On Saturday, America’s opposition to data centers stopped spewing zoning board arguments and started acting like a movement.
More than 140 rallies were held in 42 states It opened under a single banner in what organizers billed as the first national day of action against the industry pouring concrete for artificial intelligence.
The rallies were coordinated by HumansFirst, a group co-founded by former Tea Party leader Amy Kremer, and came after months of grassroots campaigning. stopped dozens of projects.
Data Center Watch, which tracks the battles, estimates tens of billions of dollars in construction blocked or delayed by societal pressure.
Texas hosts the most events with 18, followed by Georgia with 11 and California with eight. Here’s the thing: these are red states and blue states, and the coalition running through them, part conservative tax revolt and part environmental campaign, refuses to sort along conventional lines.
Money math has also shrunk. Virginia’s sales tax exemption for data centers has grown to about $1.9 billion, and one advocate estimates the state is now giving up about $13 million in incentives for each data center job, numbers that read differently after the energy bill arrived.
That bill is the engine of outrage. The annual cost of guaranteed electricity supply in the PJM grid region rose from about $2.2 billion to $14.7 billion in the single-capacity auction, the market’s own monitor, largely driven by data center demand.
Households are mastering the transition. Estimated monthly increases are about $21 in Washington, $18 in Western Maryland and $16 in Ohio. rising bills in old factory towns does more politics than any pitch about work or delay.
Water is another pressure point. Texas data centers consumed about 49 billion gallons last year and could reach 399 billion by 2030, according to one university forecast, while a proposed facility in Imperial County, Calif., would draw 260 million gallons a year from the Colorado River.
“Using so much fresh water for artificial intelligence is dystopia” California organizer Ivan DelSol said. Residents are nearby in Richland Parish, Louisiana Meta’s $1.3 billion complex they reported having rust-colored tap water and switched to bottled water.
The industry’s habit of coming in quietly didn’t help his situation. Non-disclosure agreements cover about 80% of Virginia sites that attract data center proposals, a practice criticized by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, and privacy has become his own complaint.
Local governments began to say no outright. Monterey Park, California banned the facilities entirely, Fayetteville, Georgia banned them from every zone, and this month New York became the first state. freeze new construction statewide.
“We didn’t know we were going to sacrifice Virginia to become the world’s data center landfill.” said Elena Schlossberg of the Prince William County Defense Coalition, which has fought against union expansion for years.
Maine’s legislature went even further, approving a moratorium on most new construction, and the split among elected officials who hold public office continues to run roughly 55% Republican to 45% Democrat, according to Data Center Watch estimates.
Public opinion changed with the wars. A June Reuters/Ipsos poll found that only a third of Americans approve of the current pace of development, and only 14% welcome a data center in their community.
Instead of retreating, hyperscalers and their trading body are reframing. “The data center industry continues to work with policymakers, stakeholders and residents to ensure that data centers enhance, not strain, the areas in which they operate.” said Josh Levy, president of the Data Center Coalition.
Washington, in turn, offered voluntary interest payer lien rather than rules, that is, to say that it offers something to point to.
Kremer’s account of how his members got here was clear: “They wake up one day and they know they’re going to have this horrible situation in their community, and they don’t want that.”
