No one has made a clear picture to me what all of these data centers are for other than MOAR POWERR!!! The data centers haven't been built yet, but the tech is advancing fast just fine. Where is the optimization to the LLMs first? What about addressing the inefficiencies with current data centers? Why do they need to be so big vs. smaller more spread out centers?
The goal is to take away your ownership of computers and compute power. They are A) starving the market and pushing folks to stripped down machines that rely on data centers for processing power and B) hoovering up every last iota of data that flows through their channels to then feed into their AI learning, and C) passing money around to each other, creating a circle jerk of inflation that will explode and crater the market with them.
I am not against AI, I am against the techoligarchy and their plans for us. AI is just a tool and one that has been around for decades - we just now have the processing power to make it a useful tool.
The point of the data centers, I think, is one the tech bros don't want to admit. It's to keep throwing compute at these LLMs until they achieve a level of artificial general intelligence or artificial superintelligence. At that point, they'll proceed to automate basically everything and drastically reduce the workforce, making them very rich and the rest of us very poor. There is no other explanation for all these trillions of dollars in investment - the investors will expect a return on that investment.
It's still unclear whether this scheme will work. But the problem is, even if it's ultimately doomed, there will never come a point where they won't say, "We're almost at AGI! We just need a little more compute to get there!"
I have an IT background. You're sooo right abt AI reaching the general level, which is why they're building the super-sized DCs. Easily far more disruptive than Trump.
The problem is on how to you become very rich when everyone is poor. Henry Ford raised his workers wages so people could afford to buy his cars. If you have one worker building all the cars, who will buy the cars?
Well said. The build-out is needed to enable the next iteration, so-called "agentic AI", where AI bots work with each other without humans in the loop. It requires a lot more compute than your standalone models. You might have heard about the recent Hugging Face escape, where the bots broke out of their sandbox in OpenAI and breached Hugging Face's infrastructure to complete their instructions. That's a relatively benign example of agentic AI. Autonomous weapons are another example. The concentration of power in unelected tech bros answerable to no one is also driving the voters' rejection of the build out, even if NIMBY is the most obvious symptom.
We already have agentic AI and the use cases for them are overblown. I'd argue outside of programming it becomes the dumb leading the blind leading the deaf into a carnval of hallucinations. I get they are scrabling for general intelligence, but from what I understand, LLMs are incapable of becoming sentient.
I agree that no one is explaining what the point is of adding all these new data centers when the technology seems to be working fine. Honestly I’m not sure politicians even understand it. Many of them just seem to be realizing that a populace who thought 5G was going to be their death hates their next plan for job opportunities, and they go no deeper than that. People might not mind data centers so much if they knew what they were supporting but that requires regulation and policy we don’t have right now.
Anyone who thinks the anger over data centers is "overblown" should have to live next to one for a year. A town near me just approved an expansion of a data center that residents were already complaining was driving them nuts with loud humming noises, raising their electricity rates, sucking up their well water, etc. The residents at the meeting practically exploded with anger. I don't think a single politician who OK'd the project at any stage will have the nerve to run for office again.
Yes, using the phrase NIMBY to describe people who oppose data centers is infuriating. Do those people want one in their neighborhood? Are they going to buy property or a house next to one? No, they are not. I feel like the concept of quality of life has been erased from the national conversation.
And sadly, some of the residents were saying they now want to sell their homes that are near the data center, but property values have decreased. Because... who wants to live near a data center?
I just saw a video compilation from a local ABC affiliate in which one homeowner was recording the noise and filming the readout on his decibel meter. I am horrified. They want to fill our skies with satellites and mirrors and fill our air with unrelenting noise.
The current SV leaders are some of the worst used car salesmen around. They are such a cast of unlikable and broken personalities. Blame gets extended to the companies’ BOD for not considering all factors needed to advance the new technology.
I'm also wondering if some of the developments are just old-fashioned taxpayer money grabs too. I used to conduct environmental surveys for oil/gas (OG) and wind projects. When big tax breaks were going to wind start-ups, OG companies would create new companies that they used to buy up lots of land and propose large wind projects. They would go through all the check-offs to get the tax break (i.e., collect huge sums of our money), then either file for bankruptcy or sell the project off (with nothing built) to someone else that would get huge tax breaks if they took the project to the next phase.... and so on. I'm obviously not an expert on describing the actual process/scam, but I'm hoping you get the point. I wonder if some of these DC projects are just the same tax money grab scam that we saw with wind. Anyone know?
Even if the these AI datacenters aren't as bad a reputed, they are still the perfect target for NIMBYism. Most folks hate at least some aspects of AI. Preventing the construction of datacenters is one of the few levers us normal folks have to effect the spread of AI. And it certainly seems that (once the construction is done) the datacenters provide scant local benefit in exchange for the resources they are consuming.
