On Tuesday, U.S. Representative Terri Sewell, D-Alabama, released a video statement explaining her decision to cosponsor the Artificial Intelligence Data Center Moratorium Act.
Introduced by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York, in the House and Senator Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, in the Senate, the legislation would halt construction of artificial intelligence data centers until the federal government requires approval for new AI models and ensures that workers share in AI’s economic benefits.
“Across the state and our district, Alabamians are grappling with the rapid expansion of AI data centers,” Sewell said in the video statement. “Many are being proposed in underserved and underresourced rural and urban communities. These facilities come with promises of new investment, job creation, and tax revenue. But they also come with some risks and many, many unknowns.”
“How will they affect our water, our environment, our property values? Will local communities actually get the benefit that they’re being promised? Who benefits and who bears the costs?” she continued. “Rightfully, Alabamians are asking important questions, and I don’t believe that we have received sufficient answers. That’s why I am cosponsoring national legislation pausing the construction of AI data centers until Congress can put in place protections for our people, our environment, and the natural resources that we all share.”
Sewell’s decision comes as communities across Alabama and the nation push back against proposed data center projects. Alabamians have opposed proposed projects in Bessemer, Birmingham and Fairfield.
A recent Gallup poll found that about 70 percent of Americans oppose building a data center in their area, with about half strongly opposed.
The issue also has become increasingly prominent in political campaigns. Senator Tommy Tuberville, R-Alabama, said Alabama is “going to do data centers” and praised the potential additional tax revenue. His opponent in the upcoming gubernatorial election, former Senator Doug Jones, D-Alabama, has called for putting “guardrails” around the controversial projects.
Alabama Public Service Commission candidate Sheila McNeil also recently called for the commission to scrutinize data center projects more closely and consider their effects on local communities, particularly energy prices. During the 2026 Legislative Session, the Alabama Legislature passed and Governor Kay Ivey signed a law limiting the tax abatements available to data center projects.
Elsewhere in the country, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed into law the nation’s first statewide data center moratorium earlier this month. During an episode of Bloomberg’s “Odd Lots” podcast, Hochul said the law was “simply saying step back, take a breath, and get it right” to make the regulatory environment transparent for investors.
The legislation Sewell cosponsored is unlikely to pass in its current form. The bill has only 10 other House cosponsors, all Democrats.
However, Sewell’s decision suggests she and other Alabama Democrats may seek support from AI and data center skeptics in upcoming elections.
“As we build the economy of tomorrow, we must ensure that innovation lifts up every community rather than leaving some to bear the costs,” Sewell wrote in a statement. “Responsible innovation and community protection are not competing goals—they are complementary ones.”
