WASHINGTON — More than 160 environmental, health, consumer and religious organizations have asked Congress to ban artificial intelligence data centers on federal lands and to reject a permitting bill that may soon come before the Senate, according to Food & Water Watch, the advocacy group that organized the effort.
The letter, dated Nov. 5 and addressed to all members of Congress, urges lawmakers to pass H.R. 9939, the No AI Data Centers on Federal Lands Act, and to vote down the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act, which supporters have promoted as a solution to national permitting reform.
Original signers include the Center for Biological Diversity, GreenLatinos, the Indigenous Environmental Network, Oil Change International, Our Revolution, Physicians for Social Responsibility, the Science and Environmental Health Network and Third Act, the group said.
According to the letter, the Bureau of Land Management has at least 35 applications for data centers and related infrastructure covering more than 24,000 acres. The coalition also said developers are seeking Defense Department land, citing proposed projects of 1,384 acres at Fort Bliss, Texas, and 1,201 acres at Dugway Proving Ground, Utah, and that the Energy Department is recruiting AI developers for sites in Idaho, South Carolina and Tennessee.
The groups argue the permitting bill would weaken tribal consultation requirements, the National Historic Preservation Act, the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act, and would limit states’ authority over pipelines.
“Public lands belong to all of us, yet the so-called permitting reform bill would open them to massive AI data centers,” said Jim Walsh, policy director at Food & Water Watch. “Nothing could be more cynical.”
Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., the sponsor of H.R. 9939, pointed to the Nov. 3 elections. “Tuesday’s elections send a clear message that Americans want their representatives to protect their health and environment,” she said, adding, “Nearly every data center moratorium on the ballot this week passed.”
Andrea Marpillero-Colomina, a policy adviser at GreenLatinos, said more than 1.8 million Latinos live within half a mile of oil and gas facilities and urged passage of the bill, saying “public lands are a public trust, not a giveaway to the richest companies on earth.”
The rapid growth of power-hungry AI data centers has become a growing issue in state and local politics, including debates over electricity demand and costs.
This report is based on information from Food & Water Watch.
Source: Food & Water Watch
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