Environmental Justice and You

Balancing Justice and Data Center Development

A Virtual Community Forum
November 18, 2024, 7 – 8:30 PM

To raise awareness about the potential adverse environmental impacts of the rapidly-expanding data center industry, the Sierra Club Prince George’s County Group, in partnership with Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Psi Epsilon Omega Chapter, hosted a virtual community forum, “Environmental Justice and You: Balancing Justice and Data Center Development” on November 18, 2024. With PGSC Executive Committee member Nicole Jackson facilitating, the event featured presentations by three regional experts, followed by small-group discussions in breakout rooms. There were 74 attendees, of whom 42 were from Prince George’s County and 12 were from elsewhere in Maryland. A recording of the event is available here. A facilitation guide and resources  were provided for the participants. After the session, Prince George’s County residents were provided with information about the County Council Hearing about data center legislation (CB-52-2024) to be held the next day.
 

OUR SPEAKERS

FACILITATOR:
Nicole Jackson, Senior Climate Justice Fellow with CEEJH at the University of Maryland’s School of Public Health, U.S. Army Reserve Veteran, and a dedicated advocate for racial and climate justice brings a wealth of expertise to her role as Principal Sustainability Advisor at Monarch PSG. She works with organizations to apply green building principles and sustainability to project management and policy development. Her work involves crafting policies to directly reduce carbon emissions, implement effective waste management strategies, and promote sustainable procurement practices. She is a long-time resident of Prince George’s County.

PANELISTS:
Dave Arndt (he, him) is a Climate, Environmental, and Social Justice advocate. Driving legislation at a local, state, and federal level to build a better world for everyone. He is a Co-Chair of the Maryland Legislative Coalition – Climate Justice Wing and a member of Coming Clean and the Union of Concerned Scientist.  Dave is also the director of the Locust Point Community Garden and on the board of the Locust Point Civic Association and the Friends of the Fort.  Dave recently retired from NIH/NCBI where he was the Product Owner for BLAST.  Before NCBI, Dave worked as a Product and Marketing Director at HP and BP Solar. He lives in Baltimore.

Kyle Hart grew up in southern Virginia, spending every possible minute hunting, fishing, hiking, and camping in the rolling hills and forests around his home. He graduated from Hampden-Sydney College in 2016 with a degree in Political Science and Biology and has worked for various environmental nonprofits ever since, including Virginia League of Conservation Voters and the Virginia Conservation Network. He joined the National Parks Conservation Association in early 2020. He brings with him to his role a passion for the natural world and all things wild. He lives near Richmond, Virginia with his wife, Jennessa, and their dog, Graham.

Paige Wesselink (she, her) serves on the Sierra Club’s Virginia Chapter staff as the Digital Outreach Coordinator and lead organizer for the 100% Virginia Campaign. In 2019, Paige graduated with a double major in Sociology and Environmental Studies from Roanoke College. She has worked on various initiatives, including advocating for the Virginia Clean Economy Act, supporting the pipelines campaign, and mobilizing people across Virginia to elect progressive candidates. She is passionate about protecting people and our planet by building an equitable environmental movement. A self-described river rat and lover of all things pesto, she currently lives in Richmond.
 

AGENDA
1. Introduction and overview (Nicole Jackson, Sierra Club, Prince George's County Group)
2. Data Center Basics (Dave Arndt, Maryland Legislative Coalition, Climate Justice Wing)
3. Environmental Impacts of Data Centers (Kyle Hart, National Parks Conservation Association)
4. Regulating Data Centers to Decrease Environmental Impacts and Ensure Environmental Justice (Paige Wesselink, Sierra Club, Virginia Chapter)
5. Q and A
6. Small group discussions about establishing guardrails for data center development in Prince George's County
7. Report-out and Next Steps
 

Nicole started the evening with a welcome and a land acknowledgment and then set the stage for the discussion of data center development as an environmental and justice issue.

Dave’s presentation provided a foundation of basic information about data centers, addressing what they do, why we depend on them, what they look like, how they are built, who owns and operates them, and how they are built. Perhaps most eye-opening, was the bar chart showing how data center energy use compares with chart showing how data center energy use compares with and other quantities of electricity production and consumption. For example, the amount of electricity consumed by the already-approved Brightseat Technology Park data-center campus in Prince George’s County would dwarf Maryland’s current production of renewable energy and approximate the amount of energy to be produced by one off-shore windfarm. The energy required by the data centers currently proposed for Maryland would exceed the electricity used by New York City.

Kyle’s presentation focused on the environmental impacts of data centers, describing the experience in Virginia, the “data center capital of the world.” Notably, over 70% of internet traffic currently runs through Virginia. Data centers, both currently operating and in the pipeline, will consume huge amounts of power and land. Their plans to become “net zero” will require tens of thousands of acres of solar panels, in addition the thousands of acres needed for the data centers themselves. An estimated 1.85 billion gallons of water was used for cooling in data centers in VA in 2023 but there is no regional planning or disclosure requirements for data center water usage. The large diesel generators used as back-up power contribute to local air pollution and noise.

