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Community Pushback Against AI Data Center Expansion
States, cities, and landowners across the U.S. are increasingly resisting rapid AI data center growth over concerns about grid strain, land use, and quality of life.
- AI Data Center Boom Sparks Pollution Concerns in Texas and Public Backlash in Kansas
Amazon's new natural gas plant for a Texas AI data center could become the largest single source of CO₂ emissions in the U.S., while a Kansas city council has moved meetings online and canceled public comment after facing death threats over a separate data center dispute.
- Data Center Pushback Grows as Communities in Gilroy and Salem Clash Over AI Infrastructure Projects
Residents in Gilroy, California, and Salem, Oregon, are pushing back against large data center developments, with one town discovering a project had cleared public comment before residents knew to weigh in, and another erupting into protests that included a guillotine outside city hall.
- States, Cities and Landowners Push Back Against Rapid AI Data Center Expansion
From Virginia's new rules forcing data centers to pay for their own grid upgrades to Nashville's eminent domain fight and a Kentucky family's refusal to sell farmland, communities across the U.S. are increasingly resisting the AI data center boom over costs to the power grid, land and quality of life.