Lowell, Massachusetts, Data Center Faces Opposition, City Council Enacts Moratorium
A data center operated by the Markley Group in Lowell, Massachusetts, is facing community opposition over increased energy demands, air quality concerns from backup generators, and water usage during extreme heat. The Lowell City Council responded by enacting a one-year moratorium on further data center expansion, while community tensions escalated at a recent zoning forum.
The article highlights how extreme heat in the eastern U.S. exacerbates environmental concerns related to data centers, particularly their strain on power grids, increased energy consumption for cooling, and worsened air quality from backup diesel generators. The impact is acutely felt in Lowell, Massachusetts, where the Markley Group operates a data center in a residential neighborhood. Residents like Eileen Castle express concerns about air quality and noise, especially from the facility's industrial air conditioners and generators, leading to a souring relationship with the company.
State Representative Tara Hong notes that the affected Sacred Heart neighborhood, historically excluded from political decision-making, is predominantly low-income and working-class. Shaolei Ren, a professor at the University of California, Riverside, explains that data centers require intensive cooling during heat waves, either through energy-heavy refrigeration or water-heavy evaporative systems, and may resort to diesel generators, posing local air quality risks.
In response to growing community opposition, the Lowell City Council unanimously voted 10-0 in February to enact a one-year moratorium on further data center expansion. Tensions were evident at a recent city-led community forum on data center zoning, where police temporarily detained a 14-year-old girl who spoke out of turn, a move Mayor Erik Gitschier later defended as an attempt to maintain decorum. The Markley Group's CEO, Jeff Markley, defended the company's practices, stating generators are only used in emergencies and that the facility uses a small fraction of the city's daily water consumption, having chosen Lowell for its abundant Merrimack River water supply.
Researcher Jonathan Koomey emphasizes that while data center growth is not a national crisis, its environmental and economic costs are significant at the local level. The North American Electric Reliability Corporation also recently issued an alert regarding challenges from a surge in large power consumers, including AI data centers.