Many Americans don't like data centers.
At the very least, a majority of U.S. citizens don't want one of the dozens of proliferating AI infrastructure projects to end up in their backyard, as complaints of environmental destruction, noise pollution, and water constraints reach a fever pitch.
But President Donald Trump doesn't really care. In a recent Truth Social post, the country's leader called data centers a "golden goose" that Americans would be remiss to push back on.
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"The only reason that communities throughout the U.S.A. should not want Data Centers is if they want to end up being backwards and poor," the President wrote. "If they want to be successful and rich, with far lower taxes and jobs all over the place, let Data Reign."
Trump doubles down on data centers #
The inflammatory post echoed similar sentiments shared earlier this month, as well as arguments he made in posts from July. In fact, Trump has steadfastly backed large-scale data center projects, despite his own party backing away from data center commitments on the campaign trail.
"If I were the mayor of a town or the governor of a state, and I had a chance to get a big plant in an AI plant or a data center, I would absolutely want it because the jobs are enormous, and the money paid, the taxes paid are just enormous," said Trump at a recent convening of cryptocurrency leaders at the White House.
An anonymous insider told the Washington Post that Trump's hardline on leaving AI and data centers unfettered by federal regulation is a "personal" subject for him. "You just can’t change his mind about it," the source told the publication.
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Behind the scenes, the Trump administration has been edging open the floodgates to Big Tech-backed data centers as part of his mission to establish a nationwide AI infrastructure to rival China.
In fact, Trump has cited the foreign power regularly in arguments for data center investment. "China could not be happier with this anti Data Center movement. Actually, they can’t believe it is happening!" said Trump in the Aug. 31 post.
A recent post by the Global Government Affairs team at Elon Musked-owned X alleged that the platform had uncovered a bot farm network made up of 200,000 accounts posting anti-data center sentiment. The claims appeared to be based on a recent OpenAI investigation that found several bot accounts using OpenAI's tools to produce such content, but the report also indicated these accounts were sharing genuine news reports about energy concerns.
How the federal government is enabling data centers #
Trump's Big Tech allies have benefited from his pro-America approach to tech advancement. Last year, Trump signed an executive order fast-tracking federal permitting for AI data centers. The administration has also lobbied for expedited electricity grid connections and pushed for government approvals of new chemicals used for data center manufacturing and facilities.
In an attempt to quell the ensuing community-driven uproar against these projects, the federal government announced a Ratepayer Protection Pledge with several of AI's biggest players already signed on, committing to offset energy grid costs for local communities.
Still, Big Tech's centers have faced mounting legal pressure, including several lawsuits that claim companies like SpacexAI (formerly xAI) and Microsoft violated pollution-permitting laws in the construction of their facilities. Just last week, non-profit newsroom Floodlight accused a Microsoft-backed data center in New Jersey of violating federal law by operating unpermitted gas-powered generators. The center, known as DataOne, is the first in the state to build its own power plant, the Guardian reported. Many centers are shifting to self-sustained power as states crack down on energy grid connections.
In turn, the federal government has interceded in efforts to enforce environmental law, including levying threats that such attempts pose a "national security threat" for potentially impacting the Department of War's AI capabilities.
Meanwhile, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been planning to scrap a federal rule requiring public notice and time for comment when applying for such air permits. The move would effectively shift responsibility for public notice to local agencies and could legitimize the legal violations that communities are invoking to fight back, experts say.
Chase joined Mashable's Social Good team in 2020, covering online stories about digital activism, climate justice, accessibility, and media representation. Her work also captures how these conversations manifest in politics, popular culture, and fandom. Sometimes she's very funny.