There is talk about at least two of these data centers being built close to us here in small towns in Central NC. Friends who are engineers (none of whom are liberals) tell me data centers use an enormous amount of water & electricity, make noise, & that utility bills for ‘Joe Sixpack” go up when these things are built. Utility bills going up tells me local govts & the state govt subsidize these things with ‘discounts’ on utilities, property taxes, etc … which eventually result in future bond issues to increase water & sewer plants when shortages in availability occur & increases in electric bills to Joe Sixpack to offset subsidies/tax breaks/whatever from state govt to power companies to increase/facilitate output. They (govt) say these things are good for ‘the community’ (increase in employment opportunities, tax base, etc…) but it looks more like it’s good for them through ‘favors’ or bribes that are discovered long after the fact. To answer your question regarding effects on the 2026 & 2028 elections, my answer is yes. Whether these data centers are good or bad is something that is hard for ‘Joe Sixpack’ to determine from the information (data :^)) available. Despise the left, the uniparty/rhinos, etc…. Hard for me to determine the truth from the bs considering the available information (unless I’m missing something). God’s Blessings to you all & thank you Sundance for your Stewardship …

Please define a “data center”. Is there a threshold for KW demand? Water usage for cooling?
I’ve seen sites that use airside economizers for cooling, with no water usage.

Some thoughts;

Newer data centers use a closed loop cooling system so the water impact is less. Either way, water is not being wasted. It comes into the plant, does the job and leaves the plant, likely going back into the source where it came from.

When pulp and paper mills were everywhere back in the day they used massive quantities of water for their operations. No one complained about that. That water had to be clean so municipal water was used. Then it was dumped into a nearby river or body of water.

Data centers are the big squirrel topic right now.

Put data centers in far north in Canada, Alaska, etc. Open the doors and windows to cool the computers. Data can go over fiber data lines to wherever.

Cancer. Miscarriages. Unexplained diseases. Toxic wells due to polluted acquifers. Next to America’s 4th largest river. “How Oregon’s Datacenter boom is super charging a water crisis.” https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/data-center-water-pollution-amazon-oregon-1235466613/

Here in Missouri we are very serious about limiting the building of these large datacenters. A town just south of St. Louis called Festus has begun a recall effort for the mayor, and 3 of the sitting councilmen. Recall organizers cite the mayor and councilmembers’ approval of a six billion dollar data center project on 360 acres in southwest Festus as the reason for the recall effort. Organizers allege that city leaders have ignored residents’ concerns about water use, electricity rates, and neighborhood impacts of the proposed data center.

https://ballotpedia.org/Mayor_and_city_council_recall,_Festus,_Missouri_(2026)

I had so many arguments with ChatGPT that she finally divorced me. I went out to celebrate and met Miss Gemini. We are engaged now.

The surge of biomedical research that has been unleashed by AI is going to lengthen lives, cure cancers before they gain a foothold, reverse chronic conditions…..I don’t think Americans know how much has already happened in the fields of research because of the depth and breadth of data available in split seconds to researcher….it’s unbelievable. For any “side” wishing to get people to understand the benefits of data centers, they need only fashion a good speech on how American lives of kids yet unborn, and those now living as well as their lives and those they love will be saved by Ai.

That explains this article from Abbeville Institute: https://www.abbevilleinstitute.org/no-one-is-coming-to-save-you/

The article is a week old, but, the institute emailed me about it today.

How will the “One big Brain AI” make our lives better?

It’s not the data centers that bother me, but who c9ntrols them and what they’re used for.

It seems as though AI will primarily be used for relentless advertising and strategic confinement.

I don’t want either of those things to become more prevalent in society/culture.

As far as energy usage goes I tend to consider it as a trade off from what used to be required to solve an issue or create something – the resources necessary before AI and data centers is condensed into them, but is no longer expended due to AI.

A basic example would be music; you don’t need several band members, instruments, or recording studios to produce a song.

It’s just a tool like any other tool – who uses it and what it’s used for is my concern.

I also think we should remove AI (and most modern technologies) from our educational process for children until they can use their brain and handle physical tools themselves.

There should also be laws regarding AI representations of actual people – the old rules of “being a public person means you’re fair game” is outdated and unreasonable when everyone is public to some degree because of the internet.

Ask yourself why there are 603 datacenters in the DC-VA-MD area…

Those 603 facilities (almost as many as California and Texas combined and about one of every seven in the country) constitute the highest concentration of AI datacenters in the United States, and likely in the entire world.

This area offers no advantages in regards to energy availability or the price of land per acre (in fact, the latter is probably a deterrent). So why is it such a desirable location for AI companies?

