Should You Oppose Your Local Data Center? – DTNS WEEKEND

Posted byethancainePosted inEpisode

Tom Merritt digs into what’s driving the opposition to data centers in the US, and what you need to know to make your own decision about them.

Featuring Tom Merritt.

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Show Notes

Data Centers and Local Opposition

A Gallup survey found that opposition to data centers being built near homes in the U.S. has risen from 47% in an Ipsos poll late last year to Gallup’s 70% this year. This is a little apples and oranges because it is two different methodologies.

Electricity Price Rises

A Bloomberg study in September found rises over five years in electricity prices in areas near significant data center activity:

  • Baltimore: 125%
  • Columbus: 110%
  • Tulsa: 108%

Price declines were found in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Iowa.

Seventy percent of nodes recording price increases were within 50 miles of data center activity.

Power auction prices hit an all-time high in Japan last year. Malaysia raised rates on data centers.

This could be the biggest surge in electricity demand since the popularity of air conditioners rose in the 1960s.

PJM Interconnection, the operator of the largest U.S. electric grid, warned that rapidly growing power demand from AI data centers is contributing to major grid stress and rising capacity costs across the Mid-Atlantic. Costs for consumers from Illinois to Washington, D.C., rose by more than $9.3 billion for the 12 months starting in June.

In Texas, there is an equivalent AI buildout, with OpenAI, Google DeepMind, and Anthropic all building massive facilities. Yet power futures in Texas have moved only a few percent in the past year.

It is not just data centers. Electric vehicles, cryptomining, new factories, and the rise in home heating needs are also raising demand.

The highest projected data center electricity consumption is expected to happen in Virginia, Oregon, Iowa, Nevada, and Utah.

Air, Water, and Noise Concerns

Additional power sources can create more air pollution.

Water abuse is another concern. This is somewhat exaggerated, as new designs can recycle water, but not all data centers use that design.

Quality Technology Services (QTS) in Fayetteville, Georgia drew in 29 million gallons of water unmetered, causing low water pressure in the community. This data center uses a closed-loop system, but says the water was needed for “during temporary construction activities, including concrete work, dust control, and site preparation.”

Noise pollution is also a concern. Noise within a few hundred feet can reach 96 dB all day, every day.

There are also complaints about “infrasound,” low frequencies which can be felt but not heard.

Rural and Unincorporated Land

Some companies are building on rural or unincorporated land.

Utah approved 9 GW worth of data centers in unincorporated land in Box Elder County, while Meta is building a 7 GW data center in rural Northern Louisiana with its own natural gas power plants.

Capacity and Ratepayer Protections

Some companies have promised to pay for added capacity. On March 4, they signed the nonbinding “ratepayer protection pledge.”

Google is working to use less power. Its operations deliver 6x compute per kilowatt over five years.

Microsoft agreed on tariffs with We Energies in Wisconsin for a new data center complex.

Some power companies have moved to require tech firms to put up more collateral or pay for specific amounts of electricity, even if they end up using less.

In Oregon, lawmakers in June passed the POWER Act, a law designed to help utilities strike fairer deals with data centers and crypto miners.

Adding Electric Capacity

Companies are also adding electric capacity, including reviving retired nuclear plants to bypass the grid.

For example, AWS entered a $650 million deal in 2024 to purchase a data campus co-located with a nuclear plant to obtain “zero-carbon electricity” directly.

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