The community opposition against artificial intelligence data centers across the country has spread into the heart of Philadelphia.

The “No Data Centers in Philly” campaign held a press conference at City Hall on Monday, urging members of City Council to pass a data center moratorium. Speakers at the rally, which was organized by Clean Air Council and other advocacy groups, called on councilmembers to stop data center development and establish regulations that specifically govern these facilities.

“There’s way too much at stake to let data centers expand without guardrails,” Sonya Sanders, a Grays Ferry resident and board president of the environmental justice group Philly Thrive, told the crowd of more than 100 people.

Big Tech and other developers are building hyperscale data centers amid the artificial intelligence boom. While some union leaders support their construction, the projects have met with bipartisan backlash heading into the midterm elections, with even the nation’s top AI leaders calling for a slowdown of AI advancement. Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker and City Council members are up for reelection next year.

Parker said in a statement on Monday that she convened a task force over the summer to consider data center development standards in the city and promised to put “rigorous guardrails in place.” She said she would sign an executive order formalizing the task force this week.

Communities — including those in the Philadelphia suburbs — worry about the facilities’ potential impacts on the environment and quality of life, as well as the lack of regulation of AI technology. A Quinnipiac University survey found 74% of Pennsylvanian voters are against having a data center in their communities, and an Action Network petition calling for a moratorium in Philadelphia has garnered more than 2,000 signatures.

The city’s planning commission said in July there are two properties in Philadelphia that could accommodate massive data centers: a 1,300-acre former refinery site in South Philadelphia, known as the Bellwether District, and a city-owned parcel by the Northeast Philadelphia airport at 2600 Grant Ave.

No specific data center proposals are being considered by City Council, which reconvenes for the fall session on Thursday. To enact a moratorium, Parker has to issue an executive order, or council members can pass a bill that is then approved by her.

The press conference came on the same day that Steve DeFrank, chairman of the state Public Utility Commission, warned that “Pennsylvania is at an energy crossroads,” because data center development is causing demand projections to exceed anticipated supply, putting the future reliability of electricity supplies at risk.

More than 500 communities in the United States, including New York state, have passed data center moratoriums or bans, according to the publication Heatmap News. Dr. Daniel Wolk, a geriatrician and member of Physicians for Social Responsibility, said Philadelphia should follow New York’s lead. Data centers, powered by fossil fuels, emit toxins that exacerbate the climate crisis and increase rates of fatal and respiratory diseases, he said.

Senia Lopez, an organizer with the advocacy group 215 People’s Alliance, lives two miles from the Grant Avenue site in Northeast Philadelphia. She said a moratorium would allow City Council to enact data center regulations that protect local neighborhoods and invite more community input.

“City Council must choose whose interest it represents. It can side with Big Tech companies seeking to extract from our communities, or it can stand with the working people who have built and sustained them,” she said.

In a statement to the Local, Vincent Thompson, communications director for City Council President Kenyatta Johnson, said “Philadelphia City Council members and Mayor Cherelle Parker’s administration continue discussions on the future of data centers in the city.”

The South Philadelphia site was the location of a 150-year-old oil refinery that shut down in 2019 after an explosion. The facility was the city’s biggest source of air pollution, emitting toxic chemicals like benzene.

HRP Group, the site’s owner, is seeking to redevelop the former refinery site into a collection of life sciences and industrial campuses. Amelia Chasse Alcivar, HRP’s executive vice president of corporate affairs, told Technical.ly in August that HRP won’t discuss specific tenants for the area, but it’s entertaining conversations around building a data center there. A company representative could not be reached for comment.

Shawmar Pitts, managing co-director of Philly Thrive — a group that fought to close the oil refinery — is convinced a massive data center is imminent.

“I know the playbook already. We’ve already seen it too many times,” he said at the rally.

Sanders, who lost her husband to cancer, said her neighbors are still grappling with severe illnesses years after the refinery’s closure. She says she doesn’t want to see one polluting facility replaced with another.

“It’s sad that they’re putting the dollar bill first, profiting off of Black and brown people once again,” she said. “That’s not giving us a choice. That’s not giving us a say. So far, our leaders are not taking care of our people.”

Pitts warned City Council members that their seats “will be taken” in next year’s elections if they don’t halt data center development. After his speech, Germantown resident Seth Anderson-Oberman, who ran against Councilmember Cindy Bass in the 2023 Democratic primary, led a chant calling for a moratorium “now.”

Anderson-Oberman, executive director of the community advocacy organization Reclaim Philadelphia, said he wants to see all data center discussions in Philadelphia halted until policymakers fully understand the potential impacts of AI.

“The expansion of AI is going to result in massive restructuring of our economy [and] layoffs of workers,” he said. “This technology should be part of the public good. It should not be used to displace workers and to destroy our planet. I think we need to figure out how to use this technology in a way that’s beneficial for humanity.”

Organizers for the “No Data Centers in Philly” campaign plan to show up at City Council’s meeting on Thursday morning to advocate for a moratorium.

Mary Smith, a military veteran, attended the rally with fellow members of About Face Veterans Philly, a local chapter of a national military veterans’ organization. They plan to return to City Hall with other organizers on Thursday.

“I showed up because I care about my community and making sure that everyone doesn’t get sick from more data centers and more pollution,” she told the Local.

President Donald Trump has been a staunch supporter of AI development and outpacing China, arguing that it boosts economic competitiveness and national security. In multiple posts on Truth Social on Monday, he called concerns that AI will “destroy the world” a hoax. “This is even wilder than the RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA HOAX, or the Global Warming Scam,” he wrote.

Individual states have taken stricter approaches. Gov. Josh Shapiro last month signed an executive order enacting regulations for data centers in Pennsylvania, including requiring local approval for any project to obtain a state permit and mandating that developers bring their own energy.

There are several data centers under construction in Pennsylvania and dozens of proposals, including ones in East Whiteland, Limerick and Plymouth townships.

Abby Weiss is an environmental reporter for the Local and a Report for America corps member. She can be reached at abby@chestnuthilllocal.com.