SPRING CITY, Pa. (AP) — Tech companies and developers are increasingly losing battles with communities unwilling to host the ever-larger data centers needed to power artificial intelligence and cloud computing, signaling a potential roadblock to the industry’s rapid expansion.
Across the United States, towns and cities are learning from each other’s struggles against these proposals, which are multiplying in size and number as developers seek faster connections to power sources. The fight isn’t about opposing technology, but about protecting local resources and quality of life.
Opposition Spreads as Data Centers Fan Out
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A growing wave of community resistance is forcing data center developers to reconsider strategies and engage more proactively with local concerns.
Many municipal boards are grappling with whether energy- and water-intensive data centers align with existing zoning regulations, sometimes entertaining waivers or drafting new ordinances where none existed before. But as awareness grows, once-quiet meetings are now packed with residents demanding officials reject the projects.
“Would you want this built in your backyard?” Larry Shank asked supervisors last month in Pennsylvania’s East Vincent Township. “Because that’s where it’s literally going, is in my backyard.”
A growing number of proposals are failing, raising alarms among Big Tech firms, real estate developers, electric utilities, and labor unions. Andy Cvengros, who leads data center practice at commercial real estate giant JLL, said he’s seen opponents go door-to-door, distribute shirts, and display signs in yards in seven or eight deals in recent months. “It’s becoming a huge problem,” Cvengros said.
Data Center Watch, a project of 10a Labs, an AI security consultancy, reports a sharp increase in community, political, and regulatory disruptions to data center development. Between April and June, the organization tracked 20 proposals valued at $98 billion in 11 states that were blocked or delayed due to local opposition and state-level pushback—two-thirds of the projects it was monitoring.
Environmental and consumer advocacy groups are fielding a surge of calls and working to educate communities on how to protect themselves. “I’ve been doing this work for 16 years, worked on hundreds of campaigns I’d guess, and this by far is the biggest kind of local pushback I’ve ever seen here in Indiana,” said Bryce Gustafson of the Indianapolis-based Citizens Action Coalition. In Indiana alone, Gustafson counted over a dozen projects that lost rezoning petitions.
Similar Concerns Across Different Communities
For some, already burdened by steep increases in electric bills, the prospect of data centers further driving up costs is a major concern. Beyond finances, residents fear losing open space, farmland, forests, and the rural character of their towns. Concerns also include the impact of on-site diesel generators and the constant hum of servers on quality of life, property values, and health, as well as the potential for wells and aquifers to run dry.
Lawsuits are being filed on both sides, challenging whether local governments adhered to their own rules. Even with support from state and federal governments, this opposition is having a tangible impact. Maxx Kossof, vice president of investment at Chicago-based developer The Missner Group, said developers are considering selling properties after securing a power source—a valuable commodity—if they anticipate a zoning fight. “You might as well take chips off the table,” Kossof said. “You could have power to a site and it’s futile because you might not get the zoning. You might not get the community support.”
Some in the industry express frustration, claiming opponents spread misinformation about data centers—such as polluting water and air—that is difficult to counter. However, data center allies are urging developers to engage with the public earlier, emphasize economic benefits, support community initiatives, and highlight efforts to conserve water and power and protect ratepayers. “It’s definitely a discussion that the industry is having internally about, ‘Hey, how do we do a better job of community engagement?’” said Dan Diorio of the Data Center Coalition, a trade association.
Data Center Opposition Dominates Local Politics
Winning over local officials isn’t necessarily translating to winning over residents. In Matthews, North Carolina, developers withdrew a project from an October agenda after Mayor John Higdon informed them it faced unanimous defeat. The project would have funded half the city’s budget, and developers promised environmentally friendly features, but town meetings were overflowing, and opposition through emails, texts, and phone calls was overwhelming— “999 to one against,” Higdon said. Had the council approved it, “every person that voted for it would no longer be in office,” the mayor said. “That’s for sure.”
In Hermantown, Minnesota, a proposed data center campus larger than the Mall of America is on hold due to challenges regarding the adequacy of the city’s environmental review. Residents connected through social media, organized protests, and began door-knocking to voice their concerns. They felt betrayed after discovering that state, county, city, and utility officials had known about the proposal for a year before the city released internal emails confirming it in response to a public records request filed by the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy. “It’s the secrecy. The secrecy just drives people crazy,” said Jonathan Thornton, a realtor who lives near the site.
Mortenson, developing the project for a Fortune 50 company, says it is considering changes based on public feedback and that “more engagement with the community is appropriate.” Rebecca Gramdorf, learning about the project from a local newspaper, worried it would end her six-acre vegetable farm. She found other opponents online, ordered 100 yard signs, and prepared for a fight. “I don’t think this fight is over at all,” Gramdorf said.