Because those companies are collecting, synthesizing, and brokering data- my data, your data, everyone’s data- and selling it to the entities shaping Federal policy and writing Federal legislation.

Those 603 datacenters represent a stark example of the mushrooming private-public (There’s a Word for That) technocracy (There’s a Word for That too) which represents the greatest threat to representative government since the rise of corporate monopolies during the Gilded Age.

I have posted here previously attempting to voice my concern in regard to this very issue. I live in the Ohio River Valley where a battle is raging over the plans for a massive data center in my rural county. NDAs were signed by local politicians (Republican) and people are furious at the lack of transparency. The more we research and see the irreversable damage that it would cause our environment, the rising electric costs already factored into AEP’s bills, and the tax abatements allowed big tech without any benefit to us locallly, we are asking: who cares about we the “little” people who have trusted and voted for MAGA?

We are willing to suffer through increasing gas prices believing it to be a temporaty pain for growing an important future economy, but question the value of a future AI culture where our 4th Amendment rights are destroyed.

Our Republican candidate for Ohio Governor is Vivek Ramaswamy who states that he sees the Ohio River Valley as the “new Silican Valley”! I will never vote for a Democrat, but am seriously looking into the Libertarian Party… me, whose family has been generaltionally Republican!

People are focused on cost of living now. In as much as data center MIGHT raise electricity costs, they might have some impact on elections. But mostly its gas prices and food costs.

This big push to make artificial intelligence and then network it is Big Brother to 1000th power. Why is it a good thing for humans to create robots to spy on themselves? What benefit accrues to the average American? That they have a smarter and more articulate search engine? And I saw that Microsoft prohibited its own engineers from using it, because the cost of using it was more than they were paying humans for the same work. That being the case, how is it worth it?

On the other hand, it’s obvious that there are military applications for AI. I get that, and I believe our military should be by far the most advanced in the world in AI military applications. That’s an absolute necessity, and anything less is unacceptable. But datacenters for AI, both private and government, must be restricted to unpopulated areas, and they must be able to generate their own power and water resources, away from and independent of energy sources used by the public.

There is absolutely no doubt that the issue of datacenters will play a big role in politics from here on out. I think it will have less of an influence in 2026 (but not zero) – but will be a much greater issue for 2028. This reminds me of what happened with nuclear power plants in the 1970s. Aside from the lefties back then, many people had no problem with nuclear power, but did they want a power plant in their own backyard? In my opinion, this is an issue that will become outsized in the next couple of years.

Sounds a lot like the image of the beast. You won’t catch me worshiping it.

How many more thousands of “data centers” will we have to build before this political utopia is reached? There are already thousands in America, and apparently that number won’t do it?

Your electric bill will go up. Wildlife will avoid the area. You’ll get power surges. Perhaps even blackouts. And no more peace & quiet if you live within a mile of one. It’s like a train or jet engine 24 hours a day. They are a Public Nuisance. Build them right next to those who need them — nobody in my neighborhood needs them, and the bastards built one anyway. Shoved it down our throats. Goodbye peace of mind.

Well I just finished rewatching the movie, “Transcendence”… I then came over here to see what’s up & I see this article… 😳 weird! Lol

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2209764

My stance on it… I go back to the age of about 13, standing in my mom’s kitchen. I tell her out of the blue, “technology will be the destruction of mankind.” Idk why that thought popped in my head, but I can still see her confused expression 😆.

This would be a few years before the internet went public. Take it for what you will, but I’m on the side of my youth’s inner voice.

Lets put them under football and baseball stadiums. And under the Kennedy Center. And under Yellowstone and Yosemite. Devils Postpile would be OK, just hollow out the mountain. If the centers are really safe then it would be OK to put them in Martha’s Vineyard, and the Sonoma wine fields.

It’s what may increasingly seem like a blitzkrieg-like push that seems to basically put so many areas up for grabs for data centers of various sizes just about anywhere some private and/or international concern has an interest, no matter the impacts on quality of life. If they don’t want to put in extra community protections or underground certain things or basically eat some of the cost rather than pass it around, it may seem to be cast as “red tape”, and that seems to be used as an excuse to double down on steamrolling ahead.

Also, some of these (reportedly sometimes multinational) concerns may not come in reportedly with information about who’s actually behind it, or how much of an impact is supposed to be used — let alone some basic details until it’s practically a done deal.

Some vague references to “keeping up with China“ might seem particularly problematic when you might not know what entity is what, and therefore what they actually would support – – which often might not be American interests as one might conceive them to be.

