Communities should be vibrant and full of laughter as children play in the streets. It's a place where families come together to share meals, traditions, and their dreams for a brighter future. 

Data centers and Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) are being built in predominantly Black, Brown, and Asian communities at an alarming rate. And our families are paying the price with our health, our wallets, and our lives.

In Monterey Park, California, a predominantly Asian American community of 60,000, developers pushed for a massive data center before residents, with 86.8% voting in favor, finally passed California's first-ever data center ban. The community fought back because they knew what was at stake: skyrocketing electricity bills, water pollution, noise, and toxic air.

In Memphis, Tennessee, Elon Musk's xAI brought 33 unpermitted gas turbines to Southaven, Mississippi to power its Colossus 2 data center—right next to homes, schools, and churches in a predominantly Black community. The NAACP has filed emergency legal action to stop the illegal air pollution, which includes:

• 2,507 tons of smog-forming nitrogen oxides per year
• 236 tons of fine particulate matter linked to cancer and heart disease
• 25 tons of formaldehyde—a known carcinogen
  
  

This is not an accident. This is environmental racism in real time.

The fire in Boyle Heights right now is a warning
Right now, the Boyle Heights warehouse fire in Los Angeles has been burning for nearly a week. Lithium-ion batteries on the property were identified as hazardous materials, along with ammonia and other toxic substances. The smoke contains particulates that are "highly enriched with toxic organics, toxic metals," according to UCLA researchers—and the Air Quality Index does not capture the specific toxins our families are breathing.

This is exactly what happens when lithium batteries in BESS and data centers explode or catch fire. When lithium batteries burn, they cannot be extinguished with traditional firefighting methods. They must continue to burn, releasing toxic fumes into communities of color for weeks or even months. The Boyle Heights fire is a preview of what happens when these facilities are sited in our neighborhoods—and the cancer-causing toxins from these fires settle in our homes, our schools, and our lungs.

The Price We Pay
Data centers don't just bring pollution—they drain our resources:

• Energy prices skyrocket: Across the country, electric companies have requested a $29 billion rate increase—double what they asked for last year—driven largely by data center demand.
• Water is stolen: Data centers consume millions of gallons of water daily—up to 5 million gallons a day in some cases. In one county, a Meta data center already consumes 10% of the daily water supply, leaving residents with brown sediment in their taps.
• Almost no jobs: After construction, data centers typically create only about 20 permanent jobs—while receiving hundreds of millions in tax breaks.

This is digital redlining. Tech billionaires power their AI revolution on the backs of communities that have already been neglected for decades. 

Our Demands
To EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright, Rep. Brett Guthrie, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, and Rep. James Comer:

1. FULL DISCLOSURE: Elected officials and agencies must fully disclose all public subsidies, land deals, campaign contributions, and financial benefits tied to data center and BESS approvals.

2. NO PERMITS FOR POLLUTERS: Developers with unresolved environmental, permitting, or transparency concerns—including xAI in Memphis and Logistic Land Investments LLC in Bessemer—must NOT receive permits, incentives, or public resources.

3. ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE REVIEWS: Require mandatory racial and environmental impact reviews before approving any data center or BESS facility, with meaningful community consultation—not meetings held at impossible times, public comment cut to 10 minutes, or doors shut on residents.

4. AIR QUALITY MONITORING: Deploy and fund real-time, community-level air monitoring for toxic particulates and heavy metals—especially in communities downwind of industrial fires and facilities—and report results in clear, accessible language. 

5. A NATIONAL MORATORIUM: Place a moratorium on new data center and BESS construction in communities of color until comprehensive environmental justice protections are in place.

Sign This Petition Now
The Boyle Heights fire is still burning. xAI's unpermitted turbines are still pumping poison into the air. Developers are still eyeing our communities as sacrifice zones.

We will not be the battery that powers their future at the cost of our lives.

Sign this petition. Share it with your community. Demand accountability.

Sign now—because our children deserve to breathe.

This is a sponsored petition. Learn more here.