1. United States
2. Md.
3. Letter

Impose a Moratorium on New AI Data Centers Now Support an immediate moratorium on new AI data center construction until these facilities are held to enforceable environmental standards. The evidence is piling up: Microsoft's Leesburg, Virginia data center ran 62 emergency diesel generators for seven straight days, blowing past its permitted emissions limits for nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, VOCs, and particulate matter. Virginia DEQ issued the largest pollution fine in U.S. data center history — $2.4 million — and Microsoft still refused to admit wrongdoing. For a company worth trillions, that fine is not a deterrent. It's a cost of doing business. Meanwhile, an Equinix data center in Secaucus, New Jersey spilled 5,000 gallons of diesel fuel into Anderson Creek. These are not isolated incidents. They are a pattern. Tech corporations are marketing these facilities as community assets while poisoning the air and water of the people who live nearby. No new permits should be issued until there are meaningful emissions caps, real financial penalties scaled to corporate revenue, and full public disclosure before any project breaks ground.