A growing battle is intensifying across American communities as data centers proliferate nationwide, raising concerns about their impact on local residents and utility bills. The White House has indicated that President Donald Trump will soon announce new policies to address cost concerns, while bipartisan legislation in Congress aims to prevent residents from shouldering the financial burden of big tech infrastructure.
These massive facilities are being constructed from Kansas City to Metro Detroit, often generating significant debate among nearby residents who question their benefits and express concerns about potential drawbacks.
"I don't know that this facility will benefit me in any way," one resident said.
Another voiced concerns about noise pollution: "I'm going to hear this hum at all hours of evening and night."
"Do we have any idea what we are inviting here?" asked a third community member.
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The primary concerns surrounding data centers typically involve property values, water consumption needs, and electricity impacts on local communities.
The surge in data center construction is driven by increasing demand for artificial intelligence capabilities. As AI usage expands, more data centers are required to support these operations, which in turn demands significantly more electricity.
A recent Bloomberg News analysis revealed that utility costs have increased 267% over a five-year period in areas near data centers. Currently, approximately 4,100 active data centers operate across the United States.
Adam Kramer from Panattoni Development recently spoke about the positive aspects of these facilities, telling me about the benefits data centers bring to communities and how they can generate new tax dollars for local areas safely.
"Data centers in a community are a huge net benefit for a community," Kramer said.
However, Washington is growing increasingly concerned about data centers' impact on utility bills. This concern has prompted progressive Senator Bernie Sanders to call for a nationwide moratorium on building new data centers.
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Republican Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri and Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut have introduced bipartisan legislation requiring data centers to have their own power sources.
"They should not be taking electric or water or any other utility from other honest rate payers," Hawley said.
The White House is also gradually implementing new data center policies. President Trump posted on Truth Social last month: "I never want Americans to pay higher Electricity bills because of Data Centers."
White House advisers have recently signaled that the Trump administration wants technology companies to assume more of the associated costs.
This topic will likely be addressed during President Trump's State of the Union address next week.
Recent polling from Politico found that 37% of respondents support new data centers in their community, while 28% oppose them and 28% have yet to form an opinion.
