Opposition to the massive data centers that power AI is bipartisan and growing across the country. From
to Maine, more states and local communities are passing moratoriums and bans on construction of the noisy, power and water hungry buildings. People are
Californiatoo long at town halls, legislators are receiving death threats, and it’s clear that the
getting arrested for speakingwill shape American politics for years to come. __fight against these computer warehouses__In Ypsialanti Township, Michigan, the University of Michigan has partnered with America’s nuclear weapons scientists to build a massive $1.2 billion data center. Earlier this month, the Ypsilanti utility authority d the delivery of water to new data center projects for six months, a move the University called “
.” __unlawfully discriminatory__On May 10, Colleton County South Carolina passed a six month moratorium on data center construction with an option to extend. The moratorium came ahead of the planned construction of an 800 acre data center in the ACE Basin Estuary that would build on 200 acres of
. Local landowners and the South Carolina Environmental Law Center were already
untouched wetlandsof the project. This is the second location for the particular project. The builders first tried to build the data center in Georgia last year but
suing to halt constructiongrew too strong. __failed after local opposition__Logistics company Prologis eyed Washington Township, Michigan for a 312-acre data center project. Locals organized and voiced their opposition at planning meetings. “I have just learned that the petitioner for that project has just withdrawn their application,” Audrey Brown, a Washington Township Clerk said in a
__post on Facebook yesterday__Microsoft cancelled a planned 244-acre data center in the Village of Caledonia, Wisconsin after 2,000 people in the area signed a petition that opposed rezoning the land. “I would’ve liked to been able to engage directly with Microsoft much earlier in the process. We were not allowed to do that. I think that became an obstacle for a lot of different points and reasons,” Nancy Pierce, a Village trustee, told local news outlet WTMJ.
Georgia is considering a bill that would prevent cities from issuing permits to data centers until 2027. Maryland has a bill referred to committee that would data centers in the state until the legislature figured out how to
. Oklahoma is considering a law that provide power to themuntil 2029 while the state conducts research on water and utility rate impacts. Even Virginia—home to massive concentration of data centers—is considering a proposal to halt new construction until
would data centers. __specific power needs are met__But there are high profile failures in the fight too. Maine was set to pass a statewide moratorium on new data center construction, the first of its kind in the United States. But Governor Janet Mills
__vetoed the bill__For anti-data center activists there will be victories and losses but a coalition is taking shape, one that cuts across party lines and has people engaging with politics on a local level in a way that hasn’t been seen in decades.