Data centers threaten our national security

Friends, Right now, 49,000 working people in South Lake Tahoe are about to lose their electricity so that investor-owned NV Energy can redirect power to data centers. Teachers, firefighters, police officers, and service workers—people who keep our communities running—are being told their power is less important than profits for Big Tech and Big Energy. All across this country, massive corporations are building thousands of data centers to fuel the artificial intelligence boom. These aren't small operations. We're talking about industrial complexes that consume more electricity than entire cities, drain precious water resources, and operate with nearly zero accountability to the communities they're destroying. This is what unchecked corporate greed looks like This isn’t just an environmental, energy, or infrastructure crisis. It is also a national security catastrophe. An October 2025 outage at a single Amazon facility disrupted services for millions of people on websites ranging from United Airlines to Venmo and Reddit to Fortnite. Iran recently launched drone strikes against American data centers in the Middle East. The Department of Energy itself acknowledges that energy security is national security. And yet, the Trump administration is blocking renewable energy projects while fast-tracking data centers powered by fossil fuels in war zones. This is insanity. Time is running out. Please tell Congress to slow down the rampant building of data centers and to ensure the provision of renewable energy sources. Specifically, here's what we need to do right away: 1. Institute a moratorium on new data centers until we have comprehensive federal standards protecting communities, water resources, and the electrical grid. 2. Establish community control over whether these facilities can be built so the people who live near these projects, not corporate lobbyists and politicians, have the final say. 3. Invest in renewable American energy infrastructure. Renewables are cheaper than fossil fuels, and protect our environment and communities. 4. Stop the subsidies for Big Tech. These corporations are making record profits while while working families lose their power and communities lose their water. Send a letter now to your congressional representatives demanding these straightforward priorities. Friends, this is a fight we can win. Local opposition has already blocked or delayed more than a dozen data center projects worth $64 billion. Seven in 10 Americans oppose these facilities in their communities. The momentum is on our side. But we need to act now because these corporations move fast. They don't care about your family, your community, or your security. They care about their profits. And they're counting on us to stay silent while they carve up our infrastructure and sell it off to the highest bidder. We will not let that happen. Click here to join our campaign demanding a federal moratorium on new data centers until we have real protections for working families and our national security. This is what the fight looks like. It's not glamorous. It's not easy. But it's necessary. And with your support, we're going to win. In solidarity, Jane Sanders and Dave Driscoll The Sanders Institute 1 https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2026-05-19/a-surge-in-nevada-data-center-construction-threatens-power-supply-for-50-000-californians 2 https://www.npr.org/2025/10/20/nx-s1-5580312/aws-outage 3 https://www.techpolicy.press/the-legal-and-policy-fallout-from-data-center-strikes-in-the-middle-east-war/ 4 https://www.energy.gov/topics/energy-security 5 https://www.datacenterwatch.org/report 6 https://news.gallup.com/poll/709772/americans-oppose-data-centers-area.aspx Paid for by the Sanders Institute 131 Church St., Burlington, VT 05401 The Sanders Institute is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization.   Sent via ActionNetwork.org. To update your email address, change your name or address, or to stop receiving emails from The Sanders Institute, please click here.