Data Center Resource Hub

Hit “Pause” on Data Centers

Big Tech CEOs are racing to build large artificial intelligence (AI) data centers, and our communities are in the crosshairs. Their gold rush is moving too fast for communities to safely plan for and regulators to control. At stake is clean air and water, affordable energy bills, jobs for hardworking people across the Southeast, and a secure future we have a say in.

That’s why the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy supports an 18-month moratorium on new large data centers across Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida – so the region can proactively set the terms of this buildout instead of inheriting the costly risks.

You can support a moratorium in your state by signing its petition below.

Florida Georgia North Carolina
South Carolina Tennessee

Community Resources

This list will be updated as additional resources are developed.

Learn

Data Centers 101 | National Wildlife Federation (NWF) – What data centers are, why you’re hearing about them, and why they matter to energy and the environment.

“Data Centers Consume 80-215% More Water When Power Generation Is Included” | Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE) – Learn about how much water data centers actually consume.

Take Action

Data Center Playbook | Americans for Responsible Innovation – Discover what you can do if a data center is proposed or being built near you, whether you’re a resident or state or local official, plus learn how other communities are engaging.

See What’s Happening Near You

Data Center Tracker | FracTracker Alliance, ArcGIS – View an in-progress tally of permitted, existing, and proposed data centers in the United States. The main focus of this map is proposals, and listings are added and crowdsourced each day.

US Data Center Moratorium Tracker | Interconnected Capital – Track data center moratoriums across the country, with special attention to states with 2026 Governor & House races.

What’s at Stake

At the core of SACE’s work is ensuring that our energy choices don’t hurt our communities and our environment. Click each box below to read more about the community, state, and regional costs, and the economic and existential risks posed by AI data centers.

Community Costs

Data centers lock in unwanted noise and air pollution, drain tens of millions of gallons of water a day, and are approved under agreements lacking transparency, often before residents know a project is coming.

State & Regional Costs

Utilities profit from the buildout and pass the costs on to customers whether power demand materializes or not, locking in decades of new fossil fuel power plants. Bills in parts of the region could rise by up to 57% by 2030, even though the odds of these load forecasts materializing are low.

Economic Sector Risks

The AI buildout needs about $2 trillion a year in new revenue to pay off. That’s money that can only come from laying off paid human workers for AI agents or from debt that could trigger a financial crisis – both enormous gambles with the Southeast’s economic well-being.

Existential AI Misalignment

The same companies are asking the Southeast to bear multiple existential risks while having told regulators they aren’t fully sure they can control what they’re building. Why support racing to build an optional technology that we don’t fully understand?