No Data Centers in Philly

BIG TECH JUST
PUT A TARGET
ON PHILLY.

Recent reporting and rumblings at City Hall indicate two data centers could be coming to our city.

Even a single hyperscale data center would drastically impact every resident in this city. Big Tech companies steal our electricity, our water, our land, and our tax dollars to power their AI boom, while we pay the costs with higher PECO bills, dirtier air, scarce water, secret deals, and few permanent jobs.

DATA CENTERS DON’T MAKE COMMUNITIES.

DATA CENTERS TAKE FROM COMMUNITIES.

$1.2 BILLION IN EXTRA COSTS—ALREADY ON YOUR BILLS.

Data Center costs already covered by Pennsylvanians from 2024 to 2025.

SOURCE: UCS

$840 INCREASE IN PECO BILLS EACH YEAR.

Increase in electricity bills by 2028 due to data centers.

SOURCE: NRDC

600,000 MORE ASTHMA CASES NATIONWIDE.

Increase in asthma cases nation-wide by 2028 due to data centers.

SOURCE: UC RIVERSIDE

CITY COUNCIL MUST STEP UP.

City Council has a choice: let Big Tech write the rules—or write our own. We are calling on City Council to:

PASS A DATA CENTER MORATORIUM

Pause construction of hyperscale data centers for three years until there are meaningful protections in place.

WRITE THE RULES WITH PHILADELPHIANS

Create standards that protect affordability, public health, quality of life, data privacy, and public resources.

PUT PHILLY FIRST,
NOT BIG TECH

Establish a transparent public process that ensures residents —not billionaires—decide what gets built in our neighborhoods.

YOU CAN HELP US WIN.

1. SIGN THE PETITION

Tell City Council to put a moratorium on data centers until we have guardrails in place to protect the people.

SIGN THE PETITION
2. ASK YOUR COUNCILMEMBER TO ACT

Ask your Councilmember to support a data center moratorium. Find your councilmember and their phone here:

FIND YOUR COUNCILMEMBER

EMAIL YOUR COUNCILMEMBER
3. VOLUNTEER WITH US

Join us at City Hall to talk to members of City Council about why we need a PAUSE on any data center development in our city.

VOLUNTEER WITH US

JOIN THE COALITION

We are a campaign to put Philly first. We’re calling for a citywide data center moratorium, binding standards to protect our affordability, health, jobs, data, and quality of life, and a transparent public process that ensures Philadelphians decide what gets built in our communities. We believe that what gets built in our city must strengthen the neighborhoods and people that make Philly, Philly – not sacrifice us.

We know there’s strength in numbers—we’re looking for more organizations to fight alongside us. Sign on here.

IN THE NEWS

PRESS RELEASES

PHILADELPHIA – A recent Philadelphia Inquirer report revealed that an Anthropic AI model submitted a false tip about an unsolved homicide to Philly police in July while testing its interactions with randomly selected websites. The tip was flagged as spam, but the incident raises serious questions about what happens when AI systems act unpredictably outside controlled testing environments.

No Data Centers in Philly released the following statement:

“The news that Anthropic’s AI gave a false homicide tip to Philly police is a disturbing wake-up call about the kinds of AI-powered systems enabled by data centers, and their potential for serious harm. If that tip had named a potential suspect and bypassed spam filters, an innocent person could have faced questioning, intimidation, or worse over a false allegation. This is the risk of letting Big Tech companies push AI into our public services and government without guardrails. The people of our city cannot be made guinea pigs for Big Tech’s AI.

“As Big Tech expands its AI infrastructure, we have to be looking at the data centers that power these systems, the threats they pose to public safety, and who gets to decide how AI is used in our city. City Council has the power to act by passing a data center moratorium and giving our city the time and the authority to determine whether, and how, this infrastructure should be allowed to expand.

“When budget time comes around, City Council should remember this, and prioritize good jobs, schools, libraries, and public safety resources over investments in AI to replace 911 operators, expand police surveillance, and embed Big Tech in our government systems.”

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No Data Centers in Philly is a campaign to put Philly first. We’re calling for a citywide data center moratorium, binding standards to protect our affordability, health, jobs, data, and quality of life, and a transparent public process that ensures Philadelphians decide what gets built in our communities. We believe that what gets built in our city must strengthen the neighborhoods and people that make Philly, Philly – not sacrifice us. Follow us on Instagram @NoDataCentersInPhilly.

“Big Tech could build a data center in our city tomorrow. Without a moratorium, a task force does nothing to protect us now and takes time that we don’t have.”

PHILADELPHIA – In response to the campaign launch of No Data Centers in Philly, Mayor Parker this week established a task force on data centers, in an executive order highlighting the major threat to Philadelphia neighborhoods from unregulated data center development. These harms have already led thousands of Philadelphians to demand a moratorium on construction of hyperscale data centers, a central voice in shaping protective regulations, and a ban on NDAs and costly tax breaks. Per Parker’s executive order, the task force will include only government agencies, and no direct seat at the table for community members or experts. The task force would not deliver its recommendations until June 30, 2027, and no legislation could be introduced for at least a year.

No Data Centers in Philly released the following statement in response:

“Big Tech could build a data center in our city tomorrow. Without a moratorium, a task force does nothing to protect us now and takes time that we don’t have.

“Across the country, data centers have relied on dirty deals to get built, with NDAs, backroom negotiations, and massive tax handouts. We can’t let that happen here. The communities who will see their health, homes, and wallets hurt by a data center need to be at the table.

“Finally the Mayor is paying attention to this threat, but it doesn’t change the fact that City Council still has a job to do: protect neighborhoods with a moratorium now. Unless they act, every Philadelphian is at risk from AI data centers. Council must immediately pass a robust, multiyear moratorium so we can create the long-term regulations and rules we need to protect Philadelphia communities.”

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