Advocates and Lowell, Massachusetts residents stand together before a hearing on their lawsuit challenging the expansion of the Markley data center. Photo: Adilson González Morales
July 29, 2026 (Boston, MA) – Attorneys presented arguments on Wednesday in Middlesex County Superior Court on behalf of Lowell residents seeking to temporarily halt the expansion of Markley Group’s data center while their lawsuit proceeds.
The residents are seeking to pause activities related to the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection’s (MassDEP) air permit approval and prevent Markley from operating and constructing additional diesel generators and cooling towers while the lawsuit proceeds. The expansion calls for adding eight diesel generators – bringing the total to 27 – alongside 16 cooling towers.
“We didn’t choose this fight – it was forced on us,” said Lowell resident Alex Solange. “The noise shaking my house day and night, the dust and soot covering everything I own, and the trees dying in my yard left me no choice but to stand up. We may not have chosen this fight, but we did choose this neighborhood – and we’re not willing to give it up.”
The residents filed a lawsuit in April arguing that MassDEP failed to fully study the project’s combined impacts, adequately address noise and health risks, consider cleaner alternatives to diesel power, or give residents a fair hearing. It also challenges MassDEP’s private agreement allowing Markley to move forward while residents’ administrative appeal was still pending.
“My backyard pool used to be a place where my family and friends could cool off on hot days,” said Lowell resident Eileen Castle. “Now, I won’t fill it. I’m concerned about emissions from the generators and the mist from the cooling towers that comes into my yard. There are also 2 water towers next to my home. This facility keeps piling burdens on a neighborhood already carrying too much. We shouldn’t have to choose between protecting our community and staying in the homes we’ve lived in for decades.”
Lowell residents have organized as Honest Future for Lowell, a grassroots group supported by Slingshot, which provides training, resources, and organizing support to communities most impacted by environmental pollution.
“The Markley data center’s impacts on this community have gone unaddressed for too long,” said Mireille Bejjani, co-executive director at Slingshot. “This lawsuit is aimed at one aspect of the problem, but unfortunately it won’t fix the whole situation. That’s why Honest Future for Lowell is building power among neighbors and calling on the City of Lowell to step up and protect its residents.”
The residents are represented by Yale Law School’s Environmental Justice Law and Advocacy Clinic, Fitch Law Partners, and Conservation Law Foundation.
“Every day our clients are forced to endure already severe impacts from the data center operations,” Stephanie L. Safdi of Yale Law School’s Environmental Justice Law and Advocacy Clinic, told Judge William Barrett during Wednesday’s hearing. “The problem here is that our clients never got the hearing that the law entitles them to.”
Judge Barrett considered the request for an injunction and a ruling is expected later. The case is Fortes et al. v. Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection et al.
Experts are available for further comment.
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