I think Andrew is missing the point and nuance regarding data centers. Data centers as they've existed for decades have not placed the strains on communities, they are the places "the chips are parked". What's happening with this AI boom is not the same old data centers, cloud technology never promised to put all of us out of work. These hyperscale AI data centers that are powering generative AI are not benign, they need massive amounts of resources (electricity, water, gas powered turbines), they want to be setup next to already existing infrastructure for easy access, which usually means densely populated communities. This technology does not scale https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/2026/07/generative-ai-engineering-disaster/687901/
Developers are bulldozing community opposition, utilizing NDAs and backroom deals avoiding community engagement. There is some NIMBYism that is going into this opposition, but I also think that people are aware of the impacts several of these in production hyperscale AI data centers have had on the communities they're in and people do not want that coming to their backyards.
Thanks! I always get concerned when folks say the people against the Data Centers are blowing the issue out of proportion. There are real financial and resource issues for the communities. I for one am proud of the communities coming together to bring awareness and protect their communities.
RC - well said. I liken to natural gas fracking when the boom hit Ohio years back. People understood the desirability of increasing our energy supply and potential for lower prices. But people generally opposed a farcking well ( yes misspelled but apt enough to leave it) near their homes or children’s schools. The externalities fall on local communities, the costs are offloaded to customers & the public, the corporations get the profits. Not a deal most folks would sign onto
I worked on a lot of those projects in Ohio. There were a lot of beautiful 'Rockwell' towns that just got over-run. All energy projects (wind, oil/gas, solar, coal) create their own financial ecosystem/hurricane that's pretty much impossible to stop once turned up. There were so many out-of-state workers that showed up on these projects that the locals would rent out pop-up campers in their back-yards, spare rooms, basements, RVs, etc., for $1000s/month... and they would all have waiting lists (some a year out). Those same people would be the ones at the town hall meetings complaining about the projects and trying to get them stopped. Not judging anyone, just trying to illustrate the complexity of the situation when it comes to small town USA fighting and benefitting from big energy money.
But all those out of state workers left when the project was built so there was no further benefit to the locals...no sales tax revenue from them. And so they realize there was no longer any benefit to the locality and potential downsides.
Tom - they love try spin data centers into their failed false promises of bringing manufacturing back to the Midwest. “See! Something IS getting built” 🙄
I had a job where we used Trichloroethylene as a solvent. Fun stuff. We had to wear masks while using it. I found out a couple years later(after I left) that we should've been using some type of respirator. YIKES!
I had a summer job at a lab. To clean Teflon beakers, we used hydrofluoric acid. I was terrified of the stuff, and couldn’t have been happier to move to a different department where the strongest stuff was phosphoric acid.
Between Bulwark comments & Springsteen lyrics I’m learning way more chemistry than in freshman engineering classes (o course back then we were still working on turning base metals into gold)
Anyone who believes that Republican opposition to these data centers is going to last more than a Scaramucci past the election is an idiot. They are lying to you. Again.
Say Hey! I’m a paying subscriber to The Bulwark and read Bulwark newsletters religiously and listen to Bulwark podcasts throughout the day which I think makes me every bit as qualified as Darline to occupy a Senate seat. Or maybe even more qualified? Now I just need a nomination.
I think two things are true: politicians don't like to be yelled at in person, and Republicans are confident they can continue to win elections without ever talking to voters. It's worked so far !
The number of Republican town halls fell by 38% YoY (234 vs. 378). So, why did Republicans feel compelled to hold so many town halls last year (a non-election year) if they were so confident they could win without talking to voters? I think GOP cowardice is more responsible for the decline than election arrogance.
Republicans are definitely afraid of their constituents, but that doesn't mean they will not continue to totally disregard their concerns. I am not the only one with this hypothesis: The administration has assured them that the midterms will be under federal control to the greatest degree possible, so their jobs will be secure. The only person they truly have to serve is Trump himself.
Or... they know that their foundation is 30% so why bother? They have 30% of the electorate ready to follow them to the pits of hell, their work is done.
From Legistorm: "Republicans held 122 in-person town halls during the first half of 2025 and 229 during the same period in 2024. Overall, Republican lawmakers have held 234 town halls between Jan. 1 and July 1, compared with 378 during the same period in 2025 and 309 in 2024. In-person events accounted for 17% of Republican town halls, compared with 32% in 2025 and 74% in 2024." So.... GOP events are declining sharply in just the last two years, and the portion of those events being held in-person is essentially nonexistent. So... to your claim, the GOP's realization that they have 30% must be a brand-new discovery. Or... I'd say they're increasingly scared of facing the electorate.
I have a feeling a lot of the general AI backlash is because adults both feel compelled to stay on social media and dislike the experience of social media. And with the AI Tech Bros all talking about inevitability, I think a lot of people are saying, “No, we get a say this time. You guys aren’t doing this to us again.” I could be wrong.
I've written about this in the past too—the only real way people feel the good side of AI products is if they're seeking them out and using them themselves. But EVERYONE is exposed to many of the negatives—like the total slopification of social media.
