If Republicans and Democrats came together in 2025 — at least at the local level — it was to stop big, energy-hungry data center projects.
For communities troubled by rising electricity bills and pollution from power plants, data centers have become an obvious target. The fight against new data centers escalated this year as grassroots groups, voters and local lawmakers demanded greater accountability from developers. Already, they have managed to block or prevent billions of dollars of potential investment in proposed data centers. And they are not giving up.
“We expect protests to continue to grow,” says Mikel Villa, an analyst at research firm Data Center Watch, which is tracking campaigns against data centers across the US through 2023.
“We expect the protests to continue to grow.”
latest of the group report It found that developers either canceled or delayed 20 projects following protests from locals, representing $98 billion in proposed investment in the second quarter of this year. In fact, from the end of March to June, projects worth $24.2 billion were blocked and $73.7 billion were delayed. The group says that’s an increase from 16 blocked or postponed projects from 2023 to the first quarter of this year.
The number of proposed data center projects has increased, which is a major reason why the opposition is also gaining momentum. Inventory in North America’s four largest data center markets – Northern Virginia, Chicago, Atlanta and Phoenix – increased 43 percent year-over-year in the first quarter of this year. According to commercial real estate company CBREBut plans for new large-scale facilities have also begun battle across the Nation,
Data centers consume a lot of power, especially for the more powerful chips used for new AI models. Electricity demand for data centers is expected to increase 22 percent by the end of the year Compared to last year. A high-density rack of servers in an AI data center can use the power of 80 to 100 homes or more than 100 kilowatts, According to Dan ThompsonA principal research analyst at S&P Global. AI too requires a lot of water To cool servers and generate electricity, the equivalent of the household needs of 18.5 million US homes can be used annually According to an estimate, by 2028.
Google abandoned plans for a new data center After residents in Franklin Township, Indiana in September Concerns were raised over how much water and electricity the new data center would use.It was reportedly expected that the Indianapolis City-County Council would reject the project’s rezoning application, That victory for Indiana residents is not captured in the Data Center Watch report, which is only updated with information through June,
Other data center projects that are moving forward or already operating are still facing resistance. For example, Elon Musk’s xAI, faces a possible lawsuit From the NAACP and the Southern Environmental Law Center on pollution from their data center in Memphis. According to this, the maximum nitrogen dioxide concentration levels in the area around the data center have increased by 79 percent since the start of operations in 2024. Research requested from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville Time magazine,
xAI, which is building Second, big data center in Memphis, did not immediately respond to a request for comment The VergeBut says, “We are moving towards a future where we will harness the full power of our clusters to solve complex problems,” about website,
The NAACP stated, “No community should be forced to sacrifice clean air, clean water or safe homes so that corporations and billionaires can build energy-hungry facilities.” guiding principles with whom it was shared The Verge in September to other grassroots groups that are working to hold data center developers accountable for their impact on neighborhoods.
Meta faces a feedback Unlike its largest data center planned for Richland Parish, Louisiana. local utility Entergy broke ground this month At two of the three gas plants it is building to meet the facility’s electricity demand, which is expected to reach New Orleans triples the amount of electricity it uses in a year“Entergy LA customers are now poised to subsidize Meta’s data center costs,” the Union of Concerned Scientists said in a statement, November blog postThat includes an estimated $3.2 billion for three gas-fired plants and a new $550 million transmission line. Entergy, on the other hand, argues that according to communications manager Brandon Scardigli, “Meta’s electric payments to Entergy will reduce the amount customers pay for flexibility upgrades by approximately 10%.”
“Our agreement with Entergy was designed to ensure that other customers are not paying for our data center energy usage,” Meta spokeswoman Ashley Settle said in an email. The VergeSettle said Metra is contributing $15 million to Entergy’s ratepayer support program and more than $200 million toward local infrastructure improvements,
“Now, we have a swamp man.”
“Now, we have a fake guy — data centers that are these big energy users that are coming in and, in many states, getting darling deals on wholesale electricity prices, while regular consumers don’t have that type of influence,” said Tony Reams, an environmental justice professor at the University of Michigan and former Energy Department official under President Biden. The Verge After the elections.
States, both red and blue, are starting to set some limits on those sweetheart deals. After South Dakota lawmakers rejected a bill that would have offered developers sales tax refunds, Applied Digital halts plans for $16 billion AI campus In the state. Virginia, maryland, And minnesotaMeanwhile, Data Center Watch reports that legislation attempting to create tax incentives for data centers or rein in energy costs for other consumers has been introduced.
At the national level, Over 230 health and environmental groups There has been a call for a ban on data center construction. Organizations led by the nonprofit Food & Water Watch sent a Letter Before Congress with their demands in December. They argue that there are not enough policies in place to prevent data centers from burdening nearby communities with higher bills and more pollution. President Donald Trump issued a “AI action planIn July it aimed to speed up data center growth by rolling back environmental rules.
Villa expects that with the midterm elections next year, we’re likely to see more data center fights in local politics. “It will be very interesting to track how this protest impacts the regulatory framework,” he says.
