Environmental groups call for halt to new data center construction

Environmental groups, including Food and Water Watch, Friends of the Earth, and Greenpeace, are urging Congress to impose a national moratorium on the approval and construction of new data centers. Their concerns center on the rapidly increasing electricity and water consumption driven by the expansion of data centers supporting AI and cryptocurrency activities. They warn that this growth is largely unregulated and threatens economic, environmental, climate, and water security across the United States. Electricity prices have already seen significant increases this year, with the most substantial impacts expected in states like Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, and New Jersey, where data center capacity is projected to grow the most. Energy demand from data centers is anticipated to nearly triple from 40 gigawatts today to 106 gigawatts by 2035, with much of this expansion occurring in rural areas. The rapid growth of data centers has sparked public protests, such as those at DTE’s headquarters in Detroit, where the utility seeks approval to supply electricity to a 1.