Residents in Philadelphia are pushing back against plans for new AI data centers in their city. The opposition is being led by the environmental justice group Philly Thrive.
More than 100 people gathered at Philadelphia's City Hall on Monday for a rally kicking off the "No Data Centers in Philly" campaign. Organizers want city council members to approve a moratorium on new construction.
No formal data center proposals have been submitted yet. But city officials have already identified two possible sites, one in Northeast Philadelphia and another in the Grays Ferry neighborhood.
Grays Ferry has a long industrial history. The area once housed the East Coast's largest oil refinery, which closed after an explosion in 2019.
Shawmar Pitts, managing co-director of Philly Thrive, grew up in Grays Ferry near the refinery. He said many neighbors developed chronic illnesses over the years.
Community Members Cite Health Concerns
Philly Thrive board president Sonya Sanders spoke at the rally about her late husband, a Grays Ferry resident who died of bone cancer in 2020. She said he never smoked or drank.
Sanders said she believes emissions from the old refinery contributed to his death. She told the crowd that pollution from future data centers worries her too.
Clean Air Council attorney Annie Fox also spoke at the event. She said data centers planned for Pennsylvania often include diesel engines that release air pollution.
Fox said those engines are meant for emergency use. But she said the state has indicated the engines could run during heat waves when the electrical grid is under strain.
National Data Center Growth Raises Energy Questions
The concerns in Philadelphia reflect a wider pattern across the country. Data center companies say the facilities bring jobs and economic growth to local areas.
Many residents disagree with that framing. Surveys show a majority of Americans oppose data center construction in their own communities.
Energy use is a central part of the debate. BloombergNEF projects that US data centers will consume more natural gas by 2035 than Germany and Japan combined, nearly double its estimate from nine months ago.
Natural gas burns cleaner than oil but still produces greenhouse gases. Researchers estimate that added data center demand could generate about 1 million metric tons of extra greenhouse gas pollution per day.
Other cities have already taken action. Denver, Indianapolis, Asheville, Charlotte, and Reno have all passed data center moratoriums, often to give local officials time to study the impact.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul recently signed an executive order that temporarily blocks the state from approving new permits for large energy projects. She said data centers should only be built in places that want them.
Philadelphia resident Donna Greenberg attended Monday's rally. She said she is worried about pollution, water use, and electricity being diverted away from local neighborhoods.
Organizers say they plan to keep pressuring city council members as the debate over data centers continues.
