Amazon Engineers Publicly Challenge AI Data Centers as Opposition Hits 71% Nationwide

Amazon Employees Show Up to City Council Meeting to Demand Limits on Data Centers

Two Amazon employees on Wednesday publicly called for regulations on new data centers, telling elected officials in Seattle that unchecked development of the sharply disputed nerve centers of AI threatens the region's environment, economy, and safety. "Local governments, in collaboration with community stakeholders, should be setting the terms for data center buildout," Amazon senior software engineer Liesl Wigand said at a city hearing. "Let's not let big tech burn Seattle to win the AI race." The comments by Wigand and another Amazon software engineer, Patrick Schloesser, mark a significant escalation in the protest movement across the US against the rapid construction of data centers over the past couple of years. While workers at several big tech companies, including Amazon, have complained about the negative effects of data centers and the need for greater oversight, none are believed to have done so as publicly and explicitly before, according to labor organizers supporting the effort in Seattle. Schloesser, who has been at Amazon for nearly six years, said that data centers should have to supply more renewable energy than they consume and provide power storage to support the broader electricity grid. Schloesser also called for new taxes on tech companies and "worker-led safety committees that report to the city" about any AI tools that are "becoming a risk" to Seattle. Tech companies are desperate to get data centers built, giving Seattle leverage to extract concessions from them, Schloesser said. Got a Tip?Are you a current or former Amazon who wants to talk about what's happening? We'd like to hear from you. Using a nonwork phone or computer, contact the reporter securely on Signal at peard33.24. Both employees who spoke out are members of a collective of current and former workers known as Amazon Employees for Climate Justice that has long advocated for the company to better address the environmental impact of its business. Additional members of the group may speak at other city hearings where a one-year pause ordinance on data centers is expected to come up for debate, including later on Wednesday. Amazon Employees for Climate Justice is also urging city officials to consult on data center rules with groups representing frontline workers such as labor unions. Tech companies and real estate developers have announced plans to spend hundreds of billions of dollars to construct dozens of data centers across the US to support surging demand for artificial intelligence chatbots and other generative AI technologies. Communities in nearly every state have organized against the projects, citing concerns about electricity and water usage, toxic waste, noxious emissions, noise, tax breaks, and whether AI is even a technology worth advancing. Amazon did not immediately comment in time for publication. Other tech giants, including Microsoft and Google, have recently tried to preempt backlash to their data centers projects and get ahead of potential regulations around the country by strengthening commitments to transparency and environmental protections. In Seattle, city officials are weighing a one-year pause on issuing permits for data centers to allow time for setting regulations on the projects. Seattle doesn't currently have any rules specific to data centers, according to city records. The city has said it is home to some small data centers, but that several companies have expressed interest in setting up "large scale" developments. Their arrival could drive up water and power prices for other residents and increase carbon emissions with the city currently holding minimal authority to intervene. The Amazon employees were among about 30 members of the public, including some describing themselves as laid-off tech workers, who spoke on Wednesday during a comment period at a city meeting of the Land Use and Sustainability Committee, a five-member panel that subsequently voted to advance the proposed data center moratorium. Most of the speakers favored the measure. The Amazon workers didn't explicitly express support for the pause, but rather explained what they believed could be the benefit of establishing broader rules for the industry. Workers across several big tech companies have grown frustrated about their employers' all-out emphasis on developing powerful AI capabilities. Last year, over 1,000 Amazon employees anonymously signed an open letter warning of harms from the company's allegedly "all-costs-justified, warp-speed approach to AI development." Microsoft employees have also long raised concerns about AI furthering oil and gas production. Recently, employees at Meta petitioned against the rollout of tracking software on their laptops to train AI systems, and the company later allowed for more exemptions from the initiative. The Meta workers have also been frustrated over the use of mass layoffs to free up cash for AI projects. In the UK, Google employees this year formed a union in large part because of opposition to the company's AI systems being contracted for what they view as concerning military uses. But Amazon Employees for Climate Justice organizers don't believe workers at any of the companies have advocated by name for regulations on data centers before. Speaking to WIRED, a former manager at Amazon who lives in Seattle questioned why anyone wanted to locate a data center in an urban area, given that emerging technologies allow the facilities to be built further away from population centers. He questioned the need for regulations that might slow industry progress, but expressed support for workers' right to speak freely without retaliation from Amazon. This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Amazon engineers in Seattle slam employer for building AI data centers while laying off 30,000 staffers

