The Public is Getting Fed Up With Data Centers. Politicians Need to Take Notice.

Last week, President Donald Trump met with leaders from US AI companies to promote a new plan for shielding consumers from energy price increases due to data centers. Alongside executives from Google, Microsoft, OpenAI, and other companies, President Trump touted their pledge to build or provide their own electricity supplies, without burdening other ratepayers.

The plan is unlikely to be effective: it is a nonbinding agreement and does not specify the mechanisms for achieving the stated goals. Still, this meeting represents a concession that public opinion has quickly turned against data centers. Speaking at the event, President Trump even noted that the tech companies “need some PR help.”

That statement, at least, is true. The country is in the midst of a massive data center boom, with data centers being built and announced at a record-breaking pace. In response, communities are fighting back, organizing coalitions and showing up en masse to public meetings where data centers are being discussed. The crowds at these events worry about the data center’s impacts on their community, and they resent how massive companies use their power and wealth to ride roughshod over the community’s wishes.