{"slug": "erin-brockovich-s-crusade-against-data-centers-is-going-crowd-sourced", "title": "Erin Brockovich's crusade against data centers is going crowd-sourced", "summary": "Environmental activist Erin Brockovich launched a crowd-sourced registry at brockovichdatacenter.com on April 27, inviting Americans to report data center projects in their communities, and within 72 hours the website crashed twice due to the volume of reports. Over 8,200 people have reported data centers near them, with 41% concerned about water supply impacts, as Brockovich says residents are often kept in the dark by local officials who sign non-disclosure agreements with developers.", "body_md": "Erin Brockovich is getting Americans to report data centers in their backyards.\n\nThe renowned environmental activist, whose work inspired the Julia Roberts film \"Erin Brockovich,\" launched a registry of [US data centers](https://www.businessinsider.com/us-ai-data-center-power-electricity-use-consumption-2026-6) in April, inviting nearby residents to report how the projects are affecting their communities.\n\nSpeaking in an interview with podcaster Theo Von, released on Sunday, Brockovich talked about how she woke up one day to find 30 emails from people talking about the issues living around data centers.\n\n\"So I created what's called brockovichdatacenter.com, where people, if they were having issues with data centers in their backyard, could self-report,\" she said.\n\n\"This is a place where people who I believe are living, breathing, and experiencing these issues are the best source of information,\" Brockovich added.\n\nAccording to her May Substack post, she launched the registry on April 27. She said on the podcast that within 72 hours of launching the registry, the website crashed twice because of the volume of reports.\n\nBrockovich said the reports shared a common thread: Residents had not been informed about the data center projects by their city councils and often woke up to find construction underway.\n\nThe website now shows that over 8,200 people have reported data centers near them, and 41% are worried about how it could affect their water supply. Other [major concerns](https://www.businessinsider.com/data-center-protests-ai-trade-markets-sei-be-morgan-stanley-2026-7) included electricity supply and how the centers could harm residents' health and nearby wildlife.\n\nThis is not the first time the activist has spoken publicly about her [fight against data centers](https://www.businessinsider.com/erin-brockovich-data-centers-backlash-nda-secrecy-2026-5). In a May episode of \"The Jim Acosta Show,\" she said local government officials often keep their residents in the dark about these mega-construction projects because they have signed non-disclosure agreements with companies behind them.\n\n\"There's a lot of secrecy and NDAs at a very proposal stage,\" Brockovich said.\n\nBusiness Insider's extensive [coverage of data centers](https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-data-center-near-me-location-tracker-2026-6) shows that more than 1,400 centers were built or approved for construction across the country at the end of 2025, with Virginia, West Texas, and Wisconsin emerging as hot spots.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/erin-brockovich-s-crusade-against-data-centers-is-going-crowd-sourced", "canonical_source": "https://www.businessinsider.com/erin-brockovich-crusade-data-centers-crowd-sourced-registry-2026-7", "published_at": "2026-07-21 08:34:58+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-07-21 08:53:51.850910+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-infrastructure"], "entities": ["Erin Brockovich", "Theo Von", "Business Insider"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/erin-brockovich-s-crusade-against-data-centers-is-going-crowd-sourced", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/erin-brockovich-s-crusade-against-data-centers-is-going-crowd-sourced.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/erin-brockovich-s-crusade-against-data-centers-is-going-crowd-sourced.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/erin-brockovich-s-crusade-against-data-centers-is-going-crowd-sourced.jsonld"}}