Paige’s presentation focused on the potential social and environmental-justice impacts of data center development, including health disparities related to air pollution, and increased regional electricity prices. Newer AI data centers use 3-10 times as much power as older data centers and there remain no substantive local, state, or federal safeguards for Virginia’s people or environment. Paige pointed out that the burden of data centers is as much about fairness and justice as it is about climate, as Virginia families should not have to foot the bill for the world’s internet traffic. While climate goals call for the phase-out of fossil-fuel generated electricity, new electricity demand from data centers is driving the building of new power plants fueled by natural gas and delaying the closure of coal-fired power plants. Private agreements between data center operators and power companies interfere with transparency. Data centers don’t pay their fair share of electric prices because they enjoy discounted rates & billions of dollars of tax benefits and subsidies. She closed with a reminder that local advocacy can make a real difference, citing new best-practices approved by Fairfax County.

Questions pouring into the chat during the presentations indicated a high level of engagement by the audience:  How many trees on average go away for each data center built? Which topic-related (data center/social justice) books would you suggest reading to learn more about this topic? How complicit is the average homeowner in the data center energy demand? Do we know why we have 5 new projects in PGC? The number seems disproportionate in comparison to other Maryland counties? Why do we need redundancy when using solar and wind power? Why did northern VA end up with so many data centers? How will the new administration impact this clean energy space? How much water do all households in MD use/day?  Please put this 1 million/day in context. Is solar the only option for green energy and how does a data center use so much water? Where do those millions of gallons of water go after it is used by data centers?  What about co-location with nuclear plant as proposed by Constellation/Calvert Cliffs in MD's Calvert Co.? From your perspective, what should local governments be doing to set guardrails to decrease environmental  impacts? Can you speak about some tech companies building their own nuclear energy -- small modular reactors (SMRs)? We’re all complicit in this (to some degree), since we like our computers and our fast data.  How do we get out of this bind?  How do we stop this highway to hell?  More and more, Simplicity seems to be calling. What are the specific asks Sierra Club is making of the DC industry?  If we agree that we like the technology DCs provide, how does SC propose to allow growth? what is the position of the md public service commission on the data centers?  What's the middle ground? How do you turn off Google AI when you query? What is the life span of a data center?

Small groups were loosely arranged by geography. Each group had a scribe to take notes. The discussion guide included these questions:

1. Introductions Lightning Round:  To get started, let’s go around and everybody say your name, where you live, and one question you have about data centers.  (3 minutes)
2. Let’s share some reactions to what you’ve heard from our speakers. Who benefits from data centers? Who bears the costs? Would more data centers be good for your area or not? Write some ideas in the chat for a minute and then we’ll share.  (7 minutes)
3. How can the experience in Virginia help other jurisdictions minimize the adverse impacts of data centers and ensure equity? (7 minutes)
4. What will you take away from this session to share with others? (3 minutes)

The groups reported concerns about climate goals, equity, and the lack of planning, regulation and public engagement. There were concerns about the enormity of the problem, our individual contributions to the problem, and also concern that the public is being “played” and disrespected by corporate and government stakeholders who should provide information and engage with the public.

Notable quotes from the breakout sessions:

• How much electricity do we REALLY need and want?
• How do the lifestyle choices we make affect the amount of electricity and water we need?
• How can we balance our need/desire for high-energy technology and a livable economy with conservation and health?
• Who should foot the bill for infrastructure growth and problems with continued fossil fuel use?
• AI is now the default on searches and we are often using what we don’t actually need
• FERC (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) has ruled that co-location with existing nuclear plants won’t happen. New administration might change this. If  power from a nuclear plant is not available for the rest of the grid, then rates will go up elsewhere. Three Mile Island is allowed to start up a new plant — still will increase rates. Small modular reactors aren’t ready yet; (we will need to) keep coal running and build new gas-fired power plants as interim until SMR can come on line.
• It's like Railroad Barons and the Wild West in Virginia.
• We need a voice about what goes on in this data center arena. We need to find some best practices.
• It’s a multifaceted, huge problem how to balance needs/wants against the environmental costs and this is new territory. It’s scary.
• Companies are benefiting and impact is negative for our children and for our future.
• People are overwhelmed, just learning about the problem. The public is learning about it too late.
• It's up to these large corporations to mitigate the impacts of THEIR businesses!  NOT the people!
• Data Centers have driven up the price of rural land to the point that conservation trusts can’t afford to buy land.
• Our personal data collected for free is being used by corporations for their benefit.
• The Data Centers get tax breaks and the public must pay for the energy infrastructure and live with the air, water, land, and health impacts of data centers.
• There is inequitable distribution of burdens and benefits.
• Maybe internet use has to reflect the true costs.
• This is a huge, complex, fast-moving issue that needs attention at all levels of society.
• It’s not too late to get ahead of the curve.
• There are immense environmental costs, economic costs, human costs, regarding the building of data centers. So (we) learned new information but are not for the building of these new data centers especially if environmental safeguards are not in place and communities are made to pay the price
• Everyone left more educated and motivated to do something.

Wrap up comment from Paige

 “Data center development doesn't have to come at the cost of people or the environment. There is a path where we slow down development, put safeguards in place for people and the environment and require big tech to foot the bill for the clean energy infrastructure.”

POSTSCRIPT

After the session, Prince George’s County residents were encouraged to come to the County Council Hearing the next day and share their ideas with their Council Member about CB 52-2024 which would remove the requirement for a Preliminary Plan of Subdivision for data centers, eliminating the opportunity for public participation and planning board oversight. Public testimony included statements from several of the participants at Balancing Justice and Data Center Development, including Mayor Noah Waters, Dave Arndt, Kathy Bartolomeo, Greg Smith, Janet Gingold, and Joann Flynn. The council voted to “hold” the bill rather than to pass it. Maryland Matters and NBC4  provided coverage of the County Council hearing.