Environmental coalition demands national ban on new us data centers over climate and energy concerns

More than 230 environmental organizations are calling on Congress to impose a nationwide moratorium on new data center construction, marking the most significant coordinated pushback yet against the rapidly expanding artificial intelligence industry’s environmental impact.

The unprecedented coalition includes major environmental groups like Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, and Food & Water Watch, alongside dozens of local grassroots organizations. Together, they’re sounding the alarm about data centers’ mounting toll on both the climate and American households’ wallets.

These facilities, which power everything from cloud computing to AI applications, are being criticized as environmental double threats. The groups argue that data centers are driving up planet-warming emissions while simultaneously draining massive quantities of water for cooling systems. Perhaps most immediately concerning for many Americans, the energy-intensive facilities are contributing to rising electricity bills that have already strained household budgets this year.

The campaign represents a growing tension between technological advancement and environmental protection. As AI technology expands rapidly, the infrastructure needed to support it requires enormous amounts of electricity and water resources. Environmental advocates argue that this expansion is happening too quickly and without adequate consideration of its climate consequences. Their call for a complete halt to new construction signals that the environmental movement views data center proliferation as an urgent crisis requiring immediate congressional intervention, rather than a challenge that can be addressed through gradual improvements or regulations.