A Chinese security guard walks past the Big Data research center in Guiyang, capital of Guizhou Province, in 2018. Countries around the world are rapidly building data centers, but environmental groups in the United States have asked Congress to create a moratorium on new data centers. File Photo by Stephen Shaver/UPI | License Photo
Dec. 8 (UPI) -- A group of 250 environmental organizations sent a letter to Congress asking it to stop companies from building new data centers, which create "one of the biggest environmental and social threats of our generation."
The state, regional and national organizations, which include Greenpeace USA, the John Muir Project, Food & Water Watch, the Coalition Against Cryptomining and the Partnership for Policy Integrity, said the harms of data centers are extensive.
"This expansion is rapidly increasing demand for energy, driving more fossil fuel pollution, straining water resources and raising electricity prices across the country," the letter said. "All this compounds the significant and concerning impacts [artificial intelligence] is having on society, including lost jobs, social instability and economic concentration."
The group asked for a moratorium on data centers.
