A Massachusetts judge has blocked a controversial data center in Lowell from expanding while a resident-led lawsuit over the massive facility moves forward in court.
The 352,000-square-foot data center is located in a dense, residential area and has been the subject of swelling community opposition over allegations of noise and environmental pollution.
Superior Court Judge C. William Barrett on Monday granted the residents' request to pause the installation of four new diesel generators at the facility operated by the Markley Group, a Boston-based data and telecommunications company, during an ongoing legal challenge over air permits.
The residents argue that state environmental regulators unlawfully allowed Markley to move forward with installing the generators without adequately considering the polluting effects of the equipment on an environmental justice community.
"I'm pretty ecstatic that the court saw through the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection's really bizarre decision regarding our ability to have standing in this case," said Jake Fortes, a third-generation Lowell resident whose home directly abuts the data center. "This ruling is a win for the entire community."
"Communities shouldn't have to race against construction while they are challenging whether a project was properly approved," said Adam Reynolds, environmental justice fellow at Conservation Law Foundation, which is representing residents in the case alongside Yale Law School's Environmental Justice Law and Advocacy Clinic, and Fitch Law Partners.
"Lowell residents have watched this facility grow around their homes for years while their concerns went unanswered," he added. "With this pause, the court recognized their concerns and has given the community some protection from further expansion while that fight continues."
In an emailed statement, Markley Group CEO Jeff Markley argued that the decision was "based on a limited set of facts and arguments," and said that Markley will ultimately prevail in court.
"We believe once the full record is before the Court, it will be clear that the previous dismissal of the appeal at issue was proper and that the Court will find in favor of the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection and Markley," he said.
It's unclear when the judge will make a final ruling in the case, which is among a string of legal challenges surrounding the Lowell facility, the largest of its kind in Massachusetts.
In March, Lowell's City Council unanimously passed a 360-day temporary ban on the construction, development and expansion of new data centers in the city. But Markley sued and came to an agreement allowing the company to move forward with expansion plans pre-dating the moratorium.
The company is also facing a class-action lawsuit over noise pollution.
Markley's data center sits on a 14-acre plot of land that once housed a spaghetti factory. The Prince pasta plant operated from the late 1930s until the mid-1990s, when it was bought by a private investment firm. The site then sat vacant for two decades.
Markley moved into the facility in 2015, encouraged by tax incentives. Lowell's City Council unanimously approved a tax agreement and a personal property tax exemption that's estimated to save the Markley Group $77 million over its 20-year term.
The data center has faced growing community opposition over the past two years amid the generative artificial intelligence boom. Companies across the country are racing to construct and expand data facilities in order to house the computational power needed to train and run complex models and house their data.
So-called hyperscale data centers — humongous facilities used by AI and big tech giants that use as much power as small cities — have sparked the most severe outrage in communities spanning the country. Opponents have raised concerns about skyrocketing utility bills, massive water consumption and noise pollution.
Markley maintains that it is significantly smaller than hyperscale facilities, and that it serves a broad client base, including public educational institutions and medical providers. The company also argues that residents opposed to the facility represent a small but vocal minority in the community.
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