A group of Amazon engineers appeared at Seattle City Council hearings on Wednesday to throw their support behind efforts to regulate the development of giant AI data centers in the area, which are getting constructed while their employer is engaged in mass layoffs. "It's been reported that this year, Amazon is spending $200 billion dollars on capital, with most of it going to data centers and AI," Patrick Schloesser, a software engineer at Amazon Web Services, said at a hearing. "Microsoft is spending $190 billion. Meanwhile, the leaders at my company have laid off 30,000 corporate employees in the last eight months. What that tells me is that Big Tech is desperate to build as much compute capacity as it can, as fast as it can." Representatives from Amazon didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Officials in Seattle voted to approve a one-year moratorium on new large-scale artificial intelligence data centers to allow time for the city to regulate the projects. The proposal came after four developers approached a local utility provider to pitch building five large scale facilities in Seattle. Two of those developers have since withdrawn their proposals following public outcry, the Seattle Times reported. Seattle joins a growing list of cities and counties that are seeking to place limits on the explosive growth of AI data centers. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 14 states are considering legislation that would pause or ban new data centers. A report from Data Center Watch found that in 2025, at least $156 billion in data center projects were blocked or delayed amid local opposition and litigation. Tech's hyperscalers are showing no signs of slowing down. Amazon, Microsoft, Google parent Alphabet, and Meta have committed roughly $700 billion this year to capital expenditures, mostly for AI infrastructure. At the same time, the tech giants and others in the industry are looking for ways to cut costs, including through layoffs. The 30,000 corporate job cuts at Amazon that Schloesser cited have all come since October, part of an attempt by CEO Andy Jassy to remove layers and slash bureaucracy so the company can operate like what he calls the "world's largest startup." In February, Amazon announced it plans to spend $200 billion on capital expenditures this year, with the majority of that going toward AI infrastructure. It reaffirmed that forecast in April. Schloesser, who has worked at Amazon for nearly six years, urged Seattle officials to require data center developers to commit to using renewable energy to power facilities and no longer use non-disclosure agreements or shell companies when announcing new projects. "You've got to provide good jobs building these things, and you've got to pay a new tax that funds city jobs every time you conduct a large layoff," Schloesser said. Schloesser and the two other Amazon engineers who spoke at the hearings, Liesl Wigand and Darius Irani, are part of Amazon Employees for Climate Justice. The group of current and former Amazon workers has repeatedly pressed the e-retailer on its climate stance, treatment of its workforce and other issues. In November, the group penned a letter to Amazon executives calling on the company to establish a "more responsible rollout of AI," and "get real about the costs of AI and the guardrails we need." Wigand, who has worked for Amazon for more than 12 years, characterized Amazon's push to embrace the technology as an "all-costs-justified AI build out." "The biggest issue is a belief that AI should be how we solve everything, while ignoring the resources that it costs," Wigand said. "This culture is omnipresent across tech. That's why local governments, in collaboration with community stakeholders, should be setting the terms for data center buildout." The one-year moratorium was approved unanimously by the council's Land Use and Sustainability Committee on Wednesday.

71% of Americans now oppose data centers near their homes, up from 42% just nine months ago

