Philadelphia officials have proposed building AI data centers in Northeast Philadelphia and the Grays Ferry neighborhood, the latter of which was once home to the largest oil refinery on the U.S. East Coast and whose residents have long suffered from environmental pollution. Local residents rallied at Philadelphia City Hall on Monday to protest the data center construction, citing concerns including pollution, noise, and the consumption of energy and water resources. New York Governor Kathy Hochul has signed an executive order temporarily preventing the state government from approving new permits for large projects, in response to environmental and energy concerns raised by data center construction. Several U.S. cities, including Denver and Indianapolis, have also approved data center moratoriums. BloombergNEF predicts that by 2035, natural gas consumption by U.S. data centers will double, exceeding the combined total of Germany and Japan.