A Massachusetts citizen filed an initiative petition with the state Election Division that would prohibit local permitting agencies from issuing a data center permit until certain conditions are met and the data center is approved by two-thirds of the local electorate. The conditions include:
- establishing a utility cost-shielding contract with its electric company;
- acquiring a water-supply certification that guarantees the data center's water demand fits within existing system capacity; and
- developing a drought contingency plan.
A data center is a physical facility that houses computer systems and related equipment used to store, manage, process, and transmit digital information. Data centers typically contain rows of computer servers, data storage systems, and networking equipment, along with the power and cooling infrastructure needed to operate them. Data centers vary in size and type. A large, warehouse-sized facility is known as a hyperscale data center. According to the Congressional Research Service, increasing demand for data storage and computing power, particularly for AI, has driven the construction of hyperscale data centers.