Serving tech enthusiasts for over 25 years. TechSpot means tech analysis and advice you can trust. A hot potato: It's no secret that Americans' feelings toward data centers are worsening, but the speed at which the public is turning on these facilities is surprising. There are plenty of reasons why people don't want them built near their homes, with rising electricity costs being one of the main factors. A survey by Heatmap Pro found that 71% of Americans would oppose a data center being built near where they live, with 55% "strongly" opposing such a project. What's interesting is the speed at which support for data centers has crashed over the past few months. When Heatmap first conducted its survey in August 2025, just 42% opposed these facilities. Another survey conducted three months ago saw the figure rise, but it was still just 51%. The report found that across nine months, public support for data centers has declined 49 points. Data centers were the top reason participants named for rising electricity costs. 53% blamed these facilities, up from 28% nine months ago. Back in March, following a call to do so by President Trump, major tech companies including Google, Microsoft, Meta, Amazon, Oracle, OpenAI, and xAI signed a voluntary "ratepayer protection pledge" at the White House, promising to cover the energy costs of their rapidly expanding AI data centers rather than passing those costs on to local electricity customers. The pledge remains voluntary and difficult to enforce, but it has pushed the issue into formal regulatory channels. FERC is preparing action on large-load interconnection rules, Congress has seen legislation that would make data centers pay for grid upgrades, and several states and grid operators are moving ahead with tougher requirements. Watchdogs, meanwhile, warn that surging AI data center demand is already helping drive up wholesale power costs in some regions. Heatmap isn't the first to reach these conclusions. A Gallup survey in May also found 70% of Americans opposed local construction of data centers, up from 47% in late 2025. Water and energy consumption were the most-mentioned reasons for the pushback in that survey, which also found that people would rather live next to a nuclear power plant than a data center. Beyond the electricity considerations, there have been numerous reports of data centers affecting nearby water supplies, including a report last year about an Amazon data center that was reportedly linked to rare cancers and miscarriages. There was also Georgia's data center boom that sparked water worries and resident backlash, similar concerns around facilities in Virginia, and the recent story of a Fayette County construction site that used 29 million gallons of water without a single bill - all while residents complained of low water pressure. And that's just data centers. AI itself is creating even more tension, from the layoffs it's causing to the slop it is filling the internet with. The outcry has led to a new narrative from the tech world, pushed by figures such as Sam Altman and one top economist, that things aren't really that bad - or even that there is "zero evidence" of AI-related job losses. But then Altman once said water-usage concerns over data centers were "fake," before highlighting the shocking amount of energy it takes to "train a human."

Nashville Zoo says a proposed AI data centre could stop its endangered leopards from breeding

Nashville Zoo is fighting a DC BLOX data centre proposed 50 yards from its animals, citing noise risks to endangered clouded leopards. The Nashville Zoo has launched a campaign to block a 69,000-square-foot AI data centre proposed by Georgia-based DC BLOX on a site roughly 50 yards from the zoo's animal enclosures. A petition against the project has drawn nearly 300,000 signatures in less than a week. Nashville's Metro Council is now considering a data centre moratorium, and the mayor has directed his legal department to review the proposal. The zoo's primary concern is noise. Southeast Asian clouded leopards, which the zoo breeds as part of a conservation programme, are classified as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List and as endangered under the US Endangered Species Act. The species is notoriously difficult to breed in captivity and is, according to the zoo's own website, "sensitive to auditory and visual disturbances." Zookeepers worry that the constant hum of cooling systems and backup generators could stop the animals from reproducing entirely. "We are vehemently opposed to having a data centre so close to animals," Nashville Zoo president and CEO Rick Schwartz told NBC News. The zoo houses more than 3,000 animals across its grounds at Grassmere, and the proposed facility at 648 Grassmere Park would sit immediately adjacent to the property. The backlash has drawn national attention. Country music star Brad Paisley publicly opposed the project over the weekend, calling it an "absolute nightmare scenario" and urging fans to sign the petition. Courtney Johnston, the Metro Council member whose district includes the zoo, has filed a zoning appeal and said she will push for a vote on a data centre moratorium at a Tuesday council meeting. Nashville mayor Freddie O'Connell told reporters that "we have a lot of concerns about the project and have our legal department looking into it." The metropolitan government was caught off guard. Nashville does not yet have zoning rules or building regulations specific to data centres, a gap that DC BLOX appears to have identified. The company filed a grading permit application for a single-storey structure on a 23.5-acre site currently owned by MarketStreet Enterprises. The property has not yet been sold. A separate Metro Council bill that would ban data centres larger than 500,000 square feet and restrict them from being built within half a mile of homes, schools, churches, and zoos has already passed its first reading. DC BLOX has said it will maintain and test "noise levels to measurable and acceptable levels" and adhere to all federal and local environmental requirements. The company also promised to use "closed-loop or waterless cooling designs to minimize ongoing water use" and stated that the proposed facility is not an AI factory. Those assurances have not slowed the opposition. Nashville's fight is the latest in a pattern of community revolts against data centre projects across the United States. In Utah, residents protested a 40,000-acre hyperscale campus backed by Kevin O'Leary until the governor signed an executive order establishing new development standards. In New Brunswick, New Jersey, residents successfully blocked a data centre development entirely. The political dynamics are shifting ahead of November's midterm elections, with data centre opposition drawing bipartisan support in communities that had never previously organised around infrastructure policy. The environmental footprint of data centres extends well beyond noise. A United Nations University report published this month found that AI data centres could consume as much water as the basic needs of 1.3 billion people by 2030, reaching 9.3 trillion litres annually. US utilities are planning to spend $1.4 trillion on electricity infrastructure by 2030 to accommodate the demand, more than double the investment of the prior decade. Residential electricity prices have already risen approximately 40 per cent since 2021, and a further 5.1 per cent increase is projected for this year. The strain is not confined to the US. Denmark paused all new grid connection agreements in March after a 60-gigawatt queue, nearly nine times the country's peak demand, overwhelmed the system. Ireland imposed a similar moratorium on new data centre connections in Dublin in 2021 that lasted more than two years. The Nashville Zoo case adds a dimension those examples did not have: the tangible, visible harm to animals that a community already cares about, giving the opposition an emotional anchor that electricity bills and grid capacity numbers alone have not provided.

