Letters: A data center moratorium would benefit the environment

A letter writer argues that California should impose a moratorium on new data centers, citing their consumption of scarce resources and contribution to global warming. The writer points to New York state as a model for such a pause.

Getting your Trinity Audio //trinityaudio.ai player ready... Submit your letter to the editor via this form. Read more Letters to the Editor. Data center pause would help environment Re: “ Pittsburg hosting data center workshop https://www.mercurynews.com/2026/07/09/pittsburg-hosting-virtual-workshop-following-concerns-about-data-centers/ ” Page B1, July 12 . California should join New York state and impose a moratorium on new data centers. Data centers are gobbling up scarce resources, including land, water, energy, capital, labor and construction materials. They’re increasing the risk of supercharging global warming. David Lerman Berkeley Berkeley Hopkins Street plan is bad for residents The city of Berkeley wants to remove all parking on a stretch of Hopkins Street https://berkeleyca.gov/sites/default/files/2022-04/2022-05-10%20Item%2033%20Hopkins%20Corridor%20Project.pdf , a major residential street with small shops. Does the city truly believe Monterey Market’s parking lot provides adequate parking and won’t spill over into approximately 10 different side streets, that these tiny side streets will be able to handle the ingress and egress of hundreds of cars seeking parking daily for shopping at this highly trafficked market hub? How can the city not sufficiently take into account what people who live here say about already overwhelming conditions? Or is it really true that the bicycle coalitions, developers and UC own this city? Sadly, I am beginning to believe the council is trying to destroy our city — between upzoning for apartments and stripping out parking. Please, have a care for accessibility, the quality of life here, the human scale, the meeting ground for civic life. Kathryn Jordan Berkeley Benefits of coal terminal far outweigh drawbacks Assemblywoman Mia Bonta has introduced AB 40 https://legiscan.com/CA/text/AB40/id/3448486 essentially to sabotage the coal export terminal at the Port of Oakland. As expected, the Malthusian troops are being mobilized. It’s time to step back. Oakland used to be an industrial city with safe, vibrant, working-class neighborhoods. Irrational hatred of machinery, smokestacks and sweat, plus a perverted banking system that shunned long-term investment, sent us spiraling into hell. Finally, this is turning around nationally. Factories are being built, and trade schools are filling up. Why not here? Coal exports could be part of the solution. Instead of panicking about “coal dust,” we could look at the technologies https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/energy-and-the-environment/clean-coal-technologies that can minimize the problem and even make Oakland the showcase to the world of clean coal handling. The health benefits of a thriving West Oakland would be immeasurable. Hunter Cobb Alameda Irreverence is key to Democrats’ midterms Re: “ Sad groveling cannot rebuild a fractured party https://www.mercurynews.com/2026/07/09/cottle-this-pathetic-groveling-is-no-way-to-rebuild-a-party/ ” Page A6, July 9 . Let’s start with Mark Twain https://quotefancy.com/quote/861616/Mark-Twain-Irreverence-is-the-champion-of-liberty-and-its-only-sure-defense : “Irreverence is the champion of liberty and its only sure defense.” Does anyone in the leadership of the Democratic Party remember that Kamala Harris had the lead in the polls when she ridiculed Donald Trump? She made fun of him. She was appealing to the electorate. She was following in the great American tradition of giving someone a hard time. This is the ability to call out and make fun of someone’s foibles and foolishness with humor. To have someone face a truth about themselves, and laugh with them, asks, “Are you a friend?” Trump can’t stand the truth. He can’t laugh at himself. When Kamala instead started pandering to Republicans and Independents, she lost. In these midterms, the Democrats need to ridicule Trump’s foolishness, then make the Republicans defend him. It would look like Democrats might have a spine and show that Republicans don’t. Mike Tracy Oakland