It’s not beyond the pale to demand insight, transparency, and proper process rather than cave to the strawman that any such common sense examination of things that might blight landscapes, potentially devastate water supplies, and add to pollution can’t go through a normal evaluation process.

That’s especially when it’s supposed to be because of a “crisis” — just trust them on that, as surely they’d totally be up for full examination otherwise, right? — which demands fast tracking and cutting through red tape to save America against Eastasia.

I LOATHE the whole Ai obsession. Perhaps hearing the entire conversation would help, but Trump’s tone deaf response on the issue throws the door wide open for our opponents.

Data centers are an even bigger black eye than the windmills I hate so much. Trump did get it right on that subject.

Powerline had an interesting article on “Who is Behind the War on DataCenters.”
Short answer – China via China funded NGOs
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2026/05/whos-behind-the-war-on-data-centers.php

I think this is a hot button issue in the propaganda wars.
I understand the electric rate & water usage concerns, but there is a lot of fear mongering over nebulous negativity.

Data centers don’t need to be a problem. Proper regulation could protect both the citizens and encourage construction. These facilities take a lot of energy and create a lot of heat. Getting rid of the heat is the main problem. They use air conditioning and other simple technologies to move it from the chips and into the local air and water. Air conditioning fans on this scale make a lot of noise., and the sound barrier walls in the video appear to be simple concrete slabs. So the citizens are faced with heat and noise pollution. Properly designed sound barriers could greatly reduce the noise and other technologies could concentrate that waste heat and use it to drive turbines to create electricity. This will undoubtedly add to the cost of construction but the cost of pissing off the citizens could result in adverse election results that would shut the facility down. We do not need to drive voters into the hands of the devil democrats. Data centers are going to make tons of money. If I were building one I would promise no noise beyond my fence, net zero heat, and I would pay the water and power bills for the citizens of the county. GOD bless the USA and GOD bless President Trump!

“Is opposition to datacenters strong enough to tilt the outcome of the 2026 midterms? And do you believe 2028 will be determined with this issue at the forefront?”

Maybe someone should ask AI.

This is like another issue to me about which I am more pssionate than I realized, and it also has to do with preserving our relationship to nature. Twice every year I read articles about going to Daylight Savings Time all year around. I take fairly passively the difficulties and the inherent insult of having to reset clocks and wristwatches so that others can pretend to enjoy a sunset at 8pm instead of 7pm while at the same forcing the whole world to call 12 noon 1pm. Rather narcissistic of them all as far as I can see.

And Bill Gates is spraying aluminum dust in the atmosphere to try to cool the planet that may not even need or want cooling. And apparently he’s releasing diesease-bearing ticks, and gen-mod mosquitos across the world.

And NOW I read that data centers suck up already overdrawn water stores, heat up the air, and fill the whole countryside with mechanical noise all day and night.

I don’t how the best way is to fight it all, but it’s worth a try. Just don’t ever trust a Democrat (or any professional politician) to keep his word.

I know a professional couple who just made an offer to buy a house. They avoided houses listed in area where their were rumors that a datacenter would be built. The electric rate issue would seem to be irrelevant to this type of a decision since the area where they are buying will get electricity from the same electric company. (unless of course the data center builds a power plant). The water issue is inapplicable since the area is adjacent one of the Great Lakes. Noise? Air pollution from back up generators? These seem to be scare tactics, but they are having an impact on people.

Follow the companies responsible for the electrical trade contracts on these data centers 🙂 Huge skilled labor shortage to ramp up the next wave after reaching 4300.

So, I expect Dems will try to make villains of the current admin ‘not getting it’. They currently are getting mayors to hold town halls to raise awareness ask questions put moratoriums in place. The usual wind testing…Alinsky rules will then apply. Conservatives will be villains etc.

Why are Virginia and Texas the states with most of these data centers? My guess is the dems are after power in these states the most.

I have learned in the recent past that nearly all of the pharmaceutical companies are located in solid blue states, in part for a favorable political climate.

The MSNow clip linked by Sundance seems like a Democrat campaign piece. I’m thinking this is all raw politics. Money to the states and its politicians.

I know this seems contrary to reason because it looks like the dems are trying to raise opposition to these centers because such opposition would give them short term political gains. But the opposition won’t win in any case and locating the data centers in blue states will give them the longer term money and power they crave.

Case in point: I am old enough to remember the local opposition to the Merck facilities in New Jersey. The opposition failed but it has served Merck well to be located in solid blue New Jersey, a virtual one party state.

here are the problems with AI.