Americans Are Starting to Really Hate Data Centers -- and It's Making the Tech Industry Nervous

The public has swung decidedly against data centers in a matter of months, and tech companies are freaking out about it. According to a recent survey by Heatmap Pro, 71% of Americans would oppose a data center project built near their homes, including 55% that would "strongly" oppose. It's a stark contrast from just nine months ago, when Heatmap first conducted the survey and found that Americans were evenly split on the subject, with 43% saying they would support the project and 42% voicing opposition. Even in the survey's second iteration just three months ago, only 51% said they would oppose a data center project. The results show a dramatic change in public sentiment in a very short period of time. In just nine months, the public swung 49 points against data centers, the report concludes. AI backlash is souring public on data center construction Over the past year, artificial intelligence has completely overtaken public discourse, as the technology burrows its way deeper into everyday life. Instances of allegedly AI-driven self-harm and mass shootings have gripped headlines, as healthcare professionals repeatedly warned against a dangerous overreliance on chatbots and instances often dubbed AI addiction or AI psychosis. The technology has also squarely entered global warfare, dramatically increasing lethality and aiding mass surveillance. Along with this surging AI use and projected increase in demand has come an unprecedented infrastructure buildout. Companies are propping up data centers left and right, with most of these projects hitting rural communities, most of whom report being plagued by rising utility bills, water shortages, and above-average air and noise pollution. A recent study has also revealed rising temperatures in the immediate vicinity of these megastructures. Although Heatmap said no U.S. region saw less than 69% of data center opposition, rural voters were particularly enflamed. Other communities that were particularly opposed to data center projects, according to the survey, were Democrats and young people. Among respondents aged 18 to 34, a whopping 80% said they would oppose a new data center near where they lived. The younger generation is growing less excited about AI and more angry instead, according to another survey from April. That might have something to do with AI's impact on the labor market. Executives across industries have enacted hiring freezes and layoffs, citing alleged productivity gains from AI initiatives, while experts warned of a drastic wipeout of white-collar jobs in the near future. According to several studies, the biggest victims of the early-stage AI-driven layoffs so far have been young graduates, who now face diminished job prospects as executives automate entry-level work. Industry leaders are trying to rehab AI's image The AI industry has been fighting hard to change the technology's burgeoning negative reputation. Both OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang have spoken against the wholesale automation of jobs and corporate hiring freezes and layoffs in the last three months, with Altman specifically changing his tune on AI's projected labor impact. Wednesday, Google joined that list by attempting to address one of AI's most popular criticisms: its unquenchable thirst for water. "Today, we are announcing several water stewardship commitments as a promise to responsibly manage vital water resources where we build and operate data centers," Google VP of global infrastructure Bikash Koley and head of infrastructure strategy and sustainability Ben Townsend wrote in the blog post. "Our goal is to minimize our local impacts so that our growth does not come at the expense of the communities we call home." In the post, Google promised to "replenish more water than we consume at our sites by 2030," modernize water infrastructure in neighboring communities, and be transparent about its annual water use. The water demands of AI data centers aren't just a concern for local communities and environmentalists, but they are also proving to be one of the many bottlenecks the industry is contending with. Earlier this week, SpaceX amended its IPO filing to say that its access to water could pose a challenge to its data center development. Data centers are becoming a salient political issue The increasing opposition to AI and the data centers that power it has resulted in growing calls for more regulatory action. AI has become a battleground in the upcoming midterm elections, with candidates in major races, such as House candidate Alex Bores, making AI-related regulation a central point of their platforms as the industry pours money into electing candidates aligned with its interests. One such demand for regulation picking up steam over the past few months is local moratoriums on new data center projects. Maine was poised to be the first state to adopt a moratorium, but Governor Janet Mills vetoed it.

