A group of Lowell residents went to court Wednesday to try and stop the expansion of a 352,000 square-foot data center in their backyards. The problem here is that our clients never got the hearing that the law entitles them to,” said Stephanie Safdi, who represents Lowell residents, in court today. The Lowell residents' day in court comes as communities around the country push back against efforts to build and expand the resource-thirsty, and often polluting, facilities. Diesel generators next to the Markley data center in Lowell, Mass. Heiple did that a few months later, but in the interim, Lowell residents noticed construction work and more diesel generators at the data center site.