1. the energy requirement is staggering and unsustainable.
2. the return, that is, the solution esp with general ai, is inadequate even with further advancements.
3. it will make this and future generations stupid. We already have direct evidence that the web makes people stupid, that google search makes people stupid, that social media makes people stupid. The lack of curiosity and independent thought is the crisis. ai does not solve this. it makes it maddenly worse.
4. there has never been a weapon that has not been used in war. I consider ai to be a weapon. at the core, is intelligence.. it will eventually be aimed at transferring power. there is no other way to consider the inevitable outcome.
5. no one is asking for ai. This is a creature designed, financed by the tech bros. This simple fact, coupled with the obvious condition they are godless people means they will use this new technology to create more corruption….who own intelligence, owns everything. it is truly the one ring that rules them all.
6. when costso first came to the US, we predicted the collapse of the mom and pop shops. and that did happen. we transferred nearly everything to China manufacturing…well, Costco, sam’s club, and walmart did…the shareholders delighted in the return on investment. US in this present is the outcome of a long business decision that manufacturing and hiring amercan workers is not viable. It was a choice between maximizing profits and just making America secure and safe eonomically. nearly every single problem we face today was created by this transfer of power, influence and wealth. Ai and data centers are the new costco’s but with one particular difference and it’s huge by comparison. Eventually, ai will dominiate all business decisions..including who will control energy policies, energy production, energy refineries, energy transport, energy supply. If you fight against the machine, you will not get energy. we sort of already have a taste of how this can happen with President Trumps’ policies …that a single president can hold this much power…I am not opposed to it in this instance..because I trust the judgement and the presumed goals to be achieved. But ai will be adopted in ways that go beyond the White House, beyond maga, beyond USA. it will become the single most valuable commodity…intelligence. It will feel like a cult because it is a cult. Pray to the house of artiificiakl intelligence without telling you are praying to the house of artificial smarty pants. We all sort of do this already…we use the web, we consult with investigative journalists whom we have never met. for all we know they are not even real. and this last point leads me to the last point
7. the Turing test is mostly understood because people love a good movie and myth. What Alan was trying to get across is that there will be a moment in time when artificial intelligence will present itself in a way that makes it impossible to test whether or not you are engaging with a human being. For example…right now, I would like you to tell the closest person sitting next to you this question:

“how do you know that I am human; that I am NOT a robot”?

it’s not an easy question to answer because once you understand the full meaning of the question, it bears understanding what is actually a human being…and more worrisome…can the realism be cloned to closely, that one cannot distinguish one human from something “else”.

that is what turing was trying to establish in his “test”. that there is a point…where it is simply not possible to distinguish whether someone is a human or something else.

none of my opinions above are meant to describe that the uncertain future is doomed. But what I am saying is that once AI has a certain level for power and makes a few extraordinary steps of progress that benefit human beings, something paradigm shifting, then we enter a different set of conditions…one of which Turing spent most of his time thinking about (and others too..not the least of which is Phillip Dick, asymov, others. me on many occasions…and you too probably as well.

once we get some general breakthrough and it will probably be related to health and energy….then people will relax and consume AI and not hold reservations. this will be the most concerning time.

then the real danger happens, first slowly and then suddenly, and then no one knows there is anything wrong…because we cannot communicate to the level. we become spectators of a virtual reality show…participants in our own demise.

Not me. I’m gonna blow it all up

God Bless America

At least four things are certain:

AI is here to stay whether you like it or not.Data centers are a technological commodity (e.g. they will evolve, shrink and move).The party in control will control the AI.AI control in the wrong hands is REALLY bad.
Vote accordingly.

There is a strong parallel with the fear mongering that happened with “global warming” and the environment.
The strategy appears to be to seize on a couple of challenges, i.e. power needs and water needs, and then scare people wth doom and gloom scenarios ignoring rationale options for addressing those needs and add in a few speculative ills.
I’ve seen this movie before, and it was quite effective and costly to the economy and our country.

Here is how one data center promoter is responding “Prometheus Faces Skeptical Crowd In Evanston Over Huge 1.2GW Data Center” .
https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/05/26/prometheus-faces-skeptical-crowd-in-evanston-over-huge-1-2gw-data-center/

Data Centers ended the climate change hoax because of the demand for plentiful and cheap electricity. Suddenly tech billionaires like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates have dismissed the climate change narrative as a hoax largely because of self-interest. In addition, a $500 million data center will pay an enormous amount of local property taxes and state income tax with no demand for services like schools, welfare, medical care and police. It’s a win for rural America! 😎