Seattle, home to Amazon and Microsoft, poised to pass moratorium on new datacenters

Measure expected to pass next week represents major rebuke to big tech as local disquiet over AI boom grows Seattle's city government is on the verge of passing a year-long ban on the construction of new datacenters, the largest city yet in the US to consider such a moratorium as nationwide backlash grows. Four companies sought to build five large datacenters in areas serviced by Seattle's public utility; if approved, they would have consumed approximately a third of the city's current daily demand for electricity. On Wednesday, city council committees unanimously passed the moratorium and an accompanying resolution. A full council vote on both measures is expected on Tuesday, which activists see as a formality after weeks of engagement with city officials on the topic. Lawmakers cited the two measures as an effort to protect residents from rising utility costs and environmental hazards. They said they plan to spend the duration of the moratorium drafting regulations tailored to the AI industry's massive facilities. The swift response to the proposed datacenters represents a major rebuke in tech's own backyard. A hub for the technology sector, Seattle's metro area serves as the headquarters for Microsoft and Amazon, which have laid off thousands of local workers over the past year as they spend a projected $390bn on AI investments in 2026. Seattle's tech workers have shown up in large numbers to organize against the proposed datacenters. Lawmakers and advocates hope Seattle's status as a tech city can encourage more jurisdictions to join the dozens of other local governments moving to regulate datacenters, which are bipartisanly unpopular. A strategic pause Seattle mayor Katie Wilson was alarmed by developers' ambitions to build five large datacenters when the Seattle Times broke the news in April. "That was the first that I, as the mayor, had heard about this," she said. "Both I and many of the councilmembers were happy to move toward a moratorium, especially knowing that there was really strong public support out there for that course of action." Climate activists, progressive activists, an Amazon employee group and others participated in an email-writing campaign to Seattle lawmakers in protest of the proposed datacenters, and scheduled direct meetings and information sessions with city politicians. Eddie Lin, who chairs city council's land use and sustainability committee, received more than 10,000 emails from local residents in favor of the moratorium, according to his office. During a moratorium, officials may establish pollution standards, energy connection requirements and contract terms, labor standards, and other rules specific to datacenters. The moratorium and accompanying resolution enable Seattle's public utility to establish separate rates for new "large load" customers, a category that includes large datacenters. An amendment allows existing datacenters in Seattle to apply for expansions requiring up to 20 megawatts of additional power during the moratorium. Activists are calling for tighter language to be introduced during the final vote, hoping to specify the types of datacenters that can apply for an expansion, such as those supporting emergency calls and healthcare facilities. The pause would also allow the city to determine whether datacenters are a "good use of urban land", Wilson said. If so, officials may draft public benefit requirements, such as requisite investments in affordable housing and transit projects, in exchange for approval. Those are the kinds of stipulations "that are sometimes put on development that's of questionable value to the community", she said. "Is there a world in which we would want a large datacenter in Seattle? I think the answer to that is unclear," Wilson said. Activists intentionally favored a year-long moratorium over a full-out ban because the former strategy could assemble a larger coalition in its favor, while potentially delivering the same end result. Ben Jones, a spokesperson for the climate justice group 350 Seattle, said delays caused by a moratorium may still defeat the datacenters' construction: if an AI market bubble bursts in the coming year, the facilities are unlikely to be built. During a period of public comment at city hall on 20 May, over 50 Seattle residents spoke in favor of the moratorium, while none spoke against it. Residents expressed concern about the climate impacts of datacenters, which often run on fossil fuels; cause noise and air pollution; convert arable land into warehousing for computer chips; and can threaten stable and affordable access to natural resources. Jones said: "A lot of people came forward because of a lack of other ways to voice or have any control over AI's rollout." That included a "huge number" of tech workers, because AI is now locally "synonymous with people losing their jobs". Eyeing regional tech companies' amassed wealth amid a housing and affordability crisis, progressive groups and politicians have mounted several attempts to tax Seattle's tech giants and other large corporations over the past decade, including a February 2025 ballot initiative to tax large compensation packages and fund affordable housing efforts. It won by a landslide. According to Nivi Achanta, a former tech consultant who now works as a climate activist in Seattle, the outsized presence of corporate giants like Amazon and Microsoft makes it easier, paradoxically, for Seattle tech workers to organize against the sector's overreach. "I do think the consolidation of these large tech companies makes it easier to find the backlash, and to see very easily that you're not alone," she said. Through internal messaging as well as public-facing campaigns, employee-activist groups such as Amazon Employees for Climate Justice (AECJ) have "primed" Seattle's tech workers to translate their feelings about where the sector is headed into real political engagement, she added. Tech workers in Seattle and elsewhere see that AI has helped make them "more productive, but also more disposable," Achanta said. Regional concerns Debora Juarez, who chairs the committee overseeing Seattle's public utility, and who is an enrolled member of the Blackfeet Nation, said that the datacenters' water use could threaten local Indigenous groups' treaty and water rights, which spurred tribes to be among the first to organize against new datacenters. She said Seattle's city government consulted with tribal lawyers and other groups to learn about the effective regulation of datacenters. "While we cannot look to the federal government for leadership, we can look to tribal governments," Juarez said. Wilson said the city would advocate for statewide legislation during the next Washington state legislative session. She added that the city government should help build a more diversified local and regional economy, as the current economy, workforce, and tax structure are "extremely dependent upon" the tech industry, a sector whose future features "a lot of uncertainty". Seattle's tech and climate activists are also gearing up for the next stage in their organizing. Audrey Wang Gosselin, an electrical engineer and a board member of 350 Seattle, said the organization was working with groups in other parts of Washington state, and sees a Seattle win against datacenters as a replicable regional roadmap. "If we're able to show that we say no to it in Seattle, where you would assume it might be more techy, I think that will hopefully set precedent for the rest of the state, potentially the rest of the country," they said. "I don't want it in my backyard, and I also don't want it in your backyard," Wang Gosselin said.