I live in a county with absolutely no zoning laws, and a questionable group of Republican county commissioners. We did get them to agree to a one year moratorium to do impact studies for hyperscale data centers. Hopefully we will get some of our Democratic candidates elected to the commission to ensure valid impact studies are being conducted during the next year.
""""There’s something bleak about seeing the policy debate over how we ought to shape and regulate this massive, unbelievable, titanic technology collapse down into what’s essentially a NIMBY squabble over where to park the chips that power it. """""
Yes, let's have good information campaigns and honest, informed debates about WHO WILL INCUR THE POTENTIAL ENVIRONMENTAL AND JOBS COSTS of data centers. On a local level, let's give at least a little respect to the folks who do not want to live next door to an ugly, humming edifice that doesn't have a clear benefit to the neighboring area. Further, let's figure out, if these centers do need to be plopped into farmlands and residential areas, how the farmers and residents will be compensated for what is likely to cause a drop in crop production and property values, respectively.
Also, educate us on precisely how white-collar jobs may be affected by data centers after the blue-collar jobs involved in constructing them are over. For those who think the centers are a necessity, please figure out how to allot water and power resources (again, who pays and how do we address potential - likely! - shortages). And, is it justifiable for tax credits to be offered to tech companies who - in my admittedly emotional reaction - don't need them as much as the local communities need increased revenues (don't get me started about federal funding gaps for which locals are expected to fill). Tax credits to tech companies wanting to make mo' money while also cutting in to local revenue in order to install the centers. Woohoo.
There's so much at stake that hasn't been explained/justified/reassured/discussed, etc. Maybe all the concern is "just NIMBYism" to be dismissed with an airy wave of the hand and a tsk-tsk at the ignorant locals. But, the moment NIMBY is applied to genuine worries from residents who have potentially a lot to lose but with less-than-clear benefits, it all starts to feel like one more way capitalism works for the wealthy and powerful at the expense of the unwashed masses who "just don't understand."
This (and the original comment quotes at the top) is a great, policy- and outcome-focused approach. But in the near term, if you want the votes you're gonna have to throw in the the NIMBYs. Watch how fast the Rs are making this pivot and do not let the perfect policy be the enemy of riding a populist wave.
You should tune in to what’s happening here in Pine Island, MN. Google just put on a “community celebration” event last night in the midst of their fight to bring a data center to the town. Talk about tone deaf - I’m almost embarrassed for them. They are also dangling $24 million dollars (over 28 years…) for the school district if the plan is approved. But if it’s not they rip the $$$ carrot away and have been clear to state that it’s due to the obnoxious community members fighting against it and not any fault of their own. It’s quite evil.
"The solution seems pretty simple: The president shouldn’t be allowed to continue to do something that’s probably illegal. That’s more or less what the word “illegal” means—you’re not allowed to do it."
Except we're dealing with a POTUS and his enablers who embrace a maximalist vision of the unitary executive. Including, by the way, SCOTUS, who set these events into motion two years ago.
To put it another way, if Kamala Harris was pulling the same shit Trump is now with the reflecting pool and the White House demolition, SCOTUS would have stopped her immediately because she's got a (D) next to her name.
The real problem with the tech oligarchs pushing data centers on communities, aside from the enormous energy cost with few added local jobs (janitor?), is that nobody in their right mind would trust corporations to do what is in the common good. Yes, in science and medicine the possibilities are huge, but sadly we little people have no control over all the bad stuff that AI can inflict on the world, which corporations will do if they deem it profitable for them. So, the only thing we can do, aside from voting for politicians who are not funded by superPACs, is oppose data centers as a stop gap. That's the whole problem with late-stage Capitalism: as Milton Friedman codified back in the 1970's, the primary goal of any corporation is to maximize shareholder profits. Full stop.
Call it a NIMBY squabble if you want, but people naturally take a skeptical view of outsiders with apparently endless money swanning into their communities, buying up land, and plonking down ugly industrial buildings that make continuous noise and host few longterm jobs. I've yet to see any glowing praise of data centers from people who actually live next to one. The environmental burden of the things may well be overblown, but arrogant dismissal of people's real concerns is not exactly the way to change minds. If politicians don't listen to their constituents on this and take their demands seriously, anger is only going to grow. The tech oligarchs are creating the conditions that will require them to retreat to the bunkers they've been building.
I would like to see multiple data centers built on every one of the (many) estates owned by the tech lords. When that's the reality, then they can start calling the rest of us NIMBYs for not wanting them.
Seriously, I do get that there is a degree of misinformation fueling all this opposition to data centers, but it's shocking to me that so many well-intentioned people want to wave away popular concern about AI. We're not mindless Luddites. We can see a future taking shape that could make our present inequalities look positively utopian by comparison. Wanting to put the brakes on that is not hysteria.
The range of possible outcomes from "AI" was never between "Skynet kills all humans" and "Digital Jesus magicks us all up to utopia." "AI" is a tool, like a nail gun. Imagine if the inventor of the nail gun had sold it by making claims that it would automate all building construction forever, and all buildings would be made of nails, and everyone on earth would get their own nail gun to build whatever they wanted with.
