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Data Centers

AI Was Supposed To Cut Emissions

October 1, 2026 Sarah Hofmann, DeSmog. , , ,
When United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres warned world leaders last week in his UN address about the unchecked power of both Big Oil and artificial intelligence, he treated them as two of the defining challenges facing governments. The fossil fuel industry is turning to AI to map seabeds, identify new oil reservoirs, assess oil wells’ “abandonment risks”, inspect facilities, and streamline regulatory processes, potentially adding to the emissions of an industry that Guterres said governments must move away from.  At the same time, the technology companies providing these AI tools are not generally held accountable for the additional fossil fuel production and emissions their products may enable.

There Are No Data Centers On Public Lands; That Might Change

September 21, 2026 Sharon Zhang, Truthout. , , ,
The Trump administration is reportedly considering a dozen data center projects to be built on public lands, a plan that would grant tech firms massive swaths of protected lands as they expand AI projects already sharply criticized for outsized use of public resources. The proposals under consideration are spread across six states — Arizona, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Wyoming — and would encompass at least 17,600 acres of public lands, according to records reported on Friday by The Washington Sun. The projects aren’t posted publicly on the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) website, as they are evidently in the early stages and not yet subject to the public comment process.

Elected Officials Face Reckoning Over Their Collusion With Big AI

September 15, 2026 Stephanie Jordan and Mary Armas, In These Times. , , ,
A majority of Americans want to put a stop to the profit-driven artificial intelligence (AI) agenda being pushed onto all of us by a handful of powerful tech corporations. Across the country, people are building a movement to protect our water, our air, our children, our schools and our jobs from Big Tech. We are not afraid of AI or technology, we’re just not buying the version of AI these corporations are peddling.  We come to this fight from different places and perspectives. Stephanie is fighting against the construction of a nuclear weapons data center in Michigan that will reshape her community.

US Datacenters Face Further Backlash Over Wastewater Pollution

September 14, 2026 Oliver Milman, The Guardian. , , ,
When officials in Wyoming conducted a routine test on the water that was being discharged from a massive under-construction Meta datacenter, it was a shock to find it contained a rare and potentially hazardous bacterium. While the wastewater flushed into sewers in Cheyenne, Wyoming, was never destined for the public drinking supply, the presence of Cupriavidus gilardii bacterium in 801,000 gallons of water ejected by a contractor for the datacenter earlier this year was still unnerving. Concerned that residents could be exposed to the bacteria if they inhaled evaporating droplets of the water used for irrigation, Cheyenne officials took until July before deciding to stop taking wastewater from Meta’s contractor, Goat Systems – a decision that is now being appealed.

Meta Wants To Build A $50 Billion Data Center In Louisiana

September 13, 2026 Kieran Spencer, BreakThrough News. , , ,
Meta wants to build one of the largest data centers in the world in rural Louisiana.  The facility, known as Hyperion, is being built to train and operate the artificial intelligence systems behind Meta’s products. What began as a $10 billion proposal has since ballooned into a more than $50 billion development spanning nearly 10 million square feet and roughly 3,650 acres. At full scale, Hyperion is expected to require 5 gigawatts of computing capacity, making it the largest data center in Meta’s global fleet and one of the largest ever built.

Data Center Permitting Models Are Forgetting About These Costs

September 10, 2026 Noel Popwell, Next City. , , ,
Across the country, communities are pushing back against the rapid expansion of data centers. In Northern Virginia, Phoenix, Austin, Atlanta, and other localities, public opposition has grown loud enough to stall rezonings, trigger moratoriums, and reshape local elections. The political pressure is mounting because the scale of the boom is staggering. The United States now hosts more than 5,300 data centers, according to industry tallies, with hundreds more planned or under construction. Northern Virginia alone contains the world’s largest cluster, and states from Ohio to Texas are racing to approve new campuses.

From CAFOs To Data Centers: Do Rural Residents Have The Right to Say ‘No’?

September 5, 2026 Raj Patel and Jim Goodman, Counter Punch. , , ,
Today’s data center proponents argue such projects bring needed jobs and a boost to local economies. Rural America has heard confident pitches like these before. Nearly 40 years ago, concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) arrived one barn at a time with bold promises of jobs and a county tax base. By the time neighbors organized, right-to-farm laws and state pre-emption had severed the ground from under them. All the while, manure lagoons leached into the groundwater and fouled the air, shortening the life expectancy of the farmworkers and downwind neighbors.

Data Centers Got Power; Gary, Indiana Went Dark

August 27, 2026 Rania Khalek and Zoe Alexandra, BreakThrough News. , , , ,
It was five days after Gary, Indiana’s power went out before NIPSCO acknowledged the 76% Black city needed help, independent journalist and Gary native Aja Bridges tells Zoe Alexandra and Rania Khalek. As the private utility released consistent “progress updates” to white communities and the Lake County Fair was pushed back online, Bridges unpacks why Gary couldn’t refrigerate food, run breathing machines, or send their kids to school – all while charging customers more than full price.

