A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
More than 230 groups have signed on to a letter calling for a national pause on new data centers that power AI. They cite the risk of higher utility bills and environmental concerns. Here's NPR's Jeff Brady.
JEFF BRADY, BYLINE: The group Food & Water Watch drafted the moratorium letter to members of Congress as communities grapple with proposals to build the large energy-hungry campuses. Mitch Jones with the group says the country needs to pause and let regulations catch up.
MITCH JONES: And let's figure out if it's possible to do this in a way that is going to be safe for the environment, that is going to preserve water for communities, that is not going to drive up people's already increasing electricity prices.
BRADY: Jones argues Congress could regulate data center construction by giving the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or FERC, more oversight. Data centers use a lot of water for cooling. He says that's another possibility for regulation. Or, he says, data center construction could be made subject to existing federal environmental laws. Other groups signing the letter include Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and Physicians for Social Responsibility. The industry group Data Center Coalition says halting construction would jeopardize digital infrastructure that's essential to contemporary life and risk U.S. economic competitiveness.
Much of the fight over data center construction is before state and local governments. President Trump wrote on social media Monday that he plans an executive order to curb state laws limiting data center development, but that likely would be challenged in court. This call for a national moratorium on new data centers echoes a Food & Water Watch campaign from a generation back against hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, for natural gas.
JONES: Well, we called for a national ban on fracking as well, actually, and had legislation introduced in Congress to do that on multiple occasions.
BRADY: That effort failed, and gas drilling is booming. Still, Jones says his group is talking with members of Congress, and he expects a bill for a data center moratorium soonish.
Jeff Brady, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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