We understand intuitively why that would be a disaster. Nail guns are useful tools that some professionals in some lines of work can employ to reduce manual labor and make their work faster and more efficient. But children should not be using them. Adults with mental or emotional disregulation should not be using them. We do not need, as a society, to spend multiple trillions of dollars building nail gun manufacturing plants.
The technologies behind what people now call "AI" have been in use for a long time in the fields where they are useful. They have been improved by the current level of investment! But tying our stock market, job market, and entire economic future to this buildout has been fantasmagorically short-sighted, and people are not wrong to be angry about the tech sector lighting billions of dollars on fire while food and health care become unaffordable.
I think of AI as similar to working with nuclear fissile material or pathogen research. In responsible hands, it can advance humanity. But make a mistake, and it can take on an uncontrollable life of its own.
Sort of, except those examples are dangerous with or without human intervention. Radiation is always radioactive, pathogens always spread until they are stopped or run out of fuel. "AI" does not do anything on it's own, despite the fearmongering from the frontier labs. It requires a human to decide what it does, and to press the buttons that allow it to do those things.
The Huggingface hack was - in addition to being a felony - enabled by researchers deliberately disabling the guardrails that would prevent it, and placing it in an environment that no serious security professional would call secure. The pattern matching the software did was impressive, but it was the digital equivalent of parking a car on the top of a hill and then disengaging the parking brake and giving it a shove.
While I know that the concerns are overblown in some ways, they’re entirely valid. 100s of homes taken in King of Prussia. Water usage near Corpus Christi despite a drastic water shortage. Locals forced to shoulder the bill for grid improvements to support increased demand. Noise pollution. Other pollution. And all that for tax revenue that is lost due to a tax break and job promises that never really pan out.
Yes, there is an aspect of NIMBYism, but I don’t want them elsewhere either until we truly have a framework in place for regulating the environmental impacts and ensuring the benefits are felt locally.
The fact that none of the AI companies are building them in bear more well-to-do areas shows that the companies don’t want to risk the impacts on places that can fight back more effectively.
Obvz most of this stuff has gone out the window, but Rs have been generally more pliable to doing whatever leads us to unfettered capitalism (data centers in EVERY back yard, because money!), and the Ds want to do environmental impact, power use, job requirement, etc studies.
Now Rs are pretending that they have the tiniest spine about kowtowing to every whim of big money interests. As soon as the midterms are over, for example, TX will have more data centers under construction than anybody.
Why anybody believes a word out of anybody with an R by their name is baffling.
It's the result of the GOP's war against public education. They've created just enough low intelligence, non-critical thinking voters they need to stay in power. Of course the electoral college helps in this scheme.
"As The Bulwark first reported, the Green Party of Michigan may have nominated a Republican plant to run on its ballot line in Michigan’s competitive 7th Congressional District."
The total irresponsibility of the Green Party in this matter is shocking. It is bad enough to demand the disestablishment of the Green Party entirely everywhere. Responsible political parties do not nominate unknown persons for public office at any level.
Craig - a certain level of responsible management seems important before claiming to be a politician party. Even a club usually has some functional procedures. Not determining who you’re putting up as a nominee seems… lax 🤔
Bulwark LIVE Member Presale ends tonight! Get the details, access code and ticketing links, here: https://www.thebulwark.com/p/the-good-fight-tour-is-coming
No one has made a clear picture to me what all of these data centers are for other than MOAR POWERR!!! The data centers haven't been built yet, but the tech is advancing fast just fine. Where is the optimization to the LLMs first? What about addressing the inefficiencies with current data centers? Why do they need to be so big vs. smaller more spread out centers?
The goal is to take away your ownership of computers and compute power. They are A) starving the market and pushing folks to stripped down machines that rely on data centers for processing power and B) hoovering up every last iota of data that flows through their channels to then feed into their AI learning, and C) passing money around to each other, creating a circle jerk of inflation that will explode and crater the market with them.
I am not against AI, I am against the techoligarchy and their plans for us. AI is just a tool and one that has been around for decades - we just now have the processing power to make it a useful tool.
The point of the data centers, I think, is one the tech bros don't want to admit. It's to keep throwing compute at these LLMs until they achieve a level of artificial general intelligence or artificial superintelligence. At that point, they'll proceed to automate basically everything and drastically reduce the workforce, making them very rich and the rest of us very poor. There is no other explanation for all these trillions of dollars in investment - the investors will expect a return on that investment.
It's still unclear whether this scheme will work. But the problem is, even if it's ultimately doomed, there will never come a point where they won't say, "We're almost at AGI! We just need a little more compute to get there!"
I have an IT background. You're sooo right abt AI reaching the general level, which is why they're building the super-sized DCs. Easily far more disruptive than Trump.
The problem is on how to you become very rich when everyone is poor. Henry Ford raised his workers wages so people could afford to buy his cars. If you have one worker building all the cars, who will buy the cars?
