Washington DC - Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are introducing legislation calling for a nationwide moratorium on the construction of new artificial intelligence data centers.

The construction pause would allow for the development of protections around environmental harms, health threats, high electricity costs, lost jobs, and other concerns.

Last December, over 230 organizations around the country signed a letter to Congress calling for such a moratorium.

"We need a halt to the explosive growth of new AI data center construction now, because political and community leaders across the country have been caught completely off guard by this aggressive, profit-hungry industry," Food & Water Watch's Managing Director of Policy and Litigation Mitch Jones said in a statement on Wednesday.

"It has yet to be determined if – not how – the industry can ever operate in a manner that sufficiently protects people and society from the profusion of inherent hazards and harms that data centers bring wherever they appear," Jones continued.

"We commend Senator Sanders and Representative Ocasio-Cortez for their bold, insightful leadership on this critical issue at the federal level. Given the pace of the unregulated AI data center buildout, members of Congress must move quickly to sponsor, champion and pass this critical legislation."

Food & Water Watch released a report earlier this month which concluded, "Nothing short of a halt to the data center rollout will suffice until a comprehensive regulatory framework is developed to ensure that people and the environment are fully protected – and that technological advancements benefit everyone, not just a handful of extremely powerful people."