Data Centers
As Illinois lawmakers debate POWER Act, concerns about data centers spill into rural communities
On the heels of Sangamon County approving a $500 million data center in central Illinois, residents throughout the region express concern over facilities’ impact on energy, water, and the environment.
Local Maine officials look to pause data center development after state moratorium veto
After a statewide moratorium on data centers failed to make it across the finish line at the Maine Legislature, local officials are pursuing their own bans.
Water, electricity remain major data center concerns, survey says
Zencity found that the more familiar someone is with AI, the more inclined they are to support data centers. But residents’ trust that local governments will be open about the centers’ impacts is slipping.
Local Texas leaders believe data center plans may be behind delays to emergency water supply
Across Texas, a booming buildout of server farms is adding strain to water resources that are already stretched to their limit.
Utah’s fragile desert could feel like the Sahara if America’s biggest data center gets built
The Great Salt Lake is drying up. What happens when a data center as large as a city sits next to it?
Utah protesters want more sunlight on data center plan and its effects on water and air
Utah protesters demanded independent reviews of the planned Stratos project in Box Elder County and a “genuine public comment period.”
Texas county pauses data center construction in rural areas for a year
Hill County commissioners’ split vote to issue a moratorium appears to be a first in Texas.
Data center dilemma: Who should decide where they go in North Dakota?
There is no formal environmental review or centralized body in charge of overseeing data center developers.
Florida has a new law regulating AI data centers
Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law a requirement that data centers must pay their own utility costs and not shift them onto consumers.
How a data center derailed $240,000 for affordable housing in rural Maine
In rural Midcoast Maine, nearly a quarter of a million dollars in federal money earmarked for housing was rescinded from a small town after local officials sought to use the funds for a data center.
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In rural Wisconsin, a town pushes aside a plan to build a massive data center
Residents and town leaders have been in the dark about who would build a $1B center or where it would go. They used zoning to block the plan.
Maine governor vetoes landmark data center ban
Janet Mills said the moratorium bill, which would have banned data centers larger than 20 megawatts until Nov. 2027, did not take into account a popular local project.
Local governments race to attract data centers, often in spite of concerns from their constituents
Communities are sounding the alarm on an industry that stands to have a far greater impact beyond the walls of its warehouses.
This data center is getting a $77 million tax break to create one job
No other project in the country has gotten such a large subsidy to create so few jobs, according to watchdogs.
Virginia governor amends bills that shift costs onto data centers. Critics say her tweaks weaken them.
As negotiations continue around whether the tax exemptions for data centers will remain, Spanberger removes adding new costs onto that customer class.
Data centers hit the ballot this year
Residents in a Wisconsin city already passed a measure to restrict their development, while others may follow, including a statewide effort in Ohio.
Maine is set to ban data centers, becoming the first state in the nation to do so
The legislation still requires the Governor’s signature to become the law, but it represents a growing bipartisan concern among voters over potential energy rate hikes and water usage.
As states spend millions to woo data centers, Colorado is having a reckoning
Legislators debate a possible moratorium while residents take their demands and health fears directly to a data center developer.
Texas is giving data centers more than $1 billion in tax breaks each year
The tax break is one of the state’s costliest incentive programs and soon to be the most expensive of its kind in the nation.
Data centers are straining the grid. Can they be forced to pay for it?
As backlash grows, a nationwide search is underway for solutions to the AI energy crunch.