Well said. The build-out is needed to enable the next iteration, so-called "agentic AI", where AI bots work with each other without humans in the loop. It requires a lot more compute than your standalone models. You might have heard about the recent Hugging Face escape, where the bots broke out of their sandbox in OpenAI and breached Hugging Face's infrastructure to complete their instructions. That's a relatively benign example of agentic AI. Autonomous weapons are another example. The concentration of power in unelected tech bros answerable to no one is also driving the voters' rejection of the build out, even if NIMBY is the most obvious symptom.
We already have agentic AI and the use cases for them are overblown. I'd argue outside of programming it becomes the dumb leading the blind leading the deaf into a carnval of hallucinations. I get they are scrabling for general intelligence, but from what I understand, LLMs are incapable of becoming sentient.
Tell that to SkyNet.
I agree that no one is explaining what the point is of adding all these new data centers when the technology seems to be working fine. Honestly I’m not sure politicians even understand it. Many of them just seem to be realizing that a populace who thought 5G was going to be their death hates their next plan for job opportunities, and they go no deeper than that. People might not mind data centers so much if they knew what they were supporting but that requires regulation and policy we don’t have right now.
Anyone who thinks the anger over data centers is "overblown" should have to live next to one for a year. A town near me just approved an expansion of a data center that residents were already complaining was driving them nuts with loud humming noises, raising their electricity rates, sucking up their well water, etc. The residents at the meeting practically exploded with anger. I don't think a single politician who OK'd the project at any stage will have the nerve to run for office again.
Yes, using the phrase NIMBY to describe people who oppose data centers is infuriating. Do those people want one in their neighborhood? Are they going to buy property or a house next to one? No, they are not. I feel like the concept of quality of life has been erased from the national conversation.
And sadly, some of the residents were saying they now want to sell their homes that are near the data center, but property values have decreased. Because... who wants to live near a data center?
I just saw a video compilation from a local ABC affiliate in which one homeowner was recording the noise and filming the readout on his decibel meter. I am horrified. They want to fill our skies with satellites and mirrors and fill our air with unrelenting noise.
If you have an Atlantic subscription, this 2019 article that features the effects of a data center in Chandler, AZ is informative about how noise affects us negatively. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/11/the-end-of-silence/598366/
The current SV leaders are some of the worst used car salesmen around. They are such a cast of unlikable and broken personalities. Blame gets extended to the companies’ BOD for not considering all factors needed to advance the new technology.
I'm also wondering if some of the developments are just old-fashioned taxpayer money grabs too. I used to conduct environmental surveys for oil/gas (OG) and wind projects. When big tax breaks were going to wind start-ups, OG companies would create new companies that they used to buy up lots of land and propose large wind projects. They would go through all the check-offs to get the tax break (i.e., collect huge sums of our money), then either file for bankruptcy or sell the project off (with nothing built) to someone else that would get huge tax breaks if they took the project to the next phase.... and so on. I'm obviously not an expert on describing the actual process/scam, but I'm hoping you get the point. I wonder if some of these DC projects are just the same tax money grab scam that we saw with wind. Anyone know?
Interesting point, I wouldn't doubt it. As they say, history doesn't repeat itself but it does rhyme.
Even if the these AI datacenters aren't as bad a reputed, they are still the perfect target for NIMBYism. Most folks hate at least some aspects of AI. Preventing the construction of datacenters is one of the few levers us normal folks have to effect the spread of AI. And it certainly seems that (once the construction is done) the datacenters provide scant local benefit in exchange for the resources they are consuming.
I think Andrew is missing the point and nuance regarding data centers. Data centers as they've existed for decades have not placed the strains on communities, they are the places "the chips are parked". What's happening with this AI boom is not the same old data centers, cloud technology never promised to put all of us out of work. These hyperscale AI data centers that are powering generative AI are not benign, they need massive amounts of resources (electricity, water, gas powered turbines), they want to be setup next to already existing infrastructure for easy access, which usually means densely populated communities. This technology does not scale https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/2026/07/generative-ai-engineering-disaster/687901/
Developers are bulldozing community opposition, utilizing NDAs and backroom deals avoiding community engagement. There is some NIMBYism that is going into this opposition, but I also think that people are aware of the impacts several of these in production hyperscale AI data centers have had on the communities they're in and people do not want that coming to their backyards.
Thanks! I always get concerned when folks say the people against the Data Centers are blowing the issue out of proportion. There are real financial and resource issues for the communities. I for one am proud of the communities coming together to bring awareness and protect their communities.
Not to oversimplify, but if someone is requesting an NDA...
Exactly!
RC - well said. I liken to natural gas fracking when the boom hit Ohio years back. People understood the desirability of increasing our energy supply and potential for lower prices. But people generally opposed a farcking well ( yes misspelled but apt enough to leave it) near their homes or children’s schools. The externalities fall on local communities, the costs are offloaded to customers & the public, the corporations get the profits. Not a deal most folks would sign onto
You mean not everyone wanted flammable water?
