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Everyone can find a reason to dislike data center construction

10 h ago

A new Data & Society report reveals that growing local opposition to AI data centers in Pennsylvania, driven by industrial trauma and distrust, is disrupting $68 billion in projects and challenging the industry's trillion-dollar expansion plans, as over 60% of Americans favor limiting new data centers. The 18-month ethnographic study, based on interviews with 44 Pennsylvanians between 2024 and 2026, finds that resistance is post-partisan and diverse, including classic NIMBYs, environmental groups concerned about water and emissions, and residents worried about rising power bills and falling property values. Researchers note that the industry's message that AI is "inevitable" has backfired, especially in a state with deep experience in coal, oil, steel, and fracking—industrial changes that left residents suspicious of utopian promises. Governor Josh Shapiro initially celebrated $90 billion in data center investment in July 2025, but a year later signed an order imposing new requirements and removing projects from a fast-track initiative. The Data Center Coalition, a trade group, spent at least $19,000 lobbying the state and launched pro-data center websites, but opposition has grown. Unions remain supportive due to construction jobs, but overall trust is low. "It is an intimate and relational trust that is now being inserted in people's lives by these industries," said researcher Livia Garofalo, highlighting the challenge for AI companies facing a patchwork of concerns with no simple solution.