200+ Launch “No Data Centers in Philly” Campaign, Calling For Citywide Data Center Moratorium
Annie Fox, staff attorney at Clean Air Council, speaks at the rally.
“We know data centers are coming, we know the people of Philly are unprotected, and we demand that Council take one step to adding protection with a moratorium NOW.”
PHILADELPHIA – More than 200 Philadelphians gathered Monday outside City Hall to launch the No Data Centers in Philly campaign, calling on City Council to pass a citywide data center moratorium.
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Two potential data center sites have been identified in Southwest Philadelphia and the Northeast, but Philadelphia does not currently have any rules on how communities should be protected.
Philly’s push for a moratorium is part of a growing national response: More than 500 communities nationwide have passed data center moratoriums or bans. If passed, Philadelphia would be the largest city in the country to pass a data center moratorium. A local petition calling for a moratorium has gathered more than 2,300 signatures.
Data centers increase electric bills, pollution, water waste, and power surveillance and AI technologies. A recent poll found 76% of Pennsylvania voters oppose data center construction in their communities.
Groups in attendance supporting the call for a moratorium represented physicians, moms, veterans, pastors, children, neighborhood groups, environmental groups, racial justice groups, and more, including: Moms for Clean Air Force, Food and Water Watch, About Face Veterans Philly, Alliance for a Just Philadelphia, Asian Pacific Islander Political Alliance, Reclaim Philadelphia, March on Harrisburg, Save Chinatown, No Arena in the Heart of Our City, Peace Justice Sustainability Now, HERE 4 Climate Justice, Sunrise Philly, Camp Sojourner, the Organizing Center, Philly Thrive, Black Alliance for Peace, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Amistad Law Project, 215 People’s Alliance, Brewerytown Sharswood Neighborhood Coalition, Earth Quaker Action Team, Clean Air Council, Library Freedom Project, and more.
Sonya Sanders, resident of Grays Ferry and board president of Philly Thrive, said:
“People in my neighborhood are still sick and suffering from the pollution of the oil refinery that went on for generations. I lost my beloved husband, Big Ray, to cancer because in my eyes, the pollution killed him. And now Big Tech wants to come in here and do it all over again. They want to get rich off our backs, profiting off Black and brown people again. Thinking about my friends who are struggling with cancer and breathing disorders, and in memory of my husband Big Ray, we’re saying: press pause. Put the people at the table. We need to put people before profit. We need a moratorium now.”
Nikki Grant, co-executive director of Amistad Law Project, said:
“Data centers are the physical place where the AI tools that surveil us live. We know that the safest communities have an abundance of resources like quality education, affordable housing, healthcare, including mental healthcare, and clean air and green spaces. Unfortunately, instead of making deep investments in the things that keep us safe, Black and brown and working class communities in Philadelphia get police, prison, detention and deportation. If we want to stop the overpolicing of Black neighborhoods, we must stop the massive expansion of hyperscale data centers nationwide, and that fight starts here at home. That’s why we demand a moratorium now.”
Dr. Daniel Wolk, family physician and geriatrician at Bryn Mawr Family Practice and Residency Program and member of Physicians for Social Responsibility, said:
“Peoples’ health depends on the health of their environment. We are now in the midst of a race by big tech companies, fossil gas producers and their billionaire leaders to build data centers as fast and as big as possible, regardless of their impact on public health, driven by the need for profit. Data centers, powered by fossil gas, pollute our air with toxic nitrogen oxides and tiny particles called PM2.5, increasing rates of asthma in our children, and deaths from heart disease, stroke, dementia, and respiratory disease in our elders. Guided by the first principle in the Hippocratic oath: ‘First, do no harm,’ we call on City Council to enact a moratorium now on data center development in Philadelphia.”
Annie Fox, staff attorney with Clean Air Council, said:
“We know that new dirty fossil fuel power generation and extra fracking needed to feed these behemoths will multiply air pollution linked to asthma, heart disease, and even premature death, most endangering our children, our elders, and people who already have health struggles. There’s also so much that we don’t know, and we can’t race ahead until we do. What regulations are right to protect the people of Philadelphia and our environment? We need that moratorium to give the city government time to figure that out. The city shouldn’t trample our health in a contrived race to attract huge data centers that benefit large corporations, not us. More than 500 communities have passed data center moratoriums, let’s make Philadelphia next.”
Shawmar Pitts, managing co-director of Philly Thrive, said:
“Big Tech could build a data center in Philly right now, today, if they wanted to, because we don’t have a moratorium. We don’t have protection for the people. Big Tech gets a tax break, and then we gotta pay their taxes, their electric bill, their water bill, and sacrifice our health. Slowly dying in Grays Ferry from the refinery poison was normal to us. So we know the playbook already and it’s not happening again. We wanna see City Council stand with the people and be on the right side of the history, making sure we benefit economically and we put the health of the people first. Do it with a moratorium now.”
Austin Cole, national co-coordinator of the Black Alliance for Peace, said:
“These are not neutral buildings. Data centers help expand surveillance while our PECO bills go up and we get air, water, and noise pollution. They concentrate power and control in unaccountable companies led by tech oligarchs and unaccountable police, ICE, and federal agencies who surveil our communities, harass our families, and prey on our neighbors. A hyperscale data center in any neighborhood in our city is a threat to all Philadelphians, especially working class, Black, Brown, immigrant, and poor residents. We know data centers are coming, we know the people of Philly are unprotected, and we demand that Council take one step to adding protection with a moratorium NOW.”
Senia Lopez, resident of Northeast Philadelphia and organizer with 215 People’s Alliance, said:
“Northeast Philadelphia is often forgotten by our elected officials, but developers and Big Tech companies have not forgotten us. Big Tech is targeting Philadelphia for data centers, including a potential site two miles from my home. They see our neighborhoods as places where they can build, expand, and make money. But right now, Philadelphia has no clear rules to ensure that the people affected by these decisions have a say. A moratorium would give Philadelphia time to create protections and establish a process in which residents have real power over what gets built in our neighborhoods.”
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No Data Centers in Philly is a campaign to put Philly first. We’re calling for a citywide data center moratorium, binding standards to protect our affordability, health, jobs, data, and quality of life, and a transparent public process that ensures Philadelphians decide what gets built in our communities. We believe that what gets built in our city must strengthen the neighborhoods and people that make Philly, Philly – not sacrifice us.
