Below you will find a number of resources that have been compiled over time for our NCEJN newsletter –
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GUIDES + TOOLKITS:
Data Center Site Fight Guide: A Shared Resource for Stopping Data Centers – The Data Center Working GroupGuide
Four Pillars of Data Center Reform -The Piedmont Environmental Council Toolkit
Stop Data Centers Now Campaign – Food & Water Watch – Toolkit
2026 Recommendations for Protecting Frontline Communities to Stop Dirty Data – NAACP Toolkit
The People Say No: Resisting Data Centers – Media Justice Toolkit
What to ask when a data center wants to come to town: A guide for public officials and community members on the most important questions to ask, long before approval- Good Jobs First Guide
REPORTS + STUDIES:
The People Say No: Resisting Data Centers in the South – Media Justicereport
Getting It Right; Local Approaches to Data Center Development – SELC report
Data Center Power Plan: How Clean Energy can meet rising electricity demand while delivering climate and health benefits – The Union of Concerned Scientists report
Governor Stein’s Energy Policy Task Force Releases Interim Report – report
Localized Air Pollution Impacts from Data Centers in Northern Virginia – study
Health implications of the rapid rise of data centers in Virginia: an exploratory assessment – study
Regulating data center water use in California – report
Nine ways to address the energy impacts of AI Data Centers – Vanderbilt Universityreport
AI’s water and electricity use soars in 2025 – study
Cloudy Data, Costly Deals: How Poorly States Disclose Data Center Subsidies – report
Global Ramifications, Local Impact – Microsoft’s AI Pollution Footprint –report
Data Crunch : How the AI Boom Threatens to Entrench Fossil Fuels and Compromise Climate Goals – Center for Biological Diversity releases report. Press release available here.
Cloudy with a loss of Spending Control: How data centers are endangering state budgets – Good Jobs First report
US data centers and your electricity bill: mapping the state-by-state impact – report
How banning state regulation of AI harms workers – We Build Progress report
How States are Approaching the Data Center Boom – We Build Progressreport
Amazon Data Center Linked to Cluster of Rare Cancers – study
Increasing Student Losses: Cloudy Horizons as Data Centers and Developers Gain at Schools’ Expense – report
$64 billion of data center projects have been blocked or delayed amid local opposition- Data Center Watch report
Where Cloud meets Cement: a case study analysis of data center development – study
Most data center databases claim that we have over 100 data centers in NC. That is an inflation of the real number which is closer to 52 data centers; the majority of which have been housed in small commercial buildings and are in no way representative of the current threat of data center expansion (CPU vs GPU). The current threat is strictly hyper-scale— buildings and operations that will most definitely impact human and environmental health, and our quality of life.
Sign the Petition: Dirty Energy & Artificial Intelligence: Dirty Data: Stop Big AI from Polluting our Climate & Communities – Demand leading AI companies commit to 100% renewable energy sources. (Green America)
How Satellite Imagery Tracks Data Center Growth & Land Use Impacts – Center for Progressive Reform + NCEJN Watch
Understanding Data Centers and Their Environmental Impacts – NCEJN, “Against The Machine” Art Exhibit, (Piedmont Environmental Council-VA) and (RCCJBE) Watch
AI is transforming our world — but its growing energy use could worsen climate change – GreenAmerica Watch
Meech Carter with the NC League of Conservation Voters on rising energy costs and data centers – NC Newsline Listen
How Anthropic is behind more than a half million dollars in ads in a North Carolina district – More Perfect Union Watch
Electric grid faces political roadblocks as it struggles with data center demand – PBS News Hour Watch
I-Team digs into potential effects of data centers in the Triangle, nationwide: ‘A huge concern’ – ABC11 Watch
Hidden Costs of the Cloud: Data Centers in Virginia – Piedmont Environmental CouncilWatch
Data Centers: Power Plays – But Who Pays? – Sierra Club Watch
AI, data demand in North Carolina could strain water supply – WRAL Watch
AI Expert: We Have 2 Years Before Everything Changes! We Need To Start Protesting! – The Diary Of A CEO Watch
Data center expansion in NC and how people are reacting to it – WRAL Watch
What is happening in Stokes County – Carolina Forward Watch
How Palantir powers surveillance – Perfect Union Watch
How Data Centers Are Quietly Reshaping North Carolina – WRAL Watch
The hidden costs of North Carolina’s data center boom: A surge of AI data centers is driving up power and water demand across North Carolina, increasing emissions and electricity costs for customers – WRAL Watch
Image credit: John Darkow / Copyright 2025 Cagle Cartoons, Inc.Image credit: John Cole, https://ncnewsline.com/2026/02/23/high-on-the-data-hog/
