"Exclusive: Congress urged to act against energy-hungry facilities blamed for increasing bills and worsening climate crisis"
"A coalition of more than 230 environmental groups has demanded a national moratorium on new datacenters in the US, the latest salvo in a growing backlash to a booming artificial intelligence industry that has been blamed for escalating electricity bills and worsening the climate crisis.
The green groups, including Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, Food & Water Watch and dozens of local organizations, have urged members of Congress to halt the proliferation of energy-hungry datacenters, accusing them of causing planet-heating emissions, sucking up vast amounts of water and exacerbating electricity bill increases that have hit Americans this year.
“The rapid, largely unregulated rise of datacenters to fuel the AI and crypto frenzy is disrupting communities across the country and threatening Americans’ economic, environmental, climate and water security,” the letter states, adding that approval of new data centers should be paused until new regulations are put in place.
The push comes amid a growing revolt against moves by companies such as Meta, Google and Open AI to plow hundreds of billions of dollars into new datacenters, primarily to meet the huge computing demands of AI. At least 16 datacenter projects, worth a combined $64bn, have been blocked or delayed due to local opposition to rising electricity costs. The facilities’ need for huge amounts of water to cool down equipment has also proved controversial, particularly in drier areas where supplies are scarce."
Oliver Milman reports for the Guardian December 8, 2025.
SEE ALSO:
"Data Centers For AI Could Nearly Triple San Jose’s Energy Use. Who Foots The Bill?" (CalMatters)
"States Push To End Secrecy Over Data Center Water Use" (E&E News)
"AI, Data Centers, And Water" (Brookings Institution)
"Environmental Groups Demand a Nationwide Freeze on Data Center Construction" (Inside Climate News)
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