DataCenterKnowledge
datacenterknowledge.com › home › data center construction
Why Communities Are Protesting Data Centers – And How the Industry Can Respond
May 15, 2025 - The most prominent reason for protesting data centers, it seems, is what some have called data center NIMBYism, with NIMBY being an acronym for ‘not in my backyard.’ Many have expressed concerns that the construction or expansion of data ...
NPR
npr.org › 2025 › 07 › 17 › nx-s1-5469933 › virginia-data-centers-residents-saying-no
Why more residents are saying 'No' to AI data centers in their backyard
July 17, 2025 - A representative from the state's Sierra Club chapter answered questions about data centers elsewhere as residents worried over water usage, pollution and, of course, noise. ... The developer behind the data project, Doug Fuller, also showed up.
Videos
Data Center Watch
datacenterwatch.org › report
$64 billion of data center projects have been blocked or delayed amid local opposition — Data Center Watch
This may occur due to extended regulatory reviews, temporary permit denials, legal challenges, or significant opposition from local communities that forces developers to modify or postpone their plans.
MultiState
multistate.us › insider › data centers confront local opposition across america
Data Centers Confront Local Opposition Across America | MultiState
October 2, 2025 - They oppose data centers more than they do wind farms with their towering turbines and mechanical hums; more than they do battery storage facilities, which can erupt into super-hot fires; or even nuclear power plants, long the go-to reference ...
Sierra Club
sierraclub.org › sierra › fight-over-data-centers
The Fight Over Data Centers | Sierra Club
A new report from Data Center Watch finds that $64 billion in data center projects “have been blocked or delayed amid local opposition.” Even if few people knew what data centers were only five years ago, they are now roughly as welcome in many areas around the country as a new coal-burning plant. “Opposition to data center development cuts across political lines,” the report notes. “Republican officials often raise concerns about tax incentives and energy grid strain, while Democrats tend to focus on environmental impacts and resource consumption. This cross-party resistance defies expectations and marks a rare area of bipartisan alignment in infrastructure politics.”
AP News
apnews.com › article › data-centers-artificial-intelligence-technology-amazon-google-56b84cbb94942039754282afb076a87b
As data centers proliferate, conflict with local communities follows | AP News
December 11, 2024 - But as data centers begin to move ... the world’s most powerful corporations over concerns about the economic, social and environmental health of their communities....
Tech Policy Press
techpolicy.press › across-the-us-activists-are-organizing-to-oppose-data-centers
Across the US, Activists Are Organizing to Oppose Data Centers | TechPolicy.Press
September 16, 2025 - But it's also what's interesting about data centers is it brings people from very different motivations to the table where you can build really interesting big tent like multiracial coalitions. And in a way, I've seen it, I think seeing how people engaged in the fight in Tucson and in Bessemer, the way that people are engaging in their local democracies, which feels really important in this moment when just democracy in general is progressing towards authoritarianism, that these local fights around data centers can be a way to also push back against that regression.
Washington Post
washingtonpost.com › technology
These small towns are resisting the spread of energy-hungry data centers - The Washington Post
September 4, 2025 - As the tech industry pushes to build more giant facilities to power AI and the digital world, some communities are trying to block the projects — and winning.
The Hill
thehill.com › policy › technology › 5605667-data-center-criticism-study
Bipartisan local backlash to data centers halts $64B in development: Study
1 month ago - Data centers can raise energy prices in surrounding residential areas — a concern the study’s authors found often mobilized locals to speak up about the construction. Residents and politicians also cited potential noise pollution and the ...
Gradient
gradientcorp.com › home › environmental and community impacts of large data centers
Environmental and Community Impacts of Large Data Centers - Gradient
September 16, 2024 - Communities near proposed or current data centers often object to their construction or operation due to concerns about noise, greenhouse gas emissions, strain on local utilities, utility costs, loss of cultural areas, and air quality issues ...
Disconnect
disconnect.blog › how-to-stop-a-data-center
How to stop a data center - by Paris Marx - Disconnect
September 2, 2025 - In the case of Europe, for example, they’re using more energy-intensive systems in order to use air flows that can cool off data centers. So if you look at the resistance emerging in Latin America, in this case Chile or Uruguay, compared to Germany or Ireland, I think that in Europe, energy consumption is the biggest issue right now.
Axios
axios.com › 2024 › 10 › 13 › data-centers-us-pushback
Data centers see pushback across the country
October 13, 2024 - The warehouse-like buildings are key to Americans' digital lives — but have been criticized as eyesores that drive up housing costs.
Cardinal News
cardinalnews.org › home › archive › redbird › data centers are changing the landscape. here’s how they may affect rural virginia.
Data centers are changing the landscape. Here's how they may affect rural Virginia. - Cardinal News
April 11, 2025 - Interrupting the rolling rural landscape with large industrial buildings is one of the most repeated environmental concerns from residents in communities where data centers exist or are planned.
Data Center Frontier
datacenterfrontier.com › site-selection › article › 55307719 › when-communities-push-back-navigating-data-center-opposition
When Communities Push Back: Navigating Data Center Opposition | Data Center Frontier
Community opposition to data centers ... engagement. Common concerns include resource consumption, environmental impacts, noise, aesthetic disruption, and limited local economic benefits, fueling organized resistance ...
Reddit
reddit.com › r/wisconsin › wi check this out, we can say no to data centers here!
r/wisconsin on Reddit: WI check this out, we can say NO to data centers here!
