Plan Greenlights Unchecked Data Center Expansion Against Community Opposition
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In response to Trump’s release of the National Policy Framework for AI, KD Chavez, executive director of the Climate Justice Alliance (CJA), a growing member alliance of over 100 urban and rural frontline communities, organizations and supporting networks in the climate justice movement.
“There’s a lot wrong with the Trump Administration’s national AI policy framework—but for frontline communities, it is nothing short of a disaster. This plan greenlights unchecked data center expansion while shifting the costs onto the public: higher electricity bills, drained water supplies, more pollution, more health risks, and destructive development imposed on the same communities that have always been sacrifice zones for the sake of “economic growth.
AI doesn’t run on ‘the cloud.’ It runs on power plants, water withdrawals, land grabs, and lots and lots of pollution. This policy framework accelerates all of it. Technology should make our lives better—not drive crisis. But the AI bubble is doing the opposite: raising costs, worsening resource scarcity, and locking in more fossil fuel dependence, at a time when families are struggling and climate change is making the world less secure.
Across the country, we are already seeing what this means: skyrocketing utility costs as ratepayers subsidize Big Tech, billions of gallons of freshwater diverted away from communities, and new infrastructure projects forced onto neighborhoods without consent. This framework doesn’t solve those harms — it supercharges them. It is also a direct attack on local democracy. By fast-tracking permits and undermining state and local authority, this framework strips communities of their right to decide what gets built where they live, while handing that power to federal agencies and corporate interests.
New technology should deliver shared benefit—not concentrated harm. But this framework is not ‘innovation policy’ for AI — it’s a giveaway to tech billionaires. The profits flow up. The costs are pushed down. Frontline communities will pay first and worst—with higher bills, dirtier air, and less water.”
Read more about CJA’s approach to data centers here: https://climatejusticealliance.org/datacenter/
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