Tracking Data Centers: Energy Demand, Pollution, and Public Impact

Surging Energy Demand

Data centers currently consume about 1.5% of global electricity. The International Energy Agency projects that electricity demand will more than double to 945 terawatt-hours (TWh) by 2030—comparable to Japan’s entire electricity demand in 2024. AI-optimized centers alone could see their electricity usage quadruple in that time. 

Industry estimates paint a starker picture: Deloitte forecasts that global data center consumption will reach around 1,065 TWh by 2030, with power demand from U.S. AI data centers growing more than thirtyfold by 2035.

On July 24, 2025, the Trump administration unveiled “America’s AI Action Plan,” stating: “Whoever has the largest AI ecosystem will set the global standards and reap broad economic and security benefits.” The announcement signals an aggressive federal push to expand AI infrastructure, with major implications for fossil fuel energy use, weakened regulatory oversight, and environmental injustice.

Wikimedia Commons / © Robert Scoble, used under CC BY 2.0

Communities on the Frontlines of the Data Center Boom

Residents across the country are raising alarms about the unchecked expansion of data centers. These massive energy- and water-intensive facilities are now being built at unprecedented speed to support artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and cryptocurrency operations. 

Data center investments are often pitched as economic lifelines, but communities fear they’ll shoulder power disruptions, environmental injustice, and false promises.

Critics also warn that ratepayers—not tech giants—are footing the bill through utility hikes and public subsidies, while local governments are often sidelined in fast-tracked permitting processes. As the industry grows, so too does public concern about environmental justice, land use, and the erosion of democratic oversight.

Data centers identified by FracTracker Alliance / © FracTracker Alliance 2025

Regulatory loopholes: The story beneath the surface

As data centers multiply across the U.S., operators are exploiting regulatory loopholes to avoid oversight.

According to FracTracker’s research, it appears that industry is also reclassifying data center facilities using obscure Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes like 4822 (Telegraph and Other Message Communications) and 8999 (Services, Not Elsewhere Classified), making them harder to detect in air permit databases. Misclassification may even allow operators to avoid triggering certain permit types—like a Title V air permit—or slip through routine inspections. When data centers are hard to identify in the permitting systems, it becomes nearly impossible to assess their cumulative environmental impact, especially in communities already burdened by pollution.

In states like North Carolina and Florida, some operators appear to be intentionally keeping emissions below the 100-tons-per-year threshold that triggers major-source air permitting.

Meanwhile, EPA’s May 2025 clarification now allows backup generators at data centers to run up to 50 hours per year in non‑emergency demand‑response situations, effectively institutionalizing more diesel engine use with limited oversight.

NAICS Codes Commonly Used to Classify Data Centers

Our Data

This map is the first publicly available dataset focused on the environmental and regulatory dimensions of U.S. data centers. It includes existing, permitted, or proposed facilities, compiled from:

• Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and Public Records Requests (PRRs) submitted to state and local environmental agencies such as the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (NC DEQ) and Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA)
• Media monitoring and digitization of news and filings
• Piedmont Environmental Council
• Crowd-sourced submissions to catch sites omitted from official sources
• Use of expanded NAICS/SIC code criteria, including 4822 and 8999

We cross‑validate sources to improve accuracy and update the map regularly as the industry expands at an incredibly fast pace. If you have information on new or proposed data centers that you do not see on the map, please fill out this form and we will add it to the map.

Case Study: Pennsylvania Data Center Sprawl

Updated as of 7/25/25

Pennsylvania—second only to Texas in fracked gas production—is rapidly becoming a hotspot for AI data centers.

In the second-largest fracked gas producing state, Republican lawmakers in the Pennsylvania Senate and House are advancing legislation to entice AI data center developers with tax breaks, regulatory exemptions, and waivers of environmental standards—despite the industry already announcing more than $90 billion in new investments in the state. Some provisions would substitute developer-submitted, AI-assisted engineering assurances in place of multi-year DEP reviews. Former Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Secretary David Hess notes that many current permit applications already rely on incomplete or flawed documentation.

In April 2025, Homer City Redevelopment (HCR) announced that they will turn a decommissioned coal power plant into a 3,200-acre campus of fracked gas-powered data centers optimized for AI and high-performance computing. The “Homer City Energy Campus” will become the largest fracked gas-powered plant in the country, generating up to 4.5 gigawatts (GW) of power to run the AI-driven hyperscale data centers.

At a high-profile Energy and Innovation Summit hosted by Senator Dave McCormick (R – PA) at Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Mellon University, President Donald Trump announced a $92 billion package of investment pledges in Pennsylvania’s AI and energy sectors. He called it the largest commitment in the state’s history, including robust funding for AI data centers alongside new power investments—from nuclear to so-called “clean, beautiful coal.”

The summit also featured remarks from PA Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro and attendance by global tech and energy executives. Outside the summit, protests erupted over concerns about environmental impacts, energy strain, and a lack of public input as Pennsylvania positions itself for fossil‑fuel‑driven AI expansion. Better Path Coalition and No False Climate Solutions PA submitted a letter to Shapiro signed by 27 organizations opposing Shapiro’s attendance and support of the fossil fuel industry, stating that he has “chosen to speed only the permitting of fossil fuel and nuclear projects that will condemn future generations, including those of your own family, to climate chaos they may not be able to endure.”

Summary

The AI and crypto data center surge is reshaping the U.S. energy landscape, largely out of public view. FracTracker’s National Data Centers Tracker pulls back the curtain, revealing where projects are under way, how they’re permitted (or not), and who they impact. 

This Tracker is part of FracTracker’s broader effort to ensure environmental transparency, protect community health, and hold industries accountable. AI and proof-of-work cryptocurrency data centers are rapidly growing forms of energy infrastructure—yet many operate under increasingly deregulated conditions, shifting the burden onto communities already facing environmental injustice, water shortages, and grid stress.

What You Can Do Now

• Explore the Tracker to check your region for data center activity.
• Submit new data if you know of missing or proposed sites.
• Share the tool with community and environmental groups working on clean energy, zoning, and public health.

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