Law360 (September 8, 2026, 7:30 PM EDT) -- Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey on Tuesday signed an executive order blocking any new artificial intelligence data centers in the state unless they have the backing of their host communities.

The order comes as the number of data centers — and accompanying legal battles over where they can be built and how big they can be — has started to ramp up in Massachusetts.

Under the order from the Democrat, new data center projects will need a so-called community benefits agreement before receiving key state permits to move forward. The order also calls on developers to address environmental and public health impacts, cover the cost of clean energy and infrastructure the facilities require, and shield customers from bearing those costs.

In August, a state judge temporarily blocked a data center's expansion plans in Lowell, finding opponents of the project may be poised to succeed on the basis that they weren't given a full opportunity to be heard.

The Lowell residents who filed suit are represented by lawyers from Conservation Law Foundation along with Yale's Environmental Justice Law and Advocacy Clinic and Fitch Law Partners. One of CLF's associate attorneys, Adam Reynolds, said in a statement accompanying the governor's order that "the best time to protect communities is before the first permit is issued."

"Environmental justice should be built into these decisions from the start, rather than something we turn to after communities are already feeling the impacts," Reynolds said. "In Lowell, residents have raised concerns about diesel generators, air pollution, noise, and continued expansion of the data center. Had these kinds of safeguards existed earlier, the community could have had a very different experience."

High energy costs and a relative lack of land have meant that Massachusetts is not the same kind of data center hub as states like Virginia and Texas. Massachusetts has fewer than 50 data centers, according to the Data Center Map database, with most concentrated in and around Boston.

But attorneys previously told Law360 that the huge drive for data centers will lead to more being built in the Bay State, even if conditions are suboptimal. Some cities and towns are scrambling to update their zoning rules, and disputes are expected to play out in the courts and on Beacon Hill in coming years, experts said.

--Editing by Kelly Duncan.

Update: This article has been updated with additional counsel information for the Lowell case.

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