Chicago Mayor Claims It’s ‘Necessary’ to Force “Environmental Justice” on Data Centers

The mayor's rules over data centers is a capitulation to environmental activists

Mayor Brandon Johnson is now turning his need for leftist destruction toward data centers and is insisting that this increasingly vital industry needs to be hobbled by imposing "environmental justice" on city policies.

Data centers power our modern world. Whenever you send an email, stream a video, hop on a conference call for work, or do research for school, you are by necessity utilizing the computing power and data storage capacity of a data center somewhere.

But aside from their primary benefit to us all, they also offer the City of Chicago jobs and a huge amount of property and business taxes.

Naturally, this is all something to which Johnson seems to have an all too typical aversion. He seems to revel in making sure businesses flee Chicago, taking their tax payments and jobs with them. And it appears that data centers are no exception to this obsession.

To wit, Johnson recently appeared at a forum entitled, "Powering Justice: Data Centers and Building a Just Digital Future," held by the extremist NAACP — an organization that has no clue about technology but is expert at pushing the fantasy of "social justice."

"Looking at this issue through an environmental justice lens is absolutely necessary, because in the name of economic growth it has been black and brown communities that have had to bear the risks of pollution and environmental issues," the mayor said during his remarks to the far-left organization.

What tosh this is. Data centers are not going up in "black and brown communities." Indeed, they are mostly being erected in more upscale or industrial areas as well as rural areas, or areas in the suburbs adjacent to cities. Not inside minority neighborhoods in city centers.

Yet, Johnson is once again looking to lower the boom in service to his extremist, anti-business, left-wing agenda. He recently made a big show of pretending to ban data centers in Chicago with an executive order calling on the City Council to head off even the possibility of building another one.

There are already nearly 40 facilities inside the city limits and about a dozen more are on the drawing board and awaiting city approval, according to Block Club Chicago.

But Johnson wants to put the kibosh on all this beneficial economic activity, as is his wont.

He accused data centers of targeting minority communities that have been already beset by the oppressions of "environmental justice" deficiencies.

"Economic development or even technological advancements should not replace humans. They should help enhance our existence," he blathered at the NAACP event.

Then he bragged about throwing $135 million of a $1.25 billion bond at "green social housing."

One is hard pressed to fathom what jobs the people in this "green housing" will perform to sustain their rent costs with Johnson chasing all Chicago's jobs away.

The fact is, there is no "justice" in "social" or "environmental" justice. Justice is just justice. Any appellation attached to it makes activism, not justice. And Johnson is once again proving that pandering to the left-wing and pushing anti-business activism is his only concern.

Johnson has absolutely no interest in creating jobs or aiding Chicago's business sector.

‍

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Facebook at: Warner Todd Huston | Facebook, X at @WTHuston, or Truth Social at @WarnerToddHuston.