THE LAUNCH DOCK

Public Health in the Age of Data Centers

Infrastructure, Power, and the Systems That Shape Our Lives

Is Your Health Really Just “Your Responsibility”?

We are taught that health is personal.

What we eat.
What we drink.
How much we move.
How well we sleep.

And yes — those things matter.

But public health has never been only about individual choices.

It is about the conditions people are forced to live inside.

Clean water.
Breathable air.
Safe infrastructure.
Emergency response capacity.
Environmental stability.
Long-term exposure.

Public health, by definition, exists to prevent disease, prolong life, and promote well-being at the population level (World Health Organization [WHO], 2023).

Which raises an uncomfortable question:

What happens when leaders prioritize industrial speed over human systems?

And more directly:

What happens when economic development is approved without fully accounting for its health consequences?

Compliance Is Not Protection

There is a difference between protecting public health and checking a box.

Most large industrial projects technically “comply” with regulations.

That sounds reassuring.

It often isn’t.

Because health protections are applied in fragments — at different stages, by different agencies, under different assumptions about what is being built.

And timing matters.

A lot.

Stage One: Site Certification & Industrial Zoning

When land is prepared or certified as an industrial site, reviews usually focus on:

• land use classification

• basic environmental constraints

• access to utilities

• zoning compatibility

The project is described broadly:

Not:

So the health analysis is minimal.

Because the description is minimal.

Stage Two: Project Approval

Later, when the actual data center proposal appears, agencies review it under narrow categories:

• air-quality permits

• water-use thresholds

• building codes

• fire codes

• noise ordinances

Each agency evaluates only its slice of the system.

No one is required to ask:

Instead, they ask:

• Does this generator meet emissions limits?

• Does this building meet code?

• Does water use stay under the legal cap?

• Does noise stay under ordinance levels at the property line?

Each answer can be “yes.”

And the total harm can still be real.

That is how compliance replaces protection.

Why This Structure Fails Public Health

Health impacts are cumulative:

• long-term air pollution exposure

• groundwater depletion

• chronic noise stress

• emergency-response strain

• chemical exposure

• heat-island effects

Regulations are siloed.

A project can be:

• legally permitted

• procedurally approved

• technically compliant

and still increase:

• asthma rates

• cardiovascular disease

• water insecurity

• disaster risk

• long-term community health costs

No single agency owns those outcomes.

So no single agency is forced to prevent them.

The Illusion of Safeguards

Communities are told:

What that usually means:

Most zoning and health codes were written before:

• hyperscale computing

• continuous industrial cooling

• grid-scale battery storage

• AI-driven energy demand

• climate-level water stress

The rules did not anticipate the scale.

The approvals pretend they did.

Why Early Process Determines Everything

Once land is:

• certified

• zoned industrial

• infrastructure-connected

• financially committed

public health becomes a “mitigation issue.”

Not a deciding factor.

Instead of:

The question becomes:

That shift happens quietly.

And permanently.

If health review happens only after land, utilities, and tax incentives are locked in, then public health is not being protected.

It is being accommodated.

That is not prevention.

It is paperwork.

Facts & Statistics: What the Evidence Already Shows

Air Pollution

• Diesel backup generators at data centers are major sources of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and fine particulate matter (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency [EPA], 2022).

• Long-term exposure to NO₂ increases asthma incidence and cardiovascular disease risk (WHO, 2021).

Water Consumption

• Hyperscale data centers commonly consume 1–5 million gallons of water per day for cooling (U.S. Department of Energy [DOE], 2023).

• Groundwater over-extraction increases contamination risk and drought vulnerability (U.S. Geological Survey [USGS], 2022).

Noise & Chronic Stress

• Chronic industrial noise exposure is associated with elevated blood pressure, sleep disorders, and increased risk of heart disease (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2020).

Emergency Response

• Lithium-ion battery fires can burn for days, release toxic gases, and require specialized hazmat suppression techniques (National Fire Protection Association [NFPA], 2022).

• Rural fire districts average significantly longer response times and lower staffing levels than urban departments (U.S. Fire Administration [USFA], 2021).

Regulatory Gaps

• Many private industrial projects avoid comprehensive federal environmental review under NEPA by proceeding through fragmented local permitting processes (U.S. Government Accountability Office [GAO], 2014).

What This Means for Communities

Public health is not a line item.

It is the system that absorbs what economic development leaves behind.

When leaders treat industrial approval as an economic decision instead of a health decision, the costs don’t disappear.

They relocate:

To hospitals.
To groundwater.
To emergency responders.
To families.
To future tax bills.
To children growing up next to infrastructure never designed for neighborhoods.

A Word About AI, Technology, and Reality

Using AI to organize research does not mean consenting to industrialization.

You can support technology and still defend land, water, safety, and local control.

Those are not contradictions.

They are boundaries.

Technology should serve communities.

Not overwrite them.

Call to Action

If your community is facing a data center or large industrial project:

Ask:

• When was the site certified?

• Who applied?

• What water-use modeling exists?

• Who funds emergency infrastructure?

• What happens if the project stalls?

• Which nonprofits or authorities hold land?

• Where are the full contracts?

• What long-term health studies were conducted?

Demand:

• Health impact assessments before zoning changes

• Infrastructure funding before approvals

• Emergency planning before construction

• Transparency before incentives

Read filings.
Track timelines.
Follow the money.
Vote intentionally.

And reject the lie:

You’re not.

Closing

Public health is not optional.

It is not a technicality.

It is the foundation every economy stands on.

And systems that quietly trade it away are not modern.

They are reckless.

In solidarity,
Lyndsay LaBrier
Merchant Ship Collective
The Launch Dock

References

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2020). Environmental noise and health. https://www.cdc.gov

Environmental Protection Agency. (2022). Diesel engines and emissions. https://www.epa.gov

National Fire Protection Association. (2022). Lithium-ion battery safety and fire risks. https://www.nfpa.org

U.S. Department of Energy. (2023). Data center energy and water use report. https://www.energy.gov

U.S. Fire Administration. (2021). Rural fire department staffing and response times. https://www.usfa.fema.gov

U.S. Geological Survey. (2022). Groundwater depletion and contamination risk. https://www.usgs.gov

U.S. Government Accountability Office. (2014). National Environmental Policy Act: Little oversight of environmental review exemptions. https://www.gao.gov

World Health Organization. (2021). Air quality guidelines: Global update 2021. https://www.who.int

World Health Organization. (2023). Public health definition and scope. https://www.who.int