Fighting Big Tech’s Destructive Data Centers
Across the country, communities are standing up to powerful corporations against the unchecked expansion of AI data centers.
From small towns to major cities, residents are organizing to protect their water, energy resources, public health, and local democracy from massive facilities being pushed by some of the world’s richest corporations.
Now, these local fights are coming together into a national movement.
That’s why Our Revolution is proud be part of the National Coalition to Stop Data Centers, a growing alliance of grassroots, environmental, and advocacy organizations working to challenge the rapid expansion of AI infrastructure and demand policies that put people before corporate profits.
At the same time, Bernie Sanders is bringing this fight directly to Washington.
Bernie is calling for a federal moratorium on new data center construction until Congress establishes clear protections for communities, workers, consumers, and the environment. It’s a simple idea: before Big Tech is allowed to build thousands of new facilities across the country, we need safeguards to protect our water, our power grids, and the communities forced to live with the consequences.
The urgency couldn’t be clearer.
Massive data centers are being proposed at breakneck speed across the country. These facilities consume enormous amounts of land, electricity, and water while generating extraordinary profits for technology corporations and investors.
Communities are increasingly asking a basic question: who benefits?
Too often, local residents are left with higher utility costs, strained infrastructure, constant industrial noise, and growing concerns about water availability, while corporations collect subsidies, tax breaks, and public resources.
The threat is especially severe in regions already struggling with drought.
A recent investigation found that of the 809 new data centers currently planned across the United States, 517 are slated for communities that have experienced drought conditions within the last year.
As public awareness grows, resistance is growing too.
In Monterey Park, California, voters approved the nation’s first ban on data centers by an overwhelming 86 percent. In Ohio, state leaders have begun pulling back tax incentives for data center projects amid growing concerns about their impacts on communities and energy systems.
The message is becoming impossible to ignore:
Communities want a say in decisions that affect their future.
That’s exactly what the National Coalition to Stop Data Centers is fighting for.
The coalition brings together organizations from across the country—including Our Revolution, Third Act, GreenLatinos, MediaJustice, Food & Water Watch, North Carolina Environmental Justice Network, Citizens Action Coalition, Pennsylvania Physicians for Social Responsibility, and many others—to support local organizing efforts and build national pressure for stronger protections.
We’re already seeing state and local leaders step up. In Pennsylvania, State Senator Katie Muth is leading efforts to establish a statewide moratorium on new data centers while communities assess their environmental and economic impacts.
At Our Revolution, we’re mobilizing our grassroots network to support these fights on the ground while building support for Bernie’s federal moratorium.
Because this fight isn’t just about technology.
It’s about whether billion-dollar corporations get to reshape our communities without accountability.
It’s about whether public resources like water and energy are managed for the public good or sacrificed for private profit.
And it’s about whether ordinary people have a voice in decisions that will shape their communities for decades to come.
The AI boom is accelerating.
Our movement must too.
When we organize, we win.
— Our Revolution