Healey signs order requiring data centers to receive local approval

BOSTON (WHDH) - Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey Tuesday signed an Executive Order requiring data centers to receive local approval before seeking state permits, pay for their own clean energy, and adhere to water, air, and community engagement standards.

Healey announced she has also directed state agencies to require data centers to comply with her Data Center Framework, which includes bringing their own clean energy supply, protecting water resources, and being transparent with the surrounding communities.

The Executive Order also establishes a Ratepayer Protection Fund, which makes it so data centers that do not bring their own clean energy would have to pay a fee that will be returned to ratepayers.

“Unless a community says yes to a data center, we are saying no,” Healey said in a statement. “We’re giving communities a voice and laying out the rules for what needs to happen in Massachusetts. I’m also making sure these data centers use clean energy, and that we protect people from higher energy costs – including by returning money directly back to ratepayers.”

“If there is real interest in developing those facilities here, we need to lay the groundwork on how to site them, power them, and make sure they are done in a responsible way,” said Dan Dolan, President of the New England Power Generators Association.

Frank Callahan, President of the Massachusetts Building Trades Union, which represents 75,000 workers, said data centers are critical to keeping up with the growing tech landscape.

“We support data centers,” Callahan said. “We are a knowledge-based economy with biotech, eduction, medical high tech; we need data centers to prepare us for the future for those industries and more.”

The order comes as some Lowell residents are suing the state to prevent the expansion of the 352,000 square foot data center on Markley Way, citing concerns about noise, dust, and emissions from the facility.

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