Ballot question would put major restrictions on Massachusetts data centers

Opponents of data center development have launched a campaign to put new restrictions before Massachusetts voters in 2028, as a $16 billion project proposed in Sutton sharpens the debate.

The Committee to Restrict Data Centers, which filed initial paperwork with state regulators in September, announced the campaign Thursday and launched sign4restrictingdatacenters.org, where residents can pledge support for a ballot petition and request a signature form by mail.

The Kraft Group is pursuing a data center campus in Sutton that, if completed, would rank as the fourth-largest data center in the country. The proposal has drawn opposition from residents of the central Massachusetts town, adding to the unfolding national debate over AI development, electricity consumption, water use and potential effects on utility bills.

The website urges visitors to help restrict data centers, citing concerns about increasing electric bills, water consumption and noise from equipment that can “sound like jet engines.” It also calls for local voter approval of proposed facilities. At the bottom of the site, organizers included a declaration: “No Ai was used on this site.”

The committee’s proposal, designated Petition 26-08 by the attorney general’s office, would establish requirements for new data centers and expansions of existing facilities, including a two-thirds vote of approval by residents in the host community.

Under the petition, a data center could not receive a municipal permit unless its electricity supplier agreed not to shift costs onto other customers and committed to providing enough electricity from 100% renewable resources to meet the facility’s needs without reducing renewable energy available to others. Operators would also have to guarantee recovery of infrastructure costs if a facility closes, reduces capacity or violates its contract.

The proposal also requires water suppliers to certify that existing systems can accommodate a facility without materially affecting service to existing customers in the host or neighboring communities. Operators would need drought-related water reduction plans.

Municipalities would have to publicly disclose permitting documents online, and voters would decide whether to approve a proposed facility at an election at least 180 days after the community announces its permitting decision and releases the relevant documents. The state auditor could audit data centers and their electricity and water suppliers, with municipalities authorized to require facilities to cease operating until certain violations are corrected.

The committee is chaired by Jim Fleming, a political consultant who operates a signature-gathering company and said he has connections to communities that have raised concerns about data center projects, including Westfield and Holyoke.

Sen. John Velis, a Westfield Democrat, is also promoting the campaign.

“The completion and proposed construction of data centers around the state has caused local community groups to organize to either stop or delay new centers,” Velis said in the committee’s press release, citing concerns about electricity costs, environmental uncertainty, water usage and noise.

Fleming submitted the proposal shortly before this year’s August filing deadline, and Attorney General Andrea Campbell’s office certified it in September.

The committee is not planning to collect signatures for the first available deadline this month, Fleming said. Organizers have until Nov. 18 to submit 74,574 signatures, representing 3% of the votes cast in the 2022 gubernatorial election, to qualify for the next stage of the process. Because the proposal is intended for the 2028 ballot, they can pursue the initial signature threshold next fall, when the requirement will be based on votes cast in this month’s gubernatorial election.

That approach gives organizers more time to build public support and leaves them an opportunity to submit alternative versions of the proposal by next August’s filing deadline. Fleming indicated the language already approved by the attorney general may not be the version ultimately advanced.

Filing early also puts lawmakers on notice as they begin a legislative session in January. If enough signatures are collected next fall, the Legislature would have until early May 2028 to act on the proposal. If lawmakers do not pass it, supporters would need to gather a smaller round of signatures by early July to secure a spot on the November ballot.

Fleming said the prospect of a ballot question is intended, in part, to prompt legislative action before voters are asked to decide the issue.

“If the legislature passes a law like this that is good, and not just an executive order, then we will wrap this entire process. And this will hopefully encourage them to do this,” he said.

The petition would go further than Gov. Maura Healey’s executive order, signed Sept. 8, which established requirements for state agencies reviewing large data center projects. The order generally applies to facilities exceeding 25 megawatts, while the petition sets a lower threshold of 5 megawatts of peak annual demand.

Healey’s order directs state agencies, including the Department of Environmental Protection and the Energy Facilities Siting Board, to develop policies addressing electricity, water, environmental impacts and community benefits. It requires developers to procure incremental clean electricity, with an alternative compliance payment available, and directs agencies to develop ratepayer protections.

Unlike the proposed ballot measure, the order does not require a communitywide vote. Instead, it calls for community benefit agreements and municipal guidance. It also applies only to facilities built or expanded after it took effect.

Like any executive order, it can be amended or revoked by a future governor.

The campaign is emerging amid broader political resistance to data centers. Voters favored restrictions in 40 of 41 local ballot contests held this past Election Day, with measures passing in Ohio, California, Florida, Kansas, Maine, Illinois and Wisconsin, according to Ballotopedia.

In Ohio, the advocacy group Conserve Ohio filed a proposed measure in March that would prohibit data centers statewide with aggregate power demands exceeding 25 megawatts. It’s targeting the 2027 ballot for a vote.

Although the petition would not prohibit data centers outright, its combination of energy and financial requirements, and a two-thirds local vote could make approval substantially more difficult and may discourage interested developers.

Ballot question would put major restrictions on Massachusetts data centers

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