Shane Burke

Excerpts:

Local government resistance to data center development accelerated this summer, a warning sign for big AI companies such as Anthropic, Google and OpenAI that are pinning their compute ambitions on data center expansion.

In July alone, more than 150 towns and counties passed temporary or permanent bans on data centers, many adopted in emergency meetings. That brings the nationwide total to more than 500 active data center bans at the start of August, according to The Information’s analysis of thousands of legal documents and local news reports.

When we first published our tracker of these bans in late June, we had found more than 300.

Counties and towns are blocking projects over residents’ fears that data centers will increase power bills, tap scarce water supplies and generate too much noise.

Proponents counter that the projects can bring needed jobs, investments and infrastructure upgrades to rural and industrial areas and that some of the concerns are overstated.

The arguments have failed to slow the tide of bans.

States led by both parties are joining cities and counties in enacting bans. Last week, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, ordered a pause on the construction of new data centers until state authorities can audit potential strain on utility systems.

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Via https://www.theinformation.com/articles/data-center-bans-top-500-new-york-texas-join-pushback