Politics

Johnson Calls for Temporary Moratorium on Data Centers

Mayor Brandon Johnson called Tuesday for a temporary moratorium on data centers, signing an executive order that calls on the Chicago City Council to adopt new rules to prevent the city’s air and water from being polluted by the insatiable demand for electricity.

“Chicagoans have been absolutely clear: They do not want data centers expanding across our city without strong protection for their communities, their utility bills, their air, water and their quality of life,” Johnson said at Northerly Island just before signing his 24th executive order.

Read the full executive order.

The City Council must approve the moratorium for it to take effect.

Johnson said he welcomed the new jobs and economic activity created by data centers, but not at any cost.

“Chicago is a tech hub that embraces innovation, but never at the expense of our health, safety or our natural environment,” Johnson said.

According to Johnson, Chicago must block the construction of new data centers until officials update the city’s “outdated regulatory framework” that does not include the “modern protections” he said Chicagoans deserve.

The city should prevent data centers’ diesel backup generators from polluting neighborhoods and impose new regulations to stop the centers’ cooling systems from creating a noisy nuisance, according to the executive order.

New proposals for data centers should also undergo a more rigorous review from all city departments to ensure officials evaluate any potential “cumulative environmental burdens” on city neighborhoods.

The executive order gives the Chicago Department of Environment 90 days to develop those new rules and creates a task force to keep tabs on the push.

In most commercial areas of the city, data centers can start operating without special permission from city officials, records show.

There are 39 data centers in Chicago, according to city officials. A proposal to transform the lower half of the 12-story office building at 300 W. Adams St. into a data center advanced earlier this month, after it cleared an initial review by the staff of the city’s Commission on Landmarks.

A typical data center uses around 300,000 gallons of water per day from the city’s system, records show. 

The demand for office space has not recovered since the COVID-19 pandemic in how and where Chicagoans work and shop, forcing the owners of many landmarked buildings downtown to find new uses for the empty workspaces.

Nearly a dozen former office buildings are set to be transformed into apartments and condominiums, an effort that has been subsidized by the city.

A proposal from Ald. Maria Hadden (49th Ward), the chair of the City Council’s Committee on Environmental Protection and Energy, would require all data centers to disclose how much energy and water they use. That measure could get a hearing in September.

Generative artificial intelligence relies on hyperscale data centers, which can use approximately 5 million gallons a day, records show.

None of those facilities operate in Chicago, although one was proposed in 2025 to be built as part of the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park, a $1 billion project on Chicago’s Southeast Side set to become the largest quantum development in the United States.

In 2024, the City Council passed an ordinance designed to spur the construction of new data centers in Chicago by requiring the city’s data to be stored within the United States.

However, data centers have since become a political flashpoint amid growing concern that windowless, server-filled buildings are driving up residents’ electricity bills. 

Seven in 10 Americans oppose the construction of a data center to fuel artificial intelligence in their area, according to a Gallup poll from earlier this year. That opposition has fueled the campaigns of several progressive candidates for office, including those supported by Johnson.

Johnson has yet to announce whether he plans to seek reelection in February.

Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]

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