Across the United States, opposition to data centers is growing, and the epicenter of that resistance is Ashburn, Virginia, home to the world’s largest data center