Organizations in all 50 states want lawmakers to support a national moratorium that would halt the approval and construction of new data centers until “adequate regulations” for the burgeoning industry are in place.
The groups’ request came in a letter shared with members of Congress on Monday.
With the rise of generative artificial intelligence, data centers are expanding rapidly across the United States. The large facilities store rows of computer servers and networking equipment that require lots of energy, plus water for cooling. In 2024, data centers accounted for more than 4% of the country’s total electricity consumption, according to the International Energy Agency.
Data centers trigger environmental concerns because of the large amounts of water and energy they use. And to power the data centers, utilities must generate significantly more electricity.
“Someone has to pay for that,” said Brooke Ward, senior Florida organizer with the nonprofit Food & Water Watch, the lead group pushing for a national moratorium on new data centers.
As of now, Ward said, proposals she has reviewed from utility companies in Florida would have consumers covering at least some of those higher energy costs from data centers.
“The need to build out infrastructure is expensive, and Florida families would be footing that bill, under current proposals,” Ward said.
“As it stands, the plans for building out data centers would increase bills drastically, and we already have Florida families struggling under the weight of increasing bills, rate hikes that have been coming more rapidly and at larger increments.”
State regulators recently approved a rate settlement that will have Florida Power & Light customers paying billions more in the coming years. Next year, FPL base rates are expected to rise by a collective $945 million. Critics of the settlement say they expect to fight the plan at the Florida Supreme Court.
RELATED: PSC OK's FPL deal that increases base rate in parts of Florida
Ward said at least two major utilities in Florida, FPL and Duke Energy, have made it clear “they plan to lay out the red carpet” for more data centers in the Sunshine State. “We need to make sure that Florida families are involved in these decisions … that utilities aren't allowed to charge massive increases to customer bills to pad the pockets of shareholders.”
At a press conference last week, Gov. Ron DeSantis shared his plans for a statewide “Artificial Intelligence Bill of Rights” that would, among other things, prevent utilities from charging Floridians more in order to support a hyperscale data center. DeSantis promised the proposed legislation would “protect ratepayers in the state of Florida.”
“What we are proposing will be the most significant protections for individuals anywhere in the country, by far,” DeSantis said.
RELATED: DeSantis proposes Florida AI bill of rights
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump announced this week he plans to issue an executive order soon to create a single, national AI rule.
“There must be only One Rulebook if we are going to continue to lead in AI,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “You can’t expect a company to get 50 Approvals every time they want to do something. THAT WILL NEVER WORK!”
Earlier this year, senators overwhelmingly voted against blocking states from enacting their own AI laws. The failed proposal was a “total non-starter,” DeSantis said last week.
“There's so many implications for what they're doing with respect to artificial intelligence,” DeSantis said. “States like Florida not only have a right, we have a responsibility to make sure that we're creating sufficient guardrails so that this stuff isn't hurting our kids, our families, our businesses and our senior citizens.”
DeSantis drew a line in the sand between everyday Floridians and big technology companies driving the growth of generative AI.
“The incentives of big tech are not the same as what's in the interest of the people and the public. The incentives of big tech is to maximize profits off of this. They're spending a lot of money on creating data centers … to get a return on the investment,” DeSantis said.
For Ward and others hoping for a national pause on new data centers, the requested moratorium would end only once regulations are in place to protect consumers and prevent the facilities from causing environmental harm.
“If we are to have data centers, we need them to be powered by clean renewable energy,” Ward said.
Ward said she appreciates DeSantis pushing for state regulation of data centers and AI. She only wishes his efforts had come sooner.
“Unfortunately, though, Governor DeSantis's fight on affordable energy is coming kind of late. I mean, it was his commission that just passed the largest rate increase in U.S. history,” Ward said, referencing the FPL rate settlement.
Still, Ward said, she welcomes the governor’s interest in ensuring Floridians have a voice in the discussions around regulation of data centers and AI.
“We do hope to see that Florida is able to establish some regulations that prevent this massive data center buildout in the face of the federal call for expansion, and that whoever steps into the governor's office next January continues this fight that DeSantis is starting,” Ward said.
