{"id":287087,"date":"2026-09-16T06:28:08","date_gmt":"2026-09-16T06:28:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/287087\/"},"modified":"2026-09-16T06:28:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-16T06:28:08","slug":"phila-activists-call-for-data-center-moratorium","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/287087\/","title":{"rendered":"Phila. activists call for data center moratorium"},"content":{"rendered":"

The community opposition against artificial intelligence data centers<\/a> across the country has spread into the heart of Philadelphia.<\/p>\n

The \u201cNo Data Centers in Philly<\/a>\u201d campaign held a press conference at City Hall on Monday, urging members of City Council to pass a data center moratorium<\/a>. Speakers at the rally, which was organized by Clean Air Council and other advocacy groups, called on councilmembers to stop data center development and establish regulations that specifically govern these facilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s way too much at stake to let data centers expand without guardrails,\u201d Sonya Sanders, a Grays Ferry resident and board president of the environmental justice group Philly Thrive, told the crowd of more than 100 people.<\/p>\n

Big Tech and other developers are building hyperscale data centers amid the artificial intelligence boom. While some union leaders support their construction, the projects have met with bipartisan backlash heading into the midterm elections, with even the nation\u2019s top AI leaders calling for a slowdown<\/a> of AI advancement. Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker and City Council members are up for reelection next year.<\/p>\n

Parker said in a statement on Monday that she convened a task force over the summer to consider data center development standards in the city and promised to put \u201crigorous guardrails in place.\u201d She said she would sign an executive order formalizing the task force this week.<\/p>\n

Communities \u2014 including those in the Philadelphia suburbs \u2014 worry about the facilities\u2019 potential impacts on the environment and quality of life, as well as the lack of regulation of AI technology. A Quinnipiac University survey found 74% of Pennsylvanian voters are against having a data center in their communities, and an Action Network petition calling for a moratorium in Philadelphia has garnered more than 2,000 signatures.<\/p>\n

The city\u2019s planning commission said in July<\/a> there are two properties in Philadelphia that could accommodate massive data centers: a 1,300-acre former refinery site in South Philadelphia, known as the Bellwether District, and a city-owned parcel by the Northeast Philadelphia airport at 2600 Grant Ave.<\/p>\n

No specific data center proposals are being considered by City Council, which reconvenes for the fall session on Thursday. To enact a moratorium, Parker has to issue an executive order, or council members can pass a bill that is then approved by her.<\/p>\n

The press conference came on the same day that Steve DeFrank, chairman of the state Public Utility Commission, warned that \u201cPennsylvania is at an energy crossroads,\u201d because data center development is causing demand projections to exceed anticipated supply, putting the future reliability of electricity supplies at risk.<\/p>\n

More than 500 communities in the United States, including New York state, have passed data center moratoriums or bans, according to the publication Heatmap News<\/a>. Dr. Daniel Wolk, a geriatrician and member of Physicians for Social Responsibility, said Philadelphia should follow New York\u2019s lead. Data centers, powered by fossil fuels, emit toxins that exacerbate the climate crisis and increase rates of fatal and respiratory diseases, he said.<\/p>\n

Senia Lopez, an organizer with the advocacy group 215 People\u2019s Alliance, lives two miles from the Grant Avenue site in Northeast Philadelphia. She said a moratorium would allow City Council to enact data center regulations that protect local neighborhoods and invite more community input.<\/p>\n

\u201cCity Council must choose whose interest it represents. It can side with Big Tech companies seeking to extract from our communities, or it can stand with the working people who have built and sustained them,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

In a statement to the Local, Vincent Thompson, communications director for City Council President Kenyatta Johnson, said \u201cPhiladelphia City Council members and Mayor Cherelle Parker\u2019s administration continue discussions on the future of data centers in the city.\u201d<\/p>\n

The South Philadelphia site was the location of a 150-year-old oil refinery that shut down in 2019 after an explosion. The facility was the city\u2019s biggest source of air pollution, emitting toxic chemicals like benzene<\/a>.<\/p>\n

HRP Group, the site\u2019s owner, is seeking to redevelop the former refinery site into a collection of life sciences and industrial campuses. Amelia Chasse Alcivar, HRP\u2019s executive vice president of corporate affairs, told Technical.ly<\/a> in August that HRP won\u2019t discuss specific tenants for the area, but it\u2019s entertaining conversations around building a data center there. A company representative could not be reached for comment.<\/p>\n

Shawmar Pitts, managing co-director of Philly Thrive \u2014 a group that fought to close the oil refinery \u2014 is convinced a massive data center is imminent.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know the playbook already. We\u2019ve already seen it too many times,\u201d he said at the rally.<\/p>\n

Sanders, who lost her husband to cancer, said her neighbors are still grappling with severe illnesses years after the refinery\u2019s closure. She says she doesn\u2019t want to see one polluting facility replaced with another.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s sad that they\u2019re putting the dollar bill first, profiting off of Black and brown people once again,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s not giving us a choice. That\u2019s not giving us a say. So far, our leaders are not taking care of our people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pitts warned City Council members that their seats \u201cwill be taken\u201d in next year\u2019s elections if they don\u2019t halt data center development. After his speech, Germantown resident Seth Anderson-Oberman, who ran against Councilmember Cindy Bass in the 2023 Democratic primary, led a chant calling for a moratorium \u201cnow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anderson-Oberman, executive director of the community advocacy organization Reclaim Philadelphia, said he wants to see all data center discussions in Philadelphia halted until policymakers fully understand the potential impacts of AI.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe expansion of AI is going to result in massive restructuring of our economy [and] layoffs of workers,\u201d he said. \u201cThis technology should be part of the public good. It should not be used to displace workers and to destroy our planet. I think we need to figure out how to use this technology in a way that\u2019s beneficial for humanity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Organizers for the \u201cNo Data Centers in Philly\u201d campaign plan to show up at City Council\u2019s meeting on Thursday morning to advocate for a moratorium.<\/p>\n

Mary Smith, a military veteran, attended the rally with fellow members of About Face Veterans Philly, a local chapter of a national military veterans\u2019 organization. They plan to return to City Hall with other organizers on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI showed up because I care about my community and making sure that everyone doesn\u2019t get sick from more data centers and more pollution,\u201d she told the Local.<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump has been a staunch supporter of AI development and outpacing China, arguing that it boosts economic competitiveness and national security. In multiple posts on Truth Social on Monday, he called concerns that AI will \u201cdestroy the world\u201d a hoax. \u201cThis is even wilder than the RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA HOAX, or the Global Warming Scam,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

Individual states have taken stricter approaches. Gov. Josh Shapiro last month signed an executive order enacting regulations for data centers in Pennsylvania, including requiring local approval for any project to obtain a state permit and mandating that developers bring their own energy.<\/p>\n

There are several data centers under construction in Pennsylvania and dozens of proposals, including ones in East Whiteland, Limerick<\/a> and Plymouth townships<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Abby Weiss is an environmental reporter for the Local and a Report for America corps member. She can be reached at abby@chestnuthilllocal.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The community opposition against artificial intelligence data centers across the country has spread into the heart of Philadelphia.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":287088,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[69,71,70],"class_list":["post-287087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=287087"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287087\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/287088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=287087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=287087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=287087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}