Zoo Officials Horrified by AI Data Center Menacing Their Endangered Animals

Can't-miss innovations from the bleeding edge of science and tech AI data center projects have become astonishingly unpopular. Their opposition has garnered strong bipartisan support, quickly turning the facilities into a hot button political issue for the upcoming midterm elections in the US. And it's not just residents in rural America trying to keep out facilities, which have been linked to rising electricity prices, water issues , and copious amounts of noise. The Nashville Zoo in Tennessee has turned into the latest battleground, with officials arguing that a proposed 69,000-square-foot data center next door could be devastating to animals living in captivity a mere 50 yards away. As NBC News reports, Southeast Asian clouded leopards, which the zoo is breeding, could be particularly vulnerable. Zookeepers are concerned that the cacophony could stop the creatures from reproducing entirely. The species is listed as "vulnerable" on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species and classified as endangered under the Endangered Species Act in the US. They've also proved difficult to breed in captivity and are "sensitive to auditory and visual disturbances," according to the zoo's website. "We are vehemently opposed to having a data center so close to animals," Nashville Zoo president and CEO Rick Schwartz told NBC. A petition against the data center has already amassed over 180,000 signatures, highlighting widespread opposition to the plan. Courtney Johnston, a local council member whose district encompasses the zoo, has already indicated she will be pushing for a vote on a data center moratorium during a Tuesday meeting. "I'm getting phone calls," she told NBC. "I'm getting emails. All of my social media. Text messages. The community is speaking." Nashville mayor Freddie O'Connell has also told reporters that "we have a lot of concerns about the project and have our legal department looking into it." A similar story is playing out at countless council sessions across the nation, with angry residents piling into the chambers to voice their concerns. Beyond concerns about noise pollution, the carbon footprint of these sprawling facilities could grow to staggering proportions, making the zoo's worries over animal conservation particularly ironic. According to a new report by the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health, AI data centers could consume as much water as the water needs of 1.3 billion people by 2030. Meanwhile, DC BLOX, the firm behind the proposed Tennessee data center, has promised to maintain and test "noise levels to measurable and acceptable levels and adhering to all federal and local environmental requirements." It also promised to use a "closed-loop or waterless cooling designs to minimize ongoing water use." But given the strong backlash, the company may already be facing an extremely steep uphill battle to win over support for its plans. More on data centers: Data Centers Have Become Shockingly Unpopular, Poll Finds

