As a result of New Hampshire community members voicing their opposition to data centers, the city of Keene has approved a one-year prohibition on new ones in the city. The moratorium, proposed by Councilor Phil Jones and backed by the Planning Board of Keene, went into effect on Sept. 28.
Keene currently has one existing data center: FirstLight. In an interview with My Keene Now, Mayor Jay Kahn described the 1,500 sqft building as “relatively small” compared to other large-scale data centers. FirstLight also focuses on connectivity, network issues, reduction of capital expenditures and cost-effective business continuity solutions as opposed to artificial intelligence (AI) usage.
Planning Board members classified the “rapid rise of large-scale data centers, their resource consumption, the fast pace of technological advancement and a lack of zoning requirements” as unusual circumstances that cleared the moratorium for approval. The moratorium was done as a “corrective course of action” and aligns with Keene’s Comprehensive Master Plan, which is a document that guides development and zoning policies.
In an article published by the Keene Sentinel, Planning Board Chair Harold Farrington said, “It’s not saying that we’ll never have one here or never want one. We need to stay in front of it.” Farrington also expressed concern over the possible misconstruing of the moratorium to include any data center housed within organizations that use it for computing and IT needs. Because of this, Planning Board members decided to specifically include large, hyperscale data centers with massive computing power as moratorium-applicable.
Over the past few years, there has been a noticeable increase in large data centers nationwide. Many of these data centers were built to support AI usage, and according to a Construction Dive data analysis, the number of planned and operating data center projects tripled between March and August 2026. Major companies such as Meta, Amazon, Google and Microsoft have all contributed billions of dollars in investment to AI companies, along with countless platforms, workplaces and academic settings implementing AI into their operations.
Despite the growing success of the data center industry and its financial supporters, there have been some setbacks, most of which stem from public disapproval. Some state restrictions have been put in place partially due to concerns regarding noise pollution, unsafe drinking water, extreme diesel exhaust and rising property taxes that often occur after a data center is built.
Many data centers have been built in proximity to residential neighborhoods, historical landmarks and natural reserves. In a three-part viral video series, a resident of Lowell, Massachusetts detailed his experience with having a Markley Group data center “steps from his backyard.” Throughout the series, the resident expressed concern over surveillance, “tech bros” who invest in AI, and the noise pollution in his neighborhood.
The Lowell resident is just one example of people struggling after data center construction. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez published a press release on May 20 regarding her visit to North Georgia, where Meta built a massive data center campus. In the press release, it was stated that 10 percent of the town’s water goes towards that data center, which has resulted in nearby homeowners having water pressure issues, non-working appliances due to water quality decimation and a lack of water availability.
In an article published by the New York Times, Jeff Morris, a resident in that area, said that he “traced the issues to the buildup of sediment in the water.” Morris said he suspected the construction of Meta’s data center as responsible, as it may have added sediment to groundwater and affected the well by his home.
During a hearing in the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, Ocasio-Cortez held up two mason jars of drinking water from Morgan County, Georgia, that were retrieved right after the Meta data center was built. The water in both jars was from two different homes and appeared murky, brown and undrinkable according to Ocasio-Cortez.
According to data center tracker More Than Just Parks, New Hampshire currently has 14 data centers. Of these, 12 are active, and two have been proposed. The counties with the most are Hillsborough County with six, Grafton County with three and Merrimack County with two. While the Keene moratorium will not prevent large-scale data centers from being built in the future, it does give residents and city staff members another year to anticipate, plan and study the environmental impact that one would have on their community.
Evan Clements, Mari Brunner, Paul Andrus and Phil Jones were all contacted but did not respond for comment.
Samantha Menard can be contacted at
smenard@kscequinox.com