July 17, 2025 -
Virginia is for … data centers? Residents are increasingly saying no https://www.npr.org/2025/07/17/nx-s1-5469933/virginia-data-centers-residents-saying-no
Top answer 1 of 5
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I’ll say yes to a data center when I see my electricity bill go down from one, when localities/the state charges them ‘well’ for all the overhead and unforseeable effects they cause, and they are more honest about local effects and long term gains. I’m not for letting them ‘rape and pillage’ and then asking for leniency with future rules. And ‘well’ is used because I don’t know all the nuances to a data center.
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59
I've got no problem with data centers. It's crypto mining and using a city block's days worth of electricity to write a 4th grade essay that I've got a problem with.
Reddit
reddit.com › r/nova › can someone eli5 me the issue with data centers?
r/nova on Reddit: Can someone ELI5 me the issue with data centers?
September 10, 2022 -
What are the pros and cons of data centers being built in NOVA? I saw some protests today but I don't understand the objection to this specific type of industry.
Top answer 1 of 16
44
Probably as they want the land to be developed into housing. The state gives datacenters big tax breaks or exemptions. Datacenters bring tons of jobs while being built, but once up and running only takes a small group of people at each one.
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So this is a big issue where I live in the Gainesville/Bristow area. There are a lot of delusional people who think a large plot of prime real estate should just stay empty- forever. Like, these malcontents just don't want ANYTHING built. In their view, this area became perfect the moment THEY moved in, and anything further is a blight. Some of the loudest voices agaisnt DC building are the dinosaurs who live in the Heritage Hunt +55 community in Gainesville. They swear up and down that these DCs will keep them up at night with noise, or ruin the character of the area. Thats right.......people in a fucking soulless subdivision think their neighborhood has character LOL. There is a very large parcel near Jiffy Lube Live where a developer wanted to build a large subdivision. The builder indicated that they were going to proffer a buttload of the land for a school, sports fields, and greenspace (in addition to a fuckload of homes). I was OK with this, given the proposed proffer. But a lot of people weren't. It was heavily opposed and the deal was killed. So what is going to be built there now? Data centers. And people are pissed off about that too. I honestly don't see too many pros or cons to DCs. They don't seem to make a huge impact either way. Once they are built, they are basically forgettable. I do wonder though. Will there be a time in the foreseeable future where technology somehow renders these things obsolete? And what happens to them then? Will they just turn into dilapidated eyesores? it would suck if say 10-15 years from now these are abandoned and left to rot. But I have no idea if that is a valid concern.
CNBC
cnbc.com › 2025 › 11 › 25 › microsoft-ai-data-center-rejection-vs-support.html
Why rural Wisconsin is blocking the AI data center boom: 'Horses are skittish'
3 weeks ago - In September, when Microsoft, the world's third most-valuable company, sought to rezone 244 acres of agricultural land for a data center, 40 of the 49 people who spoke before the village's planning commission opposed the plan.
Reddit
reddit.com › r/artificial › is there a practical or political reason why data centers aren’t located in more or less frozen regions to mitigate cooling costs? it seems like a no-brainer considering those centers can connect to anything anywhere via satellite, but maybe there’s something i’m missing?
r/artificial on Reddit: Is there a practical or political reason why data centers aren’t located in more or less frozen regions to mitigate cooling costs? It seems like a no-brainer considering those centers can connect to anything anywhere via satellite, but maybe there’s something I’m missing?
September 4, 2025 -
I’m just simply wondering why we don’t as a society or culture or collective body intended for net benefit for all don’t simply built data centers in places where half the budget isn’t going towards cooling acre upon acre of Texas or Arizona warehouses and sapping local power grids in the process. Anyone have any ideas? Not trying to poke any bears. I’m just genuinely curious, since, if I were guiding the birth of yet another data center in this overcrowded world, I would go with a location that didn’t tax my operating expenses so heavily.
Top answer 1 of 29
42
Cold weather is no substitute for a thermo electric heat pump, easy power availability and favorable tax laws, low network latency and fast response times to an outage. That said. When it is convenient to put the datacenter somewhere cold, this is what is done. I think one of the colder Canadian provinces is doing exactly that. THAT said. Microsoft has already experimented with underwater datacenters, which are 1) closer to humans most of the time and 2) infinitely easier to cool with naught but a heat exchanger.
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Because you need a power grid + solar to run these things so dropping them in the arctic means no power grid and for half the year no solar
Benton Foundation
benton.org › blog › are-data-centers-draining-resources-south
Are Data Centers Draining the Resources of the South? | Benton Institute for Broadband & Society
September 26, 2025 - However, the data center buildout comes with economic and environmental risks for many communities, especially those in the southern parts of the U.S. For marginalized communities in the South, the construction of data centers represents another stage in a history of economic extraction, which may impact their ability to reap the benefits that forthcoming broadband infrastructure buildout has to offer. The following includes portions of MediaJustice's report, "The People Say No: Resisting Data Centers in the South."
Reddit
reddit.com › r/aiwars › why are people suddenly complaining about data centers using a lot of water and energy because of ai? when massive data centers have been a thing for at least a couple of decades now. no one really complained then.
r/aiwars on Reddit: Why are people suddenly complaining about data centers using a lot of water and energy because of AI? When massive data centers have been a thing for at least a couple of decades now. No one really complained then.
September 4, 2025 -
MySpace, Facebook, YouTube all required a ton of energy to store and process data even back during their launch days.
Yet no one really questioned this at all.
I mean as far back as AOL, the only thing they were criticized for was the mass sending of CDs and horrible retention practices.
But suddenly AI becomes a thing and now everyone is concerned about the environment and water and all of that.
Why? Why now?
Is it because people just loved using YouTube and other sites when the internet basically became unlimited and people weren't charged by the hour?