When a massive, $4 billion data center was first proposed for a mostly forested site in the north end of Westfield five years ago, it was a far different world when it came to data centers and how people viewed them.
Back then, there were concerns about electricity and water use, noise, and the development of large tracts of land for comparatively few jobs. But much of the focus was on tax revenue for individual cities and towns, and how data centers might be a boon for communities in Western Mass. with the requisite large tracts of land, and especially municipalities like Westfield and Holyoke, with comparatively cheap power, and lots of it.
But much has changed, especially in the past few years, and the potential benefits of data centers have been lost in a sea of surging public opposition to such facilities, locally and across the country. Indeed, such opposition — from citizens and local governments alike — is blocking or delaying at least 75 projects worth approximately $130 billion. U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont has called for a nationwide pause on data center construction, citing environmental and even ethical concerns about AI.
In Westfield, a project that has been dormant — some have gone so far as to say it’s been abandoned — has come under new scrutiny even as the developer, Servistar Data Center Campus, has been meeting with Mayor Michael McCabe and others to address concerns about local power, water, and environmental impacts. A moratorium is being considered.
It’s the same in Holyoke, home to the Massachusetts Green High Performance Computing Center, where the City Council is currently considering legislation to restrict data centers in the wake of a proposed $200 million project at the former Hampden Paper complex that has sparked controversy. The council is advancing a proposed moratorium on data centers while the city establishes new environmental and zoning regulations, a tactic being deployed across the country in cities like New Orleans, Tulsa, and Birmingham, and one of many designed to delay or block such developments.
In Lowell, a city in the eastern part of the state which is already home to one data center, officials recently voted to enact a one-year moratorium on data center development (and planned expansion of the existing facility) amid concern from residents.
While we are generally pro-development, especially at a time when this region needs new sources of jobs and all municipalities could use the tax revenue that such facilities can generate, we understand the calls for moratoriums and support their passage.
We need to better understand all the risks from construction of such massive facilities, not only to water and electricity supplies, but to the health of those in the cities and towns where they are proposed.
These centers have the potential to benefit the local economy in some ways, but in many locations across the country, they have proven to be very unpopular neighbors. So these communities would be wise to take a step back before taking some big steps forward.
