Activists rally at City Hall, demand Philadelphia data center moratorium

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Activists rallied outside Philadelphia City Hall on Monday, calling for a moratorium on new data center development, arguing the city needs stronger regulations before large-scale facilities are proposed.

"We want to grow communities, not data centers in Philadelphia," said Hannah Sassaman of the People's Tech Project.

Philadelphia currently has fewer than a dozen data centers, but activists are concerned about the potential for large, hyperscale facilities tied to the growth of artificial intelligence.

Sassaman said a moratorium would give residents more say in where data centers are built and allow the city to address potential impacts on neighborhoods.

"We're trying to create a moratorium to make sure data centers that can do everything from kick your electricity bills up hundreds, if not thousands of dollars, could raise the ambient temperature of your neighborhood by 5 or 15 degrees, could create a drone or a hum that never ceases, could make a terrible amount of pollution from natural gas aren't built," Sassaman said.

The group pointed to two potential locations identified by the Philadelphia City Planning Commission as large enough to accommodate an industrial-scale data center: the Bellwether District in Southwest Philadelphia, at the site of the former refinery, and an area along Grant Avenue in Northeast Philadelphia.

Action News was told there are no active data center proposals currently being considered for those sites.

Still, people who attended the rally said they are concerned about the potential effects of future development.

"I'm scared of the pollution. I'm scared of the noise. I'm scared of them having access to information through surveillance," said Donna Greenberg of Center City.

Mike Benson, of Williamstown, New Jersey, said his biggest concern is what information data centers could collect and how it could be used.

Activists said they want regulations in place before developers can move forward with projects.

"A developer could break ground today unless a moratorium that covered the entire city was passed," Sassaman said.

Sassaman said Philadelphia currently lacks clear rules governing where data centers can be built and a meaningful process for residents who could be affected by them.

"When we ask folks in Grays Ferry what they want, they don't want a data center at the Bellwether District at the old refinery site," she said. "They want grocery stores. They want libraries that they don't have to go really far for."

Philadelphia City Council President Kenyatta Johnson's office said Monday that council members and the Parker administration are continuing discussions about the future of data centers in the city.

"At this time, no legislation or resolution concerning this issue has been introduced in City Council," the statement said.

City Council is scheduled to reconvene Thursday.