by Dwaign Tyndal, CommonWealth Beacon
September 15, 2026

GOV. HEALEY took an important step last week to protect Massachusetts communities from the unchecked growth of data centers.

Her new executive order will require large data centers to meet new standards around energy, water, air quality and public health and gives communities a greater voice in deciding whether these projects move forward. Data centers with peak electricity demand above 25 megawatts must demonstrate compliance with the state’s responsible development framework and enter into a community benefits agreement before receiving state permits.

These new standards are an acknowledgment of what communities across Massachusetts have been saying: AI infrastructure may exist “in the cloud,” but its costs are very real and very local.

Residents are already facing high energy costs, and the rapid growth of data centers is putting additional pressure on an already constrained regional grid. Wholesale electricity prices are as much as 267 percent higher than five years ago in areas near significant data-center activity.

New England has little surplus generating capacity during periods of extreme demand, and adding large new electricity loads can further strain the system, increasing costs and reliance on polluting generation. Those impacts are especially concerning in Black and brown communities, which already face higher energy burdens and greater exposure to pollution.

The governor’s order rightly recognizes this risk. It directs state agencies to ensure large data centers bear the costs associated with their energy needs and support new clean energy rather than shifting those costs onto existing ratepayers. But the environmental footprint of data centers goes well beyond electricity.

Data centers consume enormous amounts of water and rely on diesel backup generators, creating additional pressures on municipal systems, air quality, and public health. Data centers use our land, consume our resources, and shape the future of neighborhoods across Massachusetts.

Lowell offers an important warning. In the city’s Sacred Heart neighborhood, which has a large minority population, a major data center has expanded in an area already facing significant nitrogen oxide pollution burdens. Filings show residents have argued that the expansion is contributing to noise and pollution without a meaningful cumulative environmental review.

The appeal raised concerns that the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection failed to require a cumulative impact analysis, adequately address data center noise, meaningfully involve environmental justice communities in the environmental review process, or consider alternatives to diesel generation. Instead, the facility expanded in stages, with the number of backup diesel generators growing from seven to 27. The residents’ legal challenge was ultimately dismissed on administrative grounds, leaving the substantive environmental concerns unresolved.

Lowell is unlikely to be the last community facing these questions. As AI companies seek locations with available land, electricity, and water, more Massachusetts communities will be asked to host facilities that place extraordinary demands on public resources.

The governor’s new requirement for community benefits agreements is an important response to concerns like these. But a community benefits agreement cannot become a substitute for rigorous environmental review or genuine community power. Nor should protections depend on whether a project happens to cross the executive order’s 25-megawatt threshold.

Massachusetts needs a statewide framework with real enforcement that applies broadly enough to prevent developers from structuring projects in ways that evade stronger oversight. That means cumulative environmental review, protections for ratepayers and water supplies, meaningful community participation, transparency around proposed projects, and accountability for developers. It also means ending public subsidies for an industry capable of financing its own expansion.

Gov. Healey’s pause on the state’s sales and use tax exemption for data centers is a step in the right direction, but it does not go nearly far enough. Gov. Healey should not resume the exemption, and the Legislature should eliminate it entirely. At a time when families are choosing between food, medicine, and energy, Massachusetts should not be subsidizing the data center industry.

Other states are already going further. In New York, Gov. Hochul has signed a statewide moratorium on new hyperscale data centers and moved to eliminate their tax exemption. Illinois, Arizona, and Ohio have also moved to end data center tax exemptions. The Commonwealth must not fall behind, leaving our communities vulnerable.

The governor’s executive order demonstrates that Massachusetts does not have to choose between technological innovation and protecting communities. But rules are only as strong as their impleme...

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