April 22, 2026
The Honorable Mike Braun
Governor of Indiana
200 W. Washington Street
Indianapolis, Indiana 46204
Dear Governor Braun,
I write to you as an Indiana resident, a parent expecting a first child, and a professional deeply engaged with the intersection of technology and public welfare. I am asking you to immediately issue an executive moratorium on new data center construction in Indiana and to use the full weight of your office to advance permanent legislation banning further approvals until Indiana's environmental baseline is substantially improved.
Indiana's environmental standing is not a minor concern — it is a crisis. U.S. News & World Report's 2025 Best States rankings placed Indiana 50th, last in the nation, for pollution and natural environment. The state ranks 48th for both industrial toxins and pollution health risk.
The American Lung Association consistently grades multiple Indiana counties as failing for ozone and particulate matter.
Indiana also holds the grim distinction of having more miles of rivers and streams too polluted to swim in than any other state.
Nearly all of the state's sampled lakes and reservoirs are unfit as drinking water sources. Against this backdrop, the state is inviting the most resource-intensive industrial category in the modern economy — hyperscale AI data centers — at a pace that strains credibility.
In the six months between March and September 2025, Indiana's data center count grew by nearly 30%, reaching 71 facilities. The proposed buildout in northern Indiana alone is projected to demand more electricity by 2030 than every household in the state of Indiana combined — all 6.8 million of them.
To meet this load, utilities are proposing new natural gas plants and extended coal plant lifespans rather than renewable investment, directly worsening Indiana's already-failing air quality.
A proposed facility in Fort Wayne includes 179 diesel backup generators with 179 associated fuel storage tanks — the kind of installation that, even when tested monthly, operates under no pollution controls required by the EPA.
Water impact is equally severe. AI data centers consume water at the scale of a town of 10,000 to 50,000 people. At Amazon's New Carlisle site — already the company's largest data center in America — construction dewatering operations lowered the local aquifer, leaving private wells dry and ponds depleted.
Nationally, data centers consumed 17.4 billion gallons of water in 2023, a figure projected to double by 2028. Indiana, a state where virtually all sampled surface water is already impaired, cannot absorb this burden without consequence to its residents.
The economic case for this expansion does not hold under scrutiny. Data centers generate approximately 0.26 jobs per megawatt of power consumed. Other Indiana industries average 41 jobs per megawatt. Indiana also extends sales tax exemptions estimated at $34.5 million per facility per year — exceeding $1.7 billion per facility over fifty years — with no obligation to replace lost revenue. The state is subsidizing infrastructure destruction.
I am not asking Indiana to reject technology. I am asking the state to impose a moratorium on new approvals until environmental review requirements are strengthened, until existing water and air violations are brought into meaningful compliance, and until any approved project must demonstrate net-zero environmental impact on an already-stressed system.
Indiana cannot improve its environmental standing while simultaneously adding the most resource-intensive industrial facilities in operation today.
This is a matter of public health, intergenerational stewardship, and honest governance. I ask that you act accordingly.
Respectfully,
Adam
Indiana Native
Westfield, Indiana
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