Data Centers Have Become Shockingly Unpopular, Poll Finds

Can't-miss innovations from the bleeding edge of science and tech A silent war is playing out across rural America. Residents are packing themselves into local county meetings in incredible numbers and calling on their representatives to oppose gargantuan data center projects, developments that could cause electricity prices to spike, drain water supplies, and generate copious amounts of noise. Farmers are being hailed as heroes for rejecting millions of dollars to turn their land into data centers, while claims of the facilities bringing jobs to the area are being met with incredulity and frustration. In short, the AI backlash has grown immensely over the past year or so -- and the latest numbers put the trend in stark relief. According to a new Heatmap poll, at least seven in ten Americans would oppose a data center being built near their home. That's a seismic shift from last September, when a similar poll found only 42 percent of Americans were opposed. By February, the same question resulted in just 51 percent saying they were against having a data center project near their home, indicating that the opposition grew substantially in a strikingly short period of time. "The public has swung 49 points against data centers in just nine months, underscoring the heightened political salience of the facilities and the AI industry that they embody," Heatmap noted in in its writeup. The widespread opposition has turned into a rare bipartisan issue, with conservatives and liberals joining sides to an astonishing degree. According to the latest polling, 78 percent of Americans who said they voted for Kamala Harris in 2024 said they opposed a nearby data center project, while 63 percent of Americans who said they voted for Donald Trump said the same. Younger voters were particularly strong in their opposition, with an overwhelming 83 percent of Americans aged between 18 and 34 saying they would oppose a data center near their home. In short, it's perhaps one of the strongest indications yet that data centers could become a key and highly divisive topic during the upcoming midterm elections. Meanwhile, many rural Americans continue their fight while are struggling to have their voices heard. Case in point, a planned data center in the broader Salt Lake City region in Utah, backed by Canadian businessman and TV personality Kevin O'Leary, will overtake a swathe of land twice the size of Manhattan -- while only generating 2,000 permanent jobs. Worse yet, the region is already facing a water crisis, a dire environmental predicament that could be made far worse by the development. Most recently, Utah senate president Stuart Adams appears to have heard these concerns -- or perhaps realized the considerable political blowback the project's construction could incur -- and is calling on O'Leary to reduce the data center campus by 75 percent. The "Shark Tank" host and celebrity investor has since doubled down, though, telling the Salt Lake Tribune that he's "not walking away." More on data centers: Neighbors Horrified by Data Center Twice the Size of Manhattan

