Food & Water Watch, an environmental protection NGO based in Washington, DC., has announced an expansion of its data center opposition campaign, aiming to “stop all new data centers, nationwide, until we have protections for communities and the environment.”

“While data centers are an important part of the Internet… the completely unregulated expansion of AI-driven data centers is causing tremendous harm,” reads the January 22 statement.

“This rapid and unregulated expansion must not be allowed to continue until we have a regulatory framework that protects people and the environment.”

Food & Water Watch said that it would expand its work at the local, state, and federal levels by supporting local anti-data center movements, coordinating with other groups to pass legislation to “curb data center growth,” and to hamper national efforts to “restrict state and local regulations.”

At a local level, it will support “local fights to stop data center projects” and connect anti-data center activists; at a state level, it intends to build “coalitions with other groups to pass statewide legislation to curb data center growth,” and at the federal level, it is looking to block “efforts to restrict state and local regulations.”

As its name suggests, Food & Water Watch focuses mainly on environmental and social issues related to food and water, and it also runs campaigns against factory farming, microplastics, chemical pollution, and more.

But as the public profile of data centers has grown amidst a historic construction boom, the NGO has joined the swelling ranks of organizations and public figures in the US calling for greater regulation of the data center industry, amidst growing concern about the impact of data centers on the environment, utility prices, and local governance.

These anti-data center advocates are also showing signs of policy cohesion.

Food & Water Watch’s stance towards data center regulation – to prevent the construction of new data centers until regulations mitigating perceived harms are enacted – is similar to the approach taken by local and state governments when considering or enacting data center moratoria.

Most of these moratoria are temporary, taking the pressure off of authorities who would otherwise have to consider a flurry of data center planning proposals.

For example, a state senator in Oklahoma introduced legislation last week that would establish a three-year moratorium on the construction of new data centers in the state, stating that it would give Oklahoma the time to conduct a “comprehensive review” of all data center-related concerns.

But some other authorities have opted for or are considering indefinite moratoria that can only be removed only when certain conditions – like regulatory legislation – are met.

In Maryland, a bill introduced in early January would also prohibit any data center construction unless legislation was enacted regarding the colocation of a facility with an energy source.