Terri Sewell

U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Birmingham, said Tuesday that she wants to pause the construction of large data centers around the country.

Members of Congress are trying to navigate a growing backlash to AI and data centers. Sewell has cosponsored a bill with fellow Democrats that would put a temporary moratorium on large projects and create basic rules for construction, water, energy and land use.

“I am not anti-AI, and I am certainly not anti-innovation,” Sewell said in a statement Tuesday.

“The rate at which these massive data centers are being constructed is simply outpacing our ability to establish meaningful protections for the communities that will host them.”

The bill, the AI Data Center Moratorium Act, was introduced by fellow Democrats Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortes and Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Sewell said she wants to make sure projects in her district and across the country meet basic standards.

Lowndes County, which previously has been part of Sewell’s congressional district, is under consideration for a massive, $1.5 billion data center.

Other large projects are underway in Birmingham, Huntsville and Montgomery.

At the state level, Tommy Tuberville, who is running for governor, has said he supports data center development and thinks the projects would be good for the state.

Doug Jones, who is running against Tuberville, has struck a more cautious note, saying more oversight of projects is needed.

In the last legislative session, Alabama lawmakers adjusted tax incentives for large data center projects, and said they must pay to update electrical infrastructure.

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump and influential Republicans around the country are signing a voluntary pledge to ask data center developers to pay for their own fair share of water and energy.

There are other data center efforts floating around Congress, too. The Local Control Protection Act,“ for example, would require developers to file a legally binding “community benefit agreement” or lose out on federal tax incentives.