AI data centers face growing backlash in US

Opposition to data centers in the United States has surged in recent months, evolving from neighborhood resistance to a policy fight over land use, electricity costs and water access.

The backlash is spreading from city halls to state legislatures as communities confront the physical footprint of the AI boom across the country. Data centers, which house the computing systems needed to train and run AI models, are essential to expanding the technology.

They also require enormous amounts of resources, like electricity, land and water. The surging demands are increasingly colliding with local concerns about utility bills, the environment, farmland, quality of life and community control.

The latest example is Monterey Park, California, where residents overwhelmingly voted earlier this month to permanently prohibit large-scale data centers citywide. It became the first US city to enact such a ban.

Also this month, New York state legislators passed a one-year moratorium on new hyperscale data centers, giving the state time to study how such facilities can affect infrastructure, the environment and the economy.

Those moves reflect a national trend. Local governments across the country have approved moratoriums or restrictions aimed at slowing or blocking new data center construction. In April, Port Washington, Wisconsin, voted overwhelmingly to restrict future data centers in what was reported as a first-of-its-kind referendum in the country. Other communities in Connecticut, Missouri and Maine have also enacted their own moratoriums or bans.

As of June, 14 states have considered or are considering moratoriums on data centers, according to a blog post by the Rockefeller Institute of Government.

The resistance comes amid a large and rapidly expanding US data center industry. There are currently 4,378 data centers listed across the country, according to Data Center Map, an industry tracker. Virginia has the largest concentration, with 631 listed data centers, followed by Texas with 464 and California with 287.

The number of data centers has expanded quickly in recent years as AI developers race to build computing infrastructure. Supporters argue that the projects can benefit communities by creating jobs, increasing property tax revenue and supporting future business opportunities. They also say the infrastructure is necessary if the US wants to remain a global AI leader.

Federal authorities increasingly treat data centers as strategic infrastructure tied to AI competitiveness. But local opposition is emerging as a practical constraint on the country's AI expansion.

The concerns vary by community, but common complaints include noise, effects on home values, pressure on local utilities, water use and the loss of land that residents believe should remain available for housing, farming or other community priorities. The frustration has been intensified by fears that the costs of AI infrastructure will be passed on to households through higher utility bills.

That issue has already become prominent in Arizona. The state's largest utility, Arizona Public Service, has proposed a 45 percent rate increase on electricity for "extra-large energy users", a category made up primarily of data centers, as well as a roughly 14.5 percent increase for residential customers. Arizona lawmakers have moved to make data center developers pay more in state taxes by suspending a sales tax exemption for three years.

Strong opposition

A March Gallup survey found that 70 percent of the US opposes building an AI data center in their area, including 48 percent who are strongly opposed. Half of respondents said they were concerned about the impact on resources, while 22 percent cited concerns about quality of life.

Gallup said the intensity of the opposition means proposed data centers are likely to spur grassroots activism by local residents as well as legal challenges. The findings also suggest that AI infrastructure could become an important campaign issue in local and state elections this year.

The opposition also cuts across political lines. Ben Green, an assistant professor at the University of Michigan School of Information and a faculty associate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society, told The Harvard Gazette in a recent interview that data centers are becoming an important issue in local, state and potentially federal elections because they matter to voters across the spectrum.

"Liberals and people on the left are concerned for environmental reasons and distrust in AI companies, but many conservatives are upset about data centers too," Green said.

Researchers at Brookings have made a similar point, saying local opposition is likely to soon become the leading constraint on data centers.

Those concerns are now translating into real delays for the industry. According to a study by Data Center Watch, in the first three months of this year, more than 75 data center projects nationwide worth roughly $130 billion have been blocked or delayed, the highest number on record since the group began tracking the issue in 2023.

liazhu@chinadailyusa.com