Ten Legal Strategies for Fighting Data Centers

Data center developers are among the wealthiest companies in the world, and they count on communities not knowing their rights. The good news: the legal landscape offers more tools than most people realize.

Here are ten strategies worth knowing about, drawn from the work of Third Act Lawyers and our partners at Public Citizen, Food and Water Watch, and the Athena Coalition.

#1. Demand a moratorium

The single most powerful tool available at every level of government, be it national, state, county, municipality, is a moratorium: a formal pause on new data center permits while regulations catch up. Maine has passed one. New York has a bill in the legislature. About ten other states are considering similar measures. Developers fear moratoriums more than almost anything else, because their greatest vulnerability is not money, it’s time. Even a short moratorium creates space to organize, legislate, and build community power.

#2. Challenge zoning and land use approvals

Almost every data center needs some form of land use permitting, and many require a variance (an exception to existing zoning) because they don’t fit the normal script for a given area. Variances require public hearings. Show up. Look up your county’s comprehensive plan or master plan and understand what it allows. If a developer is asking officials to change that plan, that’s a public process you can participate in and contest.

#3. Invoke environmental review requirements

The National Environmental Policy Act requires environmental review any time there is federal action, including federal funding, federal permits, or transmission interconnection approvals. State-level equivalents (often called mini-NEPAs) have similar requirements. These processes mandate public input and analysis of cumulative impacts. They are also a basis for legal challenge if not followed correctly.

#4. Use the Clean Water Act

Data centers typically need multiple Clean Water Act permits: construction stormwater permits, dredge-and-fill permits for siting, wastewater discharge permits, and certifications for cooling water intake structures. Each of these is a legal checkpoint. Challenge whether the required permits have been obtained and whether the environmental review was complete.

#5. Use the Clean Air Act

On-site backup generators, which are almost universally gas or diesel generators, are significant polluters and often require air quality permits, public notice, and best available control technology analysis. Elon Musk’s AI data center in Memphis is currently facing litigation specifically because its methane gas generators are emitting harmful nitrogen oxides without the required permits. If a developer is running generators without proper permitting, that’s an actionable violation.

#6. Challenge non-disclosure agreements

Developers routinely use NDAs to purchase the silence of elected officials, preventing them from disclosing the terms of deals made with community resources: water, land, air, and ratepayer dollars. Every state has open meetings laws and freedom of information laws. If a deal was made behind closed doors, challenge whether those laws were violated. The Site Fight Guide maintained by Kairos Fellowship includes a repository of NDAs from fights around the country, often the same NDA language is used in multiple communities.

#7. Watch for and contest fake public input

Watch for and contest fake public input. A developer recently used AI to generate thousands of fake public comments opposing clean air standards in Southern California. Regulators are not always equipped to catch this. If you suspect fake comments or manufactured public support, flag it loudly and publicly. Astroturf organizations can also be challenged through state ethics commissions, as is currently happening in New Mexico.

#8. Get your elected officials on the record

Food and Water Watch maintains a letter asking elected officials at every level to declare their position on a data center moratorium. Use it. Request meetings with your county council members, state legislators, and members of Congress. If they won’t meet with you, that tells you something. If they’re already in the developers’ pocket, you need to know that before the next election, not after. Nearly 500 organizations have already signed on to the national moratorium letter.

#9. Support proactive legislation

Beyond moratoria, there’s a growing body of model legislation worth knowing about. Reforms include banning non-disclosure agreements in data center approvals, requiring 100% renewable energy as a condition of permitting, prohibiting on-site fossil fuel backup generators, mandating advance public notice of proposed projects, and requiring full disclosure of water and energy impacts. Maryland recently passed legislation requiring data centers seeking utility hookups to demonstrate clean energy sourcing. AI Now’s North Star Data Center Policy Toolkit is a useful resource for model language.

#10. Connect with the national coalition—and contribute to it

No community is fighting alone. The Data Center Working Group, a coalition including the Athena Coalition, AI Now Institute, Free Press, Good Jobs First, Kairos Fellowship, Public Citizen, and Food and Water Watch, maintains shared resources, hosts monthly site fight calls, and provides direct support to local campaigns. The Site Fight Guide is a living document: if your campaign has produced a good fact sheet, a community benefits agreement, or an NDA you’ve managed to surface, contribute it. Other communities will benefit.

Third Act Lawyers are also a resource. Reach us at lawyers@thirdact.org.