Who wants a noisy neighbor? States rush to regulate data centers

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez pushed an EPA official on reports of dirty drinking water in Georgia next to a data center that was recently built. They're loud, costly and wasteful -- something you wouldn't want in your neighborhood, according to critics. But these high-tech centers are the future, supporters say. And caught in between, state and local governments across the nation are trying to figure out what to do about data centers, the huge facilities that house the physical infrastructure that powers digital services like artificial intelligence. The resource-intensive structures are spreading across the nation, with more than 4,300 data centers already constructed, according to industry database Data Center Map. And they're wildly unpopular among many Americans. Gallup survey results released in May found 70% of Americans oppose the construction of data centers in their communities, with more than half expressing "strong opposition." Common concerns include massive energy and water consumption, electronic waste and noise pollution. Some municipalities have responded to these concerns by passing moratoriums that keep data centers out of their community, but state-wide bans have proved more elusive. Lawmakers in several states, including North Carolina, have proposed setting stricter rules for data centers. Supporters say the facilities are necessary for the industry to grow, provide high-paying jobs and boost local economies. Among them: The Digital Power Network, which bills itself as a "national coalition spearheading policy advocacy for the Bitcoin ecosystem." The group has argued against moratoriums, saying that changes catalyzed by data center demand would benefit all energy consumers. At least 38 states offer tax incentives intended to attract more data centers, the National Conference of State Legislatures reported in April. "We are all, more and more, consuming technology and data and these data centers are going to get built," Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said June 2, one day after she attended the groundbreaking for a $16 billion hyperscale data center campus. "So, my thought is if we can hold them to a high standard and do it in Michigan, that's the best way to do it. Not watch them go everywhere else and do it in a really bad way." Some states are expanding these subsidies while others are scaling them back. Meanwhile, thousands of reports about concerns over AI data centers have poured into a website created by environmental activist Erin Brockovich. Brockovich has called for more light to be shed on how these facilities are developed. Some states move to ban data centers Lawmakers in at least 14 states have introduced legislation to temporarily halt the construction of new data centers as these concerns mount, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. More than half of those bills have failed to advance. Maine appeared poised to become the first state to impose such a ban until Gov. Janet Mills vetoed the bill in April. Similar legislation remains pending in Georgia, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Vermont, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. The New York bill, which would ban data center construction for one year, is expected to be passed by the state legislature before their session ends on June 4. In Ohio, a grassroots group is collecting signatures for a constitutional amendment that would ban large data centers, although advocates face a long road to the ballot. The campaign comes after Gov. Mike DeWine paused a controversial tax break for data centers that cost nearly $1.6 billion in 2025. Samuel Menges, 12, was among those who spoke out against the facilities at the statehouse on June 1, the Columbus Dispatch, part of the USA TODAY Network, reported. "Data centers might not seem a problem now, especially to the companies that want to build them, but what happens 50 years from now when the natural waterways have dried up, millions of acres of farmland has been destroyed, and the communities have health problems from contaminated water or from other unforeseen problems?" he said. Some lawmakers push for a 'balanced approach' Many states have enacted or introduced legislation that doesn't halt the construction of new data centers, but imposes regulations in hopes of protecting nearby communities from rising utility costs and mitigating adverse environmental impacts. A study from the University of Michigan found the construction of data centers raises utility rates for nearby residents and small businesses. Large data centers can consume up to 5 million gallons of water per day, equivalent to the water used by a town home to between 10,000 and 50,000 people, according to the Environmental and Energy Study Institute. Humming cooling systems, rumbling diesel generators and whirring fans can be heard continuously hundreds of feet around them, according to the Environmental and Energy Study Institute, prompting reports from residents of headaches, vertigo, nausea, sleep disturbances, ear pain and hypertension. Lawmakers in 27 states are considering legislation that would require "large load" customers like data centers to bear the cost of new energy infrastructure needed to support them, according to an April report from MultiState. Many others are advancing legislation that would require data centers to report how much water they use, the organization reported. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill May 7 that imposes detailed requirements for the construction and operation of data centers, focusing on electricity and water usage. "So, this makes sure that local governments are ultimately in control about how their communities are developing vis-à-vis these hyper-scale data centers," DeSantis said. "It also includes strict definitions of large-scale data centers so that costs are not permitted to be passed on to consumers." Meanwhile in North Carolina, lawmakers appear to be fast-tracking a bill that would set stricter rules for data centers, including requiring an assessment of the noise impact within 500 feet of the site. Data centers would also have to employ closed-loop cooling systems to minimize water consumption. The proposal would also prohibit local governments from offering economic development incentives for the projects and require that data center contracts with public utilities include provisions that prevent consumers from subsidizing the cost of their energy needs. "We really tried to make a balanced approach because the data centers are in every part of our lives," Rep. Matthew Winslow said, according to WRAL-TV. "This is not restricting data centers from here in North Carolina, but to have a balanced approach that doesn't affect our critical infrastructure -- our water and our electricity." Contributing: Greta Cross, USA TODAY; Sarah Perkel and Gary White, USA TODAY NETWORK, Maria DeVito, Columbus Dispatch; Emily Barnes, New York State Team; Arpan Lobo, Detroit Free Press