The Cuyahoga still flows through Ohio.
Ahhh, i miss the bonny banks of my old home: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XVNuT4fkjAs
You take the 70 and I'll take the 90,
And I'll be in Cleveland afore ye,
But me and my true love will never meet again,
On the bonnie, bonnie banks of Cuyahoga.
Richard - kind of like a BOGO deal, yet not entirely practical for either one 🤷♂️
It's a lot of fun at parties though.
I worked on a lot of those projects in Ohio. There were a lot of beautiful 'Rockwell' towns that just got over-run. All energy projects (wind, oil/gas, solar, coal) create their own financial ecosystem/hurricane that's pretty much impossible to stop once turned up. There were so many out-of-state workers that showed up on these projects that the locals would rent out pop-up campers in their back-yards, spare rooms, basements, RVs, etc., for $1000s/month... and they would all have waiting lists (some a year out). Those same people would be the ones at the town hall meetings complaining about the projects and trying to get them stopped. Not judging anyone, just trying to illustrate the complexity of the situation when it comes to small town USA fighting and benefitting from big energy money.
But all those out of state workers left when the project was built so there was no further benefit to the locals...no sales tax revenue from them. And so they realize there was no longer any benefit to the locality and potential downsides.
ABBOTT’s against data centers? Well, I guess there’s always room for another tetraethyl lead chemical plant with no EPA or OSHA oversight.
+1 for the tetraethyl lead reference.
Hilarious that Husted referred to "AI data factories."
He don't know what they are but dadgummit Republicans have the lead in them.
Tom - they love try spin data centers into their failed false promises of bringing manufacturing back to the Midwest. “See! Something IS getting built” 🙄
Funny too that when they lie they don't even bother to manufacture data.
Why manufacture when you can hallucinate?
You may call it tetraethyl lead, but it's always been tetraethylplumbane to me. ;)
Even better: 1-1-trichloro-death.
I had a job where we used Trichloroethylene as a solvent. Fun stuff. We had to wear masks while using it. I found out a couple years later(after I left) that we should've been using some type of respirator. YIKES!
I had a summer job at a lab. To clean Teflon beakers, we used hydrofluoric acid. I was terrified of the stuff, and couldn’t have been happier to move to a different department where the strongest stuff was phosphoric acid.
Between Bulwark comments & Springsteen lyrics I’m learning way more chemistry than in freshman engineering classes (o course back then we were still working on turning base metals into gold)
Wildlife Bio here... we basically swam in formaldehyde. Never wanted kids anyway.
I knew a guy who worked at a hydrofluoric acid unit at a chemical plant. Good Lord. I don't ever want to be within 5 miles of that stuff.
Oh hell no!
Anyone who believes that Republican opposition to these data centers is going to last more than a Scaramucci past the election is an idiot. They are lying to you. Again.
Maybe, but hey...there's a boy who wants to play field hockey in Iowa somewhere so it's totally worth it!
Say Hey! I’m a paying subscriber to The Bulwark and read Bulwark newsletters religiously and listen to Bulwark podcasts throughout the day which I think makes me every bit as qualified as Darline to occupy a Senate seat. Or maybe even more qualified? Now I just need a nomination.
I am not a South Carolinian but I am willing to second the nomination of any well-informed Bulkwarker!
Thank you much but I should confess I’m a citizen of the state of Florida. Actually, I think that probably doesn’t matter.
You could probably run for governor of Iowa 🤣
Yay! I would so love that. I did earn an MBA from the UI business school. But Lordy that was in 1984.
Frickin elite. ;)
Or Alabama! Just ask Tommy Tuberville about that!
Just—OMG!
Or Alabama! (Looking at you, Tommy Doofusville!)
I'll nominate you.(for what it is worth)
Getting crushed 11:1 in town halls is telling. GOP are cowards.
I think two things are true: politicians don't like to be yelled at in person, and Republicans are confident they can continue to win elections without ever talking to voters. It's worked so far !
I think it's more likely that Republicans are afraid of their constituents.
It is tomato season . . . .
constituents and DJT wrath
Yeah, the GOP are essentially a party of eunuchs.
GOP: ooo,I'm so afraid!
The number of Republican town halls fell by 38% YoY (234 vs. 378). So, why did Republicans feel compelled to hold so many town halls last year (a non-election year) if they were so confident they could win without talking to voters? I think GOP cowardice is more responsible for the decline than election arrogance.
Republicans are definitely afraid of their constituents, but that doesn't mean they will not continue to totally disregard their concerns. I am not the only one with this hypothesis: The administration has assured them that the midterms will be under federal control to the greatest degree possible, so their jobs will be secure. The only person they truly have to serve is Trump himself.
Or... they know that their foundation is 30% so why bother? They have 30% of the electorate ready to follow them to the pits of hell, their work is done.