Grassroots Movements Against Data Centers Are At Risk Of Exploitation

August 24, 2026 Margaret Flowers, Clearing the FOG. , , , ,
Data center fights arose organically and are having victories, with 500 laws passed in the last year, because they are grassroots, broad and militant. This has put them on the radar of political parties and large 'nonprofits' who seek to exploit them for their own gain. This week, Clearing the FOG speaks with Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright, an international climate and environmental liberation advocate, about the potential of this movement to expand and have greater successes and the risks of involvement by the nonprofit industrial complex that commodifies social justice for monetary gain.

Native American Tribe Bans Hyperscale Data Centres

August 23, 2026 Joshua Carroll, Novara Media. , , ,
One of the largest Native American tribes in the US has issued a ban on hyperscale data centres on its tribal lands. The Oklahoma-based Cherokee Nation made the announcement last week following a months-long consultation that found 64% of survey respondents oppose the construction of data centres. “It’s clear that our Cherokee Nation Administration, Council, and citizens have serious concerns about the construction of hyperscale data centers on our tribal lands, which affect our resources and cultural lifeways,” Cherokee principal chief Chuck Hoskin Jr wrote in a statement.

The Fight For Sovereignty In The Shadow Of A Data Center

August 20, 2026 Wolfgang Bronner, Black Agenda Report. , , ,
Within Nashville, Tennessee, there has been a rapid implementation of numerous technological tools and digital infrastructure. This transformation has turned the city into a hub for the growing tech economy. This new technology ranges from license plate readers to SkyWatch towers to facial recognition and to phone-hacking. The list keeps expanding. In North Nashville, a prominent Black/African community, a new battle has emerged: a proposed data center to be located at Fisk University. Considering the situation in Memphis, Tennessee, regarding the xAI data center; this announcement has ignited a storm of resistance. North Nashvillians, who live three hours away from Memphis, have seen how the xAI data center has inflicted devastating environmental and health costs, utilized massive amounts of water, and increased electric bills on Memphians.

The Fight Against Google’s Minnesota Data Centers

August 15, 2026 L. Cam Anderson, Unicorn Riot. , , , ,
Mankato, MN — Minnesotans gathered on July 25 in the basement of Mankato’s Grace Lutheran Church for a panel on the hyperscale data centers seemingly popping up across the North Star State. Roughly 80 attendees from the Mankato area and further filled the underground room, frequently adjusting themselves on metal folding chairs throughout the three hour event as the whirring air conditioner kept the space nearly refrigerated. Aubree Derkson of Pine Island, who has been heavily involved in the fight against the planned Google data center in her small, rural community of roughly 3,000, was the event’s first speaker.

AI Data Center Developer Asked For Help To Loosen Toxic Emissions Limits

August 13, 2026 Edward Donnelly, DeSmog. , , , , ,
Pennsylvania real estate executive Brian O’Neill sought the help of an attorney at the United States Department of State to lobby state and federal officials to waive national federal air pollution limits on his proposed gas-fired power plants in the Philadelphia suburbs, emails obtained via a public records request show. The power plants are crucial components of O’Neill’s plans to construct a giant AI data center complex spanning the communities of Upper Merion and Plymouth townships, in Montgomery County. Combined, the data centers would consume one-gigawatt of energy — enough to power the equivalent of about 800,000 homes.

ICE and Data Centers Aren’t New, But Face Growing Pushback

August 10, 2026 Austin C. McCoy, Truthout. , , ,
On July 13, residents of Neptune Township, New Jersey, voted to ban AI data centers and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) jails from being built in their town. While protests against the construction of AI data centers and ICE facilities have increased since Donald Trump’s reelection, the Neptune Township ordinance is the first in the U.S. reflecting a connection between the deportation regime and Big Tech. Neptune residents’ move to oppose technofascism in their town also demonstrates the potential to form new coalitions, powered by grassroots organizing, for more democratic participation in local development.

How Pennsylvania Governor’s Office Helped Push For Huge Data Centers

August 9, 2026 Edward Donnelly, DeSmog. , , , ,
Freedom Hall, packed with more than 200 people, was jammed to capacity. Hundreds more people gathered in the lobby in stifling heat, many wearing “No Data Centers” stickers on their T-shirts. Inside the meeting room, Pennsylvania real estate executive Brian O’Neill was presenting plans for an enormous data center complex to the Upper Merion Township Planning Commission. An improvised sound system piped his voice to those stuck outside. “We make cell and gene therapies which cure genetic diseases and cancer,” O’Neill said, referring to his company’s Discovery Labs medical research center in Upper Merion which he now wants to augment with AI data centers.
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