On March 10, the Lowell City Council voted in favor of a one-year moratorium on data center development and expansion. The measure, which includes a possible 180-day extension, pauses new construction of and additions to data centers in the city.
The moratorium is the first of its kind in Massachusetts.
The Town of Shutesbury, near Springfield, is set to hold a council meeting on May 9 to vote on a similar moratorium.
But while some municipalities are slowing the construction, development, and expansion of data centers, that isn’t the case everywhere across the commonwealth. And the construction that is underway has raised a number of concerns.
The major data campus planned for Mass
In November 2024, Massachusetts implemented a sales tax exemption for qualifying data centers for up to 20 years. Officials made the move to attract more facilities like the state’s first-ever hyperscale AI data center, a multi-billion-dollar campus planned for Westfield.
Anxhela Mile, staff attorney with the Conservation Law Foundation, commented on the tax exemption in place and what it means for the future of AI data centers here: “It is especially important that Massachusetts holds businesses using this exemption to the highest standards because they are being subsidized by taxpayer dollars.”
There are many unknowns about how facilities like the Westfield data center will impact the local economy, including if it will even be built in the first place. The Shoestring found a number of clues that the project has been abandoned. Officially, though, that campus is slated to begin construction this year, with its first building up and running as early as 2027 or 2028. It is projected to create 400 permanent jobs, with salaries averaging around $100,000 a year. That’s in addition to approximately 2,000 construction jobs over an eight-to-10-year period.
The impact of data centers
With the exemption involved, taxpayers will help subsidize the Westfield project and others like it. That is troubling to some, as is the prospect of rising energy bills, since AI data centers typically consume a substantial amount of electricity. In Ashburn, Virginia, for example, electric bills have skyrocketed as data centers have popped up in the region. Locals there have complained that their costs have nearly doubled from last year.
There are environmental worries too. Due to lax restrictions, the United States houses the largest data center hub and more AI data centers than any other country in the world, with more than 5,000. These data centers, on top of local electric grids, often rely on fossil-fuel
According to the Conservation Law Foundation: “AI-driven data centers can have significant environmental impacts if powered by diesel or other fossil-fuel generators, contributing to air pollution, noise pollution, water pollution, and high consumption, and land use impacts (requiring substantial land). Data centers also strain local electric systems and regional grids by utilizing large quantities of energy, and can raise energy costs.”
AI data centers also create significant
Furthermore, since their high-powered CPUs can reach alarmingly high temperatures quickly, data centers use water-cooling systems, and are known for drying up local water supplies. When Meta built its Stanton Springs Data Center in Newton County, Georgia, many residents reported their water taps going dry. A couple living in a house that uses well water just 1,000 feet from the data center reported a buildup of sediment before their sinks went dry and appliances stopped working.
A warning to Massachusetts
While Massachusetts has only roughly 50 data centers, a small number compared to Virginia’s 600-plus, one can see what’s happening in other states to help gauge the environmental impacts that could occur here with the Westfield center and any other future similar developments.
In a comment on the rise of data centers correlating to increasing energy costs in the commonwealth, the Conservation Law Foundation stated that in considering future regulations, the Executive Office of Economic Development needs to “adequately address how data centers should disclose risks to our health and the environment, electric customer bill impacts, and labor standards.”
The CLF continued: “If Massachusetts is serious about controlling rising energy bills, preventing air and water pollution, and meeting its state-mandated targets to slash climate-warming emissions, it must provide more stringent protections and safeguards that address data center energy and resource usage.”
The fight in Lowell
Meta’s controversial data center in Georgia uses 500,000 gallons of water daily. It’s that kind of impact which led Lowell residents to fight an expansion to transform a data center in the Merrimack Valley into a hyperscale campus on par with the one slated for Westfield.
Regarding that battle, CLF explained: “Lowell residents filed an appeal contesting the Markley Group’s proposed expansion of its data center in a residential neighborhood in that city. Residents in the appeal contend that the proposed operation of 27 diesel backup generators and 16 cooling towers at the data center violates Massachusetts air quality control laws and conflicts with State policy to achieve aggressive reductions in climate-warming emissions.”
The expansion is currently halted by the aforementioned moratorium, which Lowell councilors approved unanimously. Meanwhile, there is also pushback on the Westfield data center, with the main complaint being the project’s lack of transparency regarding its environmental impacts. CLF commented: “Developers are not required to disclose all of their impacts, and state agencies and governments are not fully aware of the magnitude of such impacts. We need an independent assessment of data centers to understand the environmental, health, and energy impacts of proposed projects before construction.”
The environmental advocacy group added: “The public plays a major role in shaping if and how data centers move forward, especially at the local level. People can attend local planning board and zoning meetings, ask questions about energy use and water consumption, and push for strong safeguards if projects are proposed near homes or schools.
“Data centers may play a role in the economic future, but if our communities are asked to host the industry, we need governments to require accountability to best practices to protect people and the environment.”
