Gov Stein must enact a data center freeze!

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NC WARN

Building People Power

Duke Energy, Data Centers, and Deception

Driving Up Power Bills and the Climate Crisis

SIGN THE PETITION!

NC WARN is calling on Governor Josh Stein to:

  • Implement a 2-year moratorium on the development and approval of any and all new and proposed data centers.
  • Stop all state tax incentives and other subsidies for data centers.
  • Stop monopoly Duke Energy from recruiting data centers, which it does to justify its nation-leading expansion of fossil fuels for power.
  • Ensure that all proposed and existing data centers disclose all critical information to the public promptly and with ample time for communities to make informed decisions.
  • Establish an innovative, transparent and democratic decision-making process that prioritizes the interests and voices of targeted communities in the face of unchecked data center recruitment and development.

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Quick Facts:

  • Across the state, data center developers and Duke Energy are using tools of secrecy and other tactics to buy support from local government and business leaders in order to fast-track data center approvals – and possibly new power plants – before the public learns of the plans.

  • The public is excluded from decision-making processes and denied critical information about the impacts these developments would have on communities, including water usage, air and noise pollution, and the likelihood of new gas-fired power generation being sited in the same communities targeted for data centers.

  • Duke Energy is planning the nation’s largest expansion of fracked gas-fired and nuclear power plants. Its main justification for this expensive and dangerous buildout – which could triple our power bills in the coming years – is the influx of power-guzzling data centers to the state.

  • Many data centers require several million gallons of fresh drinking water per day to run, equivalent to the daily water usage of a town of 50,000 people. Still, roughly 2/3 of proposed data centers are in areas that have experienced a drought in the past year.

  • Noise, air and water pollution from data centers are linked to stress, sleep loss, asthma, cancer, and other health issues.

  • North Carolina communities are pushing back. Data center developments are facing widespread opposition; over 50 municipalities in the state have passed moratoriums on data center construction (full list here).

Take Action: People Power Works!

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Tell Gov. Stein to implement a statewide moratorium on new data centers.

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Tell Gov. Stein to stop Duke Energy's expansion of fossil fuels and suppression of renewables!

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Resources

Scandal at Duke Energy Hearing

In a regulatory hearing in June 2026, Duke Energy’s top executives admitted that they recruit the very data centers used to justify a $63 billion expansion of fossil fuels and nuclear power plants in the Carolinas. 

Duke Energy CEO Harry Sideris boasted to corporate investors, “We have a [recruiting] team in place that their goal, 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, is how do we get these things signed quicker?” 

Duke conceded that use of electricity has fallen over the long term despite huge population growth, and that it has consistently and grossly exaggerated future projections for years while arguing it must build a huge number of new power plants for electricity usage that ultimately never materializes. 

Now, they’ve been caught admitting that they’re actively recruiting new large customers to try to justify the largest expansion of fossil fuels and experimental nuclear plants in the nation.

Enticing data centers to the state runs counter to the overall interest of the people of North Carolina. Such developments are facing well-aimed backlash due to the multiple negative community impacts and creation of very few jobs. 

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