 80% of consumers worried about data centers negatively affecting their utility bills. Electricity prices have already increased 13% this year in the US, marking the largest annual rise in the past decade.
The impact is expected to be most significant in Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, and New Jersey, which are slated for the largest increases in data center capacity. Energy demand for data centers is projected to nearly triple in the coming decade, from 40 gigawatts today to 106 gigawatts by 2035, with much of this growth occurring in rural areas.
“All this compounds the significant and concerning impacts AI is having on society, including lost jobs, social instability and economic concentration,” the environmental groups said.
Proposed data centers recently became points of contention. Last week, protestors demonstrated outside the headquarters of utility DTE in Detroit. The company is seeking approval from the Michigan Public Service Commission to supply OpenAI and Oracle with electricity for a 1.4 gigawatt data center. Protestors cited concerns about increased electricity bills, excessive fresh water usage, and traffic congestion. Also last week, authorities arrested three individuals in Wisconsin during a common council meeting regarding a 902 megawatt data center planned as part of OpenAI and Oracle’s Stargate project.
