Stop Data Centers & Crypto Mining in Durham!
Durham City Council Members and Planning Department Staff
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Stand together to prevent the development and expansion of dangerous data centers, crypto mining, and other large-scale data processing facilities in Durham! Sign and share the petition in support of a temporary 32-month moratorium on their development (the maximum length the state allows) to grant our City and County enough time to research and enact legislation that permanently safeguards all of us.
We must protect our residents, land, air, water, plants, and animals from the dangers of Big Tech’s push for unregulated AI and crypto profits. AI and crypto mining require facilities that devastate communities and the environment, deplete water and energy resources, drive up electricity prices, and cause illnesses among households in their vicinity.
Our electric bills are already too high. And, Duke Energy is proposing an 18% rate hike when residents can barely pay their current bills, forcing us to pay for energy infrastructure that serves private, billionaire-run corporations that have no interest in our well-being. These rate hikes will only get higher, and inequality will only get worse if we allow more data centers in Durham and our region.
[For more information, see the Hidden Costs of Data Centers flyer and resource page by North Carolina Environmental Justice Network (NCEJN). For more in depth research, see Food and Water Watch’s Urgent Case Against Data Centers.]
Petition by
Sponsored by
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Durham City Council Members and Planning Department Staff
From:
[Your Name]
Dear Durham City Council Members and Planning Department Staff,
Stand with Durham residents, and the ecosystem we all rely on to survive, by supporting a 32-month moratorium on the development and expansion of large-scale data centers, crypto mining, and other high-impact data processing facilities. This will allow the time necessary to research and enact legislation that permanently safeguards our city.
Chatham County, Gates County, King Mountain, Canton, Boone, Apex, and others have already passed moratoriums to protect their regions, and we encourage you to do the same!
The immense harms of data centers and crypto mining facilities are well-established, including:
*Extremely high energy consumption, which strains existing utility infrastructure and can drive new gas, coal, and nuclear projects
*Utility rate increases to residents to fund these private commercial uses. (Electricity rates have increased 21.3 percent from 2021 to 2024, and Duke Energy is pushing for an eighteen percent rate hike.)
*Contribution to climate change: 56 percent of the electricity used to power data centers is sourced from fossil fuels
*Up to sixteen degree temperature increases for miles around the facilities
*Dire public health impacts, including cancer and asthma
*Significant and constant noise generation from cooling systems and backup generators, affecting adjacent residential areas, general quality of life, and the physical health of humans and animals in the vicinity
*Immense water usage for cooling purposes––large scale ones can use one to five million gallons per day, which will drain our water supply
*Additional environmental impacts, including air, water and soil pollution, hazardous material storage, and electronic waste disposal
*Massive job losses: experts suggest AI will replace 30-60% of job tasks by 2030, and data centers create very few permanent jobs.
*Reinforcement and expansion of surveillance, policing, and military violence through AI
*A drain on public budgets through huge tax giveaways––NC state legislature has exempted data centers from sales tax requirements that every other business must pay.
The rapid, unregulated rise of data centers to fuel the AI and crypto frenzy is disrupting communities across the country and threatening our economic, environmental, climate, and water security, as well as our public health.
The City must take a long pause to ensure we have the time to develop and implement the strongest permanent protections for our people. We expect city staff to do real community engagement with people who would be impacted the most, and to learn from experts who have been tracking and researching the broad detrimental impacts of AI and data centers in order to come up with the best safegaurds against them. A long and strong moratorium will allow us to do just that.
Stand with us to protect Durham!
-The Stop Data Centers in Durham Coalition, including:
Merrick-Moore CDC
Community Land and Power
Clean Water NC
Sound Rivers
Toxic Free NC
North Carolina Environmental Justice Network
Mothers* For Ceasefire
Southerners On New Ground
Durham Art Guild
Carolina Jews For Justice - Durham/Orange County
Jewish Voice For Peace - Triangle NC
Moms Clean Air Force
And residents across the city