The agreement, filed in court today, calls for zero-emission construction equipment, recycled water to be used to cool down operations, and a survey and monitoring plan for nearby wildlife.
“This agreement shows that we can hold high-tech data centers to a high environmental standard and ensure that they don’t unduly harm our air quality and water supply,” said Meredith Stevenson, a staff attorney at the Center. “Data centers across the country are being built at lightning speed without the necessary guardrails to prevent an environmental disaster. Decisionmakers should think twice before allowing these polluting projects without safeguards to protect communities.”
The legal agreement comes after the Center sued Pittsburg for approving the data center project without an adequate plan to reduce greenhouse gas pollution, water use and wildlife harms. In 2024 the city approved the project, which includes three phases of industrial development.
The agreement requires separate environmental review to be conducted for future phases of the project. Other terms of the agreement include:
● A developer payment of $750,000 into a fund aimed at climate resiliency projects to benefit disadvantaged Pittsburg communities.
● A commitment to use 100% renewable energy for the data center.
● Rooftop solar for data center buildings and parking spaces.
● Electrical hook ups in parking spaces.
● Recycled water to be used for cooling down data center operations and outdoor landscaping.
● Biological surveys and monitoring of Western pond turtles and Western burrowing owls.
● Measures including insulated walls and low-noise equipment to reduce excess sound.
Under the agreement, the Center agreed to dismiss its legal challenge and not oppose the first phase of the project.
The data center boom, driven to serve AI, is water intensive and powered primarily by fossil fuels. A typical AI data center consumes as much electricity as 100,000 American households, but the largest ones currently under construction will consume as much as 2 million households.
The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.8 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.