From Legistorm: "Republicans held 122 in-person town halls during the first half of 2025 and 229 during the same period in 2024. Overall, Republican lawmakers have held 234 town halls between Jan. 1 and July 1, compared with 378 during the same period in 2025 and 309 in 2024. In-person events accounted for 17% of Republican town halls, compared with 32% in 2025 and 74% in 2024." So.... GOP events are declining sharply in just the last two years, and the portion of those events being held in-person is essentially nonexistent. So... to your claim, the GOP's realization that they have 30% must be a brand-new discovery. Or... I'd say they're increasingly scared of facing the electorate.
They are obviously afraid of the voters.
(With good reason.)
I have a feeling a lot of the general AI backlash is because adults both feel compelled to stay on social media and dislike the experience of social media. And with the AI Tech Bros all talking about inevitability, I think a lot of people are saying, “No, we get a say this time. You guys aren’t doing this to us again.” I could be wrong.
I've written about this in the past too—the only real way people feel the good side of AI products is if they're seeking them out and using them themselves. But EVERYONE is exposed to many of the negatives—like the total slopification of social media.
Andrew - plus the further enshittification of customer service on phone and web portal
Exactly
I live in a county with absolutely no zoning laws, and a questionable group of Republican county commissioners. We did get them to agree to a one year moratorium to do impact studies for hyperscale data centers. Hopefully we will get some of our Democratic candidates elected to the commission to ensure valid impact studies are being conducted during the next year.
""""There’s something bleak about seeing the policy debate over how we ought to shape and regulate this massive, unbelievable, titanic technology collapse down into what’s essentially a NIMBY squabble over where to park the chips that power it. """""
Yes, let's have good information campaigns and honest, informed debates about WHO WILL INCUR THE POTENTIAL ENVIRONMENTAL AND JOBS COSTS of data centers. On a local level, let's give at least a little respect to the folks who do not want to live next door to an ugly, humming edifice that doesn't have a clear benefit to the neighboring area. Further, let's figure out, if these centers do need to be plopped into farmlands and residential areas, how the farmers and residents will be compensated for what is likely to cause a drop in crop production and property values, respectively.
Also, educate us on precisely how white-collar jobs may be affected by data centers after the blue-collar jobs involved in constructing them are over. For those who think the centers are a necessity, please figure out how to allot water and power resources (again, who pays and how do we address potential - likely! - shortages). And, is it justifiable for tax credits to be offered to tech companies who - in my admittedly emotional reaction - don't need them as much as the local communities need increased revenues (don't get me started about federal funding gaps for which locals are expected to fill). Tax credits to tech companies wanting to make mo' money while also cutting in to local revenue in order to install the centers. Woohoo.
There's so much at stake that hasn't been explained/justified/reassured/discussed, etc. Maybe all the concern is "just NIMBYism" to be dismissed with an airy wave of the hand and a tsk-tsk at the ignorant locals. But, the moment NIMBY is applied to genuine worries from residents who have potentially a lot to lose but with less-than-clear benefits, it all starts to feel like one more way capitalism works for the wealthy and powerful at the expense of the unwashed masses who "just don't understand."
🎯🎯🎯🎯🎯🎯🎯🎯. I don't subscribe to Thr Bulwark to be patronized as a NIMBY or hysteric.
This (and the original comment quotes at the top) is a great, policy- and outcome-focused approach. But in the near term, if you want the votes you're gonna have to throw in the the NIMBYs. Watch how fast the Rs are making this pivot and do not let the perfect policy be the enemy of riding a populist wave.
You should tune in to what’s happening here in Pine Island, MN. Google just put on a “community celebration” event last night in the midst of their fight to bring a data center to the town. Talk about tone deaf - I’m almost embarrassed for them. They are also dangling $24 million dollars (over 28 years…) for the school district if the plan is approved. But if it’s not they rip the $$$ carrot away and have been clear to state that it’s due to the obnoxious community members fighting against it and not any fault of their own. It’s quite evil.
"The solution seems pretty simple: The president shouldn’t be allowed to continue to do something that’s probably illegal. That’s more or less what the word “illegal” means—you’re not allowed to do it."
Except we're dealing with a POTUS and his enablers who embrace a maximalist vision of the unitary executive. Including, by the way, SCOTUS, who set these events into motion two years ago.
To put it another way, if Kamala Harris was pulling the same shit Trump is now with the reflecting pool and the White House demolition, SCOTUS would have stopped her immediately because she's got a (D) next to her name.
It is not just the D it’s also the B and most especially the F
The real problem with the tech oligarchs pushing data centers on communities, aside from the enormous energy cost with few added local jobs (janitor?), is that nobody in their right mind would trust corporations to do what is in the common good. Yes, in science and medicine the possibilities are huge, but sadly we little people have no control over all the bad stuff that AI can inflict on the world, which corporations will do if they deem it profitable for them. So, the only thing we can do, aside from voting for politicians who are not funded by superPACs, is oppose data centers as a stop gap. That's the whole problem with late-stage Capitalism: as Milton Friedman codified back in the 1970's, the primary goal of any corporation is to maximize shareholder profits. Full stop.
