Community Members, State Officials Divided Over Data Center Development

Several states have begun approving and building data centers, leaving many community members at odds with their local elected officials over their development and resource usage.

Data Center Development: On May 4, Box Elder County commissioners in Utah unanimously approved a "hyperscale" data center and energy project spanning approximately 40,000 acres. The Salt Lake Tribune (Lean Left bias) reported the data center is "expected to generate and consume more power than the entire state." On May 6, Arizona's Maricopa County Board of Supervisors approved the Project Baccara data center and power plant near Luke Air Force Base in a 4-1 vote. According to Arizona's Family (Center), the development costs $36 billion and will include two 1-million-square-foot data centers and a 700-megawatt generating station.

Local Pushback: In Utah and Arizona, these recent data centers have been approved despite community pushback. Arizona's Family (Center) and KJZZ (Center) both emphasized concerns about pollutants and water usage amid Arizona's ongoing drought. The Phoenix Business Journal (Not Rated) reported the county received two letters of support and 225 in opposition. The Salt Lake Tribune reported the decision came after hundreds of people showed up to protest the decision. It quoted locals who said the "commissioners listened to the people that were profiting from [the data center] and no one else." Local Utah outlets reported that voters in Box Elder County filed an application for a referendum on the November ballot to stop the project.

RELATED: The Wall Street Journal Has a Strong Pro-Data Center Bias

Support for the Centers: Shark Tank investor, Kevin O'Leary, has been a proponent of the Box Elder County data center, saying there's a lot of "misinformation" surrounding the project. According to KUTV (Center), he said the project will "be adding to the Great Salt Lake because the water rights on that land will be used" and "one hyperscaler suggested using air cooling instead" so no water is involved. An opinion in the Arizona Republic (Center) argued "Arizona's data center revolution is here to stay," and that "coordination among developers, utilities, policymakers and communities" will lead to overall data center success and sustainability efforts. The writer emphasized collaboration between stakeholders and building community trust to create a modernized power grid and data centers with "affordable, clean energy."

Job Prospects: Arizona's Family reported that developers of the Baccara data center believe the project will "create hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars in new tax revenue." In Utah, KUTV reported the Box Elder County project "could generate 10,000 construction jobs and 2,000 permanent jobs." It cited a market insights professional who said data center job creation is "evaluated using broader economic impact models" that include workers directly employed on-site and indirect jobs tied to the site's development. 

Other Data Centers: The New York Post (Lean Right) emphasized "tensions" between local Georgia officials and residents in Fayette County after a local data center used 30 million gallons of water over 9-15 months that local water authorities had not known about. Politico (Lean Left), The Post and The Daily Caller (Right) all noted Fayette County's initial response was to "admonish residents to conserve water" after discovering residents near the data center were experiencing low water pressure. Axios (Lean Left) also reported Colorado lawmakers dropped an effort to regulate its data centers after debates "that exposed deep tensions over [AI], climate goals and economic development."

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