“If you live in the St. Louis Metropolitan region, the air you breathe may put your health at risk.” 

What’s at Stake? Your health, finances, quality of life

The air quality impacts of data centers range from the regional impacts of mercury, NOx, SOx and particulate emissions from the new power plants required to run them to the localized toxic emissions from back up power systems which are often diesel generators or small gas turbines. These are pollutants that contribute to asthma, COPD, strokes, heart disease, cancer, and immune and neurological illness. Some of their associated hazardous air pollutant emissions contribute to reproductive problems.

And now data centers bring three other types of pollution that can decimate an urban environment like ours: heat, noise, and infrasound. While the other pollutants are governed by federal law, these pollutants the city can regulate.

The St. Louis data center proposal is for a 120MW (megawatt) hyperscale data center which will be linking millions of microchips together in the same space to run generative AI (these are not the kind of data centers that store your photos and tax returns). 

Almost all of the electricity running a data center is converted to heat. Because of this, cooling data centers demands an insane quantity of water, most of which is lost as steam. Visionaries in Europe are contemplating using the waste heat from data centers to heat buildings. That is not an option here yet. However, data centers make heat 24 hours/day 365 days/year and there are nine months per year in our region when excessive heat is a public health threat not an asset. This is why data centers do not need to be centralized on existing heat islands. 

People are concerned that the data center could cause an 18 degree fahrenheit increase in ambient temperature with a higher heat density than steel forges or aluminum smelters. Cool roofs and trees alone cannot abate this. And few trees can even live in extreme heat. 

Hyperscale data centers cannot overheat or they will fail. As a result, they are equipped with large fans, pumps, and mechanical apparatus that contribute to a continual hum.  Now that the nation has dozens of existing data centers, their impacts are being felt and heard in communities everywhere. With a quick internet search, you’ll find communities whose well water is tainted or gone, health complaints, and, notably, electric bill increases as high as 267%. The peace and quiet in rural areas is disrupted, and the noisy urban environment, which now knows moments of silence during the darkest of night or when snowfall has stilled the highways, will be lost to a constant hum from a never resting data center.

Low-Frequency Soundwave Pollution

In addition, vibrations from this equipment can create low frequency sound waves below 20 Hz called infrasound. The sound pressure infrasound creates can be felt even if it cannot be heard. Infrasound is below our ability to hear it, yet is detectable by its effects which can include dizziness, nausea, and discomfort. These low frequency sound waves have long wavelengths and can travel over long distances. Studies have shown that exposure to these frequencies can disrupt sleep, memory, cognitive function, and mood. This is why we should protect residences, schools, and hospitals from data center impacts.

Thank you for attending the hearing Wed. Feb 11☺️

The Planning and Zoning Commissioners met Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026 at 5:30 p.m. at their conference room at 1520 Market Street to hear the draft regulations.  (We have NO regulations or standards now). 

You can watch the Planning Commission staff and Commissioners talk about the draft data center regulations at the February 11 meeting and hear how people responded on Youtube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDbXwB6prdo

Thank you to everyone who sent in comments, called in comments, or attended the St. Louis Planning Commission’s first hearing on their draft regulations for data centers on February 11.

Planning staff shared their framework for drafting the regulations and reviewed the draft for the appointed Planning Commissioners. The room was overflowing and the hearing ran for more than three hours. 

Following the presentation, commissioners peppered the staff with questions. 

Then the people pushed back with arguments for 

1. Delaying approval of these regulations or any data center regulations until the city’s whole zoning code rewrite is ready in the fall.

2. Rejecting data centers entirely, and

3. No ‘by right zoning’ at all in St. Louis for data centers (requiring each data center proposal to get more public scrutiny).

During the public comment period people raised their concerns ranging from escalating utility bills, to air pollution, to the fact that getting a liquor license for a restaurant requires more than the proposed data center regulations so far. Teachers, engineers, mothers, artists, businessmen, and others testified. Each perspective contributed meaningfully to the record.

In closing remarks, Alderwoman Alisha Sonnier made it clear that those of us organizing to stop dirty, unethical data centers have more work to do. That work was made clear two days later on 2/13 when the board of Alderman voted down a proposal that Sonnier and Michael Browning brought to the floor that would pause data center development in the city until regulations are finalized. This was on the last day to introduce bills this year. (See: https://www.stlpr.org/government-politics-issues/2026-02-13/st-louis-aldermen-deny-pause-data-centers-developers-new-project-applications). 

Illinois seeks Redesignation on Ozone Non-Attainment for Metro East

Hearing Dec. 12.

Details here: https://epa.illinois.gov/public-notices/general-notices.html

Eyes watering? Breathing constricting?

Smell something odd in the air?  Report it here

The above images capture the air quality  the days before the May 16 tornado that devastated St. Louis in May 2025.

St. Louis Air Quality Grade: F

The American Lung Association 2025 State of the Air Report shows a persistent failure to achieve healthy air over the past nearly three decades. Disturbingly, it shows air quality for ozone getting worse since 2021 and trending worse. Ozone pollution poses significant health risks for people with respiratory conditions, the young, the elderly and people spending a lot of time outdoors in the summer when ozone pollution peaks.

Overall, the St. Louis region:

• Ranked 21 worst for high ozone days out of 228 metropolitan areas

• Ranked 88 worst for 24-hour particle pollution out of 225 metropolitan areas

• Ranked 17 worst for annual particle pollution out of 208 metropolitan areas

NEWS: St. Louis Magazine

Formerly the Metro Toxic Air Task Force