On Wedensday, June 3rd 2026, the 350 Mass Statewide Steering Team approved the following statement on Data Centers.

Based on research summarized and presented by Alternatives for Community & Environment (“ACE”) (including those linked here and here) and other information, 350 Mass believes the following principles should guide state and local government policies regarding the potential construction of new data centers in Massachusetts and expansion of existing ones:

  1. They should not receive exemptions from state sales taxes.

  2. They should not receive local property tax abatements.

  3. They should not receive other public funding.

  4. Their electric rates should be structured so that they do not increase costs for other rate payers.

  5. They should be designed and operated so as to minimize impact on peak use that would drive expensive expansion of the electrical transmission/distribution grid.

  6. They should create or contract for clean renewable energy sufficient to meet their power demands. 

  7. They should be required to connect to thermal energy systems such as networked geothermal loops as part of their cooling strategy when feasible. 

350 Mass members are active in local data center campaigns, and collectively they push for legislation that limits the impact of data centers on Massachusetts communities as well as their global contribution to climate change. Data centers and AI are climate justice issues.