The giant computer warehouses that power AI, known as data centres, are becoming a local election issue across the United States. States Newsroom reports that residents in towns from Pennsylvania to Texas are organising against new sites, and candidates in the November midterms are being pressed on where they stand.
The scale of the building boom
About 1,394 data centres already operate in the US, according to figures cited by States Newsroom from the tracker Cleanview. As of October, another 2,841 are planned. If built, those planned sites would add several times the power capacity of the data centres running today, and all of it needs electricity around the clock.
Public opinion has turned cool. A YouGov/Economist poll in late August found 63% of US adults do not want a data centre in their community. A CNN poll in mid-September found nearly two-thirds of registered voters said AI and data centres would be an extremely or very important factor in how they vote.
One town’s fight
In Springdale, Pennsylvania, a developer called Dynamo DC plans a 47-acre data centre on the riverside site of a coal power plant that closed in 2022. Some homes sit about 100 feet away. Residents told States Newsroom they worry about noise from cooling equipment and backup diesel generators, and about strain on the power supply. “We don’t want it,” said lifelong resident Cathy Mager.
The developer says it will use sound shielding to stay within noise limits, recycle water in a closed cooling system, and draw up to 240 megawatts from the grid. It has not said who the tenant will be and aims to open by 2029.
Even “micro” sites draw crowds
Smaller projects are not escaping scrutiny. In Concord, New Hampshire, the planning board put off a decision on a so-called “micro” data centre after a two-hour hearing, NHPR and the Concord Monitor report. The company behind it, Levitate, estimates its servers alone would draw about 13.5 megawatts. Running nonstop, the site could use roughly seven times the electricity of Concord Hospital in a year.
No residents spoke in favour. They raised concerns about cooling fluid leaks, diesel generators and nearby wetlands. “There’s too many unanswered questions at this point,” said city councillor Brent Todd. The board asked for an independent analysis of the effect on the local grid and will pick the hearing up again on 18 November.
Politicians are shifting
States Newsroom notes that politicians who once competed to attract data centres are now adding conditions. Allegheny County in Pennsylvania banned data centres over 25 megawatts on county-owned land in September, and Pennsylvania’s governor signed an order in August requiring energy-use and transparency measures from developers. “It wasn’t that long ago politicians were fighting to bring data centers to their communities,” said Darrell West of the Brookings Institution.
What it means for you
If a data centre is proposed near you, local planning meetings are where the real decisions happen, and they are open to the public. It is reasonable to ask how much power the site will use, who pays for any grid upgrades, how loud it will be, and what backup generators it needs. With hundreds of new sites planned nationwide, these questions about noise, land and electricity costs are likely to come up in many more towns.
Sources
- 'We don't want it': Voter backlash against data centers consumes midterm elections — States Newsroom (News From The States)
- Concord Planning Board defers decision on 'micro' data center proposal — NHPR / Concord Monitor