Data Centers, AI, and the Big, Yellow Taxi

Since our July post on data centers, public resistance has mushroomed. Now, this week, we’ve also noticed an uptick in pieces supporting data centers. As expected, they extol the business growth, job creation and tax revenue that the centers promise to local communities. The resistance is ahead at this point.

While Texas and Virginia seem to be Numbers 1 and 2 in the US, Ohio ranks #6, with over 200 centers in operation or underway. They pale in comparison to the Softbank 10 GgW campus in Piketon, slated to be the biggest in the world.

The backlash grows, with local jurisdictions enacting moratoriums or outright bans every week.  Here’s one example, where the pushback stems from the gas-fired electric generation that’s been billed as a way to keep electricity rates from skyrocketing. But what if it's just more air pollution for this Ohio lake town?

The wider issue of AI that’s driving the data center bubble is also ‘raising concern.’  Ashland Source reports that the Ashland County Health Department has stopped worrying and developed a ‘governance policy’ for staff and volunteers. It’s impressive! A graphic overview, plus the policy itself is included in the article. Read about it here.

In our first post, we said ‘Data Centers Bring Us Together.” And that seems spot on. Democrat, Independent, and Republican. Urban and rural. Well-off and not so. Across regional, racial, ethnic and gender divides. We’d go beyond that and say that the issue invites science, engineering, environment, community planning, aesthetics and ‘sense of community’ to be considered together. A real search for ‘the sweet spot’ where everybody benefits. And it invites us to come together before something irreplaceable is lost.

And folks across the country – around the world, actually – are coming together to treat and find solutions.

If you have an hour to watch, this is about the most comprehensive coverage in layman’s language that we’ve seen.

Everything You’ve Been Wondering about Data Centers, Explained
“As the AI boom fuels a massive data-center buildout, communities across the country are pushing back. Kara Swisher speaks with environmental activist and consumer advocate Erin Brockovich, Utah climate scientist Logan Mitchell, Virginia organizer Elena Schlossberg and Lansing, Mich., Mayor Andy Schor about the industry’s environmental and political impact.” Video 1 hr 12 mins

Here are a few more. Like, you needed a few more to read?
Well, okay … read as you can. The data center debate is a model for a functioning democracy, actually. And there's much to understand as a national issue. The sources we suggest are solid. But if you find more information to add to this array, send it to us!

Careful. There may be a quiz later.

Battle over data centers is reminiscent of battle over electrification
Mac Gordon  |  Mississippi Clarion Ledger  Aug 18

• Local communities across the U.S. are increasingly opposing the construction of new data centers.
• This opposition is compared to historical resistance against rural electrification in the early 20th century.
• Concerns from residents include energy and water usage, noise, pollution, and the use of public incentives.
• Despite local pushback, states like Mississippi and Georgia continue to attract data center developers with tax exemptions and other benefits.

Data center boom meets Rust Belt politics
Need more evidence that the data center boom is scrambling politics? Look to the Rust Belt.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro on Tuesday enacted new rules that effectively halt any new data centers that face opposition from local officials, in Politico, Aug. 19.

Politics Girl: Sarah O’Connor Is UnImpressed!
AI take-down, the downsides, the lack of guardrails, and, most of all, the guys controlling it.

Sure Cigarettes Will Cure Your Cold, and Date Centers Will Rebuild Your Rural Economy!
Matt Hildreth, Rural Organizing  Aug 21