SEAP recently partnered with the Southern Environmental Law Center, Workshop, and Young Gifted & Green to host the Southern Data Centers Research and Policy Convening. The goal was starting a regional conversation on how to bolster support provided to communities navigating data center proposals on their own terms.
Participants consistently described data center expansion as a lightning-fast, systems-level disruption of energy systems, the economy, and democratic governance. Data centers are reshaping regional energy systems, utility planning and service, water use and air pollution, public revenues and private markets, land-use and zoning laws, and all faster than communities or governance structures feel they can meaningfully respond.
In order to share more about the issues we surfaced and the possible policy solutions emerging, the host organizations created a memo for interested parties. The memo summarizes:
- key themes and insights
- barriers and constraints of this advocacy work
- Identified advocacy opportunities and strategic levers.
