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

Have Your Say on Data Centers in the City! Wed. Feb 11

The Planning and Zoning Commissioners are meeting 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). 

Can you attend Wednesday, Feb. 11 at 5:30 pm either in person or on Zoom or by phone? Please  RSVP here

The Planning Commissioners need to hear from us. Join us in telling the Commissioners:

1. We need strong environmental regulations to protect air quality, water supplies and water quality, neighborhood quality of life, and to minimize noise pollution.

2. We do not want "by right" data center zoning anywhere so that every project with these big impacts can receive scrutiny.

3. We need measures to ensure that their demand for electricity doesn't threaten our ability to have clean, renewable electricity that we can afford.

4. Because the industry has to replace their equipment every three years, we need guarantees that the industry will be responsible for recycling its e-waste so we don't end up with a hazardous waste mess.

We also need increased air pollutant monitoring around these sites.

Our allies are also arguing:

1. No tax breaks.

2. No NDAs

3. Full public disclosure

4. Public benefits agreements to make sure our city wins from investment

Data centers should not receive tax breaks; data centers should build out renewable, clean energy sources to satisfy their demand, and that secret NDAs (non disclosure agreements) should be banned and public disclosure of the data center's purpose should be required.

These data centers are the larger or even hyper scale centers like the one that runs Elon Musk's XAI GROK in Memphis (this scandal) or Google's AI in Virginia, (like this one ) Texas and other sites. These data centers have been proven to cause electric rates to skyrocket (see this) because they require as much electricity as a city, and in many places, have created water shortages because they need millions of gallons for keeping those hot computers running, and they generate air pollution from the hundreds of backup gas or diesel generators they use. Unless they build to a high standard, their fans and pumps often generate a constant low frequency hum 24 hours a day, 365 days a year that can disrupt sleep especially in sensitive populations like children and impair cognitive function of folks living too close. 

Will you attend Wednesday, Feb. 11 at 5:30 pm either in person or on Zoom or by phone? Please  RSVP here

Location: 1520 Market Street, 2nd Floor Board Room

Zoom details at the City Planning & Zoning Commission site here

or by Phone:

Phone: (253) 215-8782

    Meeting ID: 816 9925 8307

    Password: 149154

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