The governor's executive order is a step in the right direction, but the best time to protect communities is before the first permit is issued. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
September 8, 2026 (Boston, MA) – Governor Maura Healey issued an executive order establishing new safeguards for data center development in Massachusetts. Under the new order, new data centers will need support from their host communities, including a community benefits agreement, before receiving key state permits. The order also requires developers to address environmental and public health impacts, cover the costs of the clean energy and infrastructure their facilities require, and protect customers from bearing those costs.
“The best time to protect communities is before the first permit is issued,” said Adam Reynolds, Conservation Law Foundation associate attorney. “Environmental justice should be built into these decisions from the start, rather than something we turn to after communities are already feeling the impacts.”
The importance of acting early is already clear in Lowell, where residents have spent years raising concerns about the environmental and public health impacts of a growing data center in their neighborhood.
“In Lowell, residents have raised concerns about diesel generators, air pollution, noise, and continued expansion of the data center,” Reynolds said. “Had these kinds of safeguard existed earlier, the community could have had a very different experience.”
The executive order is a step in the right direction. But environmental justice also requires addressing harms communities are already experiencing. Massachusetts must pair stronger protections for future projects with action to correct the impacts of past decisions.
CLF experts are available for further comment.
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