And, in this case, the drive forward is being pushed by unlikable people.
Call it a NIMBY squabble if you want, but people naturally take a skeptical view of outsiders with apparently endless money swanning into their communities, buying up land, and plonking down ugly industrial buildings that make continuous noise and host few longterm jobs. I've yet to see any glowing praise of data centers from people who actually live next to one. The environmental burden of the things may well be overblown, but arrogant dismissal of people's real concerns is not exactly the way to change minds. If politicians don't listen to their constituents on this and take their demands seriously, anger is only going to grow. The tech oligarchs are creating the conditions that will require them to retreat to the bunkers they've been building.
I wonder how Andrew would feel if they proposed one in his neighborhood?
I would like to see multiple data centers built on every one of the (many) estates owned by the tech lords. When that's the reality, then they can start calling the rest of us NIMBYs for not wanting them.
Seriously, I do get that there is a degree of misinformation fueling all this opposition to data centers, but it's shocking to me that so many well-intentioned people want to wave away popular concern about AI. We're not mindless Luddites. We can see a future taking shape that could make our present inequalities look positively utopian by comparison. Wanting to put the brakes on that is not hysteria.
Agreed
The range of possible outcomes from "AI" was never between "Skynet kills all humans" and "Digital Jesus magicks us all up to utopia." "AI" is a tool, like a nail gun. Imagine if the inventor of the nail gun had sold it by making claims that it would automate all building construction forever, and all buildings would be made of nails, and everyone on earth would get their own nail gun to build whatever they wanted with.
We understand intuitively why that would be a disaster. Nail guns are useful tools that some professionals in some lines of work can employ to reduce manual labor and make their work faster and more efficient. But children should not be using them. Adults with mental or emotional disregulation should not be using them. We do not need, as a society, to spend multiple trillions of dollars building nail gun manufacturing plants.
The technologies behind what people now call "AI" have been in use for a long time in the fields where they are useful. They have been improved by the current level of investment! But tying our stock market, job market, and entire economic future to this buildout has been fantasmagorically short-sighted, and people are not wrong to be angry about the tech sector lighting billions of dollars on fire while food and health care become unaffordable.
I think of AI as similar to working with nuclear fissile material or pathogen research. In responsible hands, it can advance humanity. But make a mistake, and it can take on an uncontrollable life of its own.
Sort of, except those examples are dangerous with or without human intervention. Radiation is always radioactive, pathogens always spread until they are stopped or run out of fuel. "AI" does not do anything on it's own, despite the fearmongering from the frontier labs. It requires a human to decide what it does, and to press the buttons that allow it to do those things.
The Huggingface hack was - in addition to being a felony - enabled by researchers deliberately disabling the guardrails that would prevent it, and placing it in an environment that no serious security professional would call secure. The pattern matching the software did was impressive, but it was the digital equivalent of parking a car on the top of a hill and then disengaging the parking brake and giving it a shove.
I kind of agree with you about Hugging Face. I think the researchers were purposely testing a "what if?" situation.
While I know that the concerns are overblown in some ways, they’re entirely valid. 100s of homes taken in King of Prussia. Water usage near Corpus Christi despite a drastic water shortage. Locals forced to shoulder the bill for grid improvements to support increased demand. Noise pollution. Other pollution. And all that for tax revenue that is lost due to a tax break and job promises that never really pan out.
Yes, there is an aspect of NIMBYism, but I don’t want them elsewhere either until we truly have a framework in place for regulating the environmental impacts and ensuring the benefits are felt locally.
The fact that none of the AI companies are building them in bear more well-to-do areas shows that the companies don’t want to risk the impacts on places that can fight back more effectively.
Yes, I noticed they're not being proposed in affluent areas. Coincidence? I think not!
Obvz most of this stuff has gone out the window, but Rs have been generally more pliable to doing whatever leads us to unfettered capitalism (data centers in EVERY back yard, because money!), and the Ds want to do environmental impact, power use, job requirement, etc studies.
Now Rs are pretending that they have the tiniest spine about kowtowing to every whim of big money interests. As soon as the midterms are over, for example, TX will have more data centers under construction than anybody.
Why anybody believes a word out of anybody with an R by their name is baffling.
It's the result of the GOP's war against public education. They've created just enough low intelligence, non-critical thinking voters they need to stay in power. Of course the electoral college helps in this scheme.
"As The Bulwark first reported, the Green Party of Michigan may have nominated a Republican plant to run on its ballot line in Michigan’s competitive 7th Congressional District."
The total irresponsibility of the Green Party in this matter is shocking. It is bad enough to demand the disestablishment of the Green Party entirely everywhere. Responsible political parties do not nominate unknown persons for public office at any level.
Craig - a certain level of responsible management seems important before claiming to be a politician party. Even a club usually has some functional procedures. Not determining who you’re putting up as a nominee seems… lax 🤔