Americans are pushing back against AI data center developments.
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To build or not to build?That is the question local politicians are asking themselves as Big Tech's push to develop enormous AI data centers runs up against a growing number of Americans revolting against them.That's especially true in Republican-controlled states, where much of the data center boom is taking hold. Republican governors and state lawmakers, as the midterms fast approach, are beginning to acknowledge voters who are concerned about the proliferation of large data centers, even if that means breaking with President Donald Trump.For some Republicans, that acknowledgment came too little too late.Utah Senate President J. Stuart Adams lost the state's Republican primary in June after he approved a data center development backed by "Shark Tank" investor Kevin O'Leary.Lee Perry, a former commissioner in Box Elder County, where O'Leary's development hopes to land, said supporting that project cost him his election race, too."Do I think that the data center vote cost me the election? Yes, I do," Perry told The Salt Lake Tribune in June.
All across the country, Americans are rallying against AI data centers. They have swarmed local planning meetings, launched petitions, held protests, and taken legal action to bar new developments. Straining power grids, water use, noise, and rising utility costs are just a few of their concerns.Although surveys conducted this year by Gallup and The Pew Research Center show that Democrats account for the majority of the opposition, Republicans aren't far behind. The data center issue is increasingly a bipartisan one."Seven in 10 Americans oppose constructing data centers for artificial intelligence in their local area, including nearly half, 48%, who are strongly opposed," the Gallup survey said.
