As the Markley data center has expanded, generators, cooling towers, and other infrastructure have been installed near neighboring houses, sometimes less than 100 feet from homes. Photo: Stephanie Safdi
April 30, 2026 (Boston, MA) – A coalition of Lowell residents, represented by Conservation Law Foundation (CLF), the Environmental Justice Law and Advocacy Clinic at Yale Law School, and Fitch Law Partners, has filed a lawsuit in Massachusetts Superior Court challenging the expansion of a 352,000-square-foot data center in a residential neighborhood. The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) unlawfully approved the air permit allowing the facility’s owner, Markley Group LLC, to operate dozens of diesel generators and cooling towers.
“For the last decade, this community has shown remarkable persistence in the face of consistent pollution, noise, dust, odors, and traffic right outside their homes,” said Alex St. Pierre, CLF vice president for environmental justice. “Even as the years passed and the facility grew more disruptive, they continued to raise concerns—only to be dismissed and denied a fair hearing. They deserve to be heard and respected, and CLF is proud to work alongside them.”
The air permit allows Markley to expand their data center by operating 27 industrial diesel back-up generators and 16 cooling towers. As the data center has expanded, generators, cooling towers, and other infrastructure have been installed near neighboring houses, sometimes less than 100 feet from homes.
MassDEP unlawfully approved the permit, failed to adequately address resident concerns, and improperly dismissed residents’ appeal without granting them an opportunity to present evidence. The agency also allowed Markley to install and operate the new generators before it had a final permit through a side agreement discovered by residents during their appeal.
“The lawsuit challenges every aspect of Markley and MassDEP’s efforts to ram the data center expansion through the agency approval process,” said Yale Law School student attorney Mehrdad Dariush ’26. “It alleges that MassDEP violated the state’s Administrative Procedure Act by committing a number of legal and factual errors when it approved Markley’s permit, and that the consent order violates the plaintiffs’ rights to a fair hearing and exceeds the agency’s statutory powers.”
Lowell residents have raised issues about the data center for years. In March, the city council imposed a one-year moratorium on new data center construction.
“This is an important step forward in getting the respect our neighborhood has not had for the past 11 years. It didn’t have to come to this, but Markley refused to listen to the neighborhood or respect state laws,” said Jacob Fortes, a plaintiff in the lawsuit, addressing the Markley Group’s arrival in the neighborhood in 2015. Fortes’ home sits at the data center fenceline.
The full lawsuit can be read here.
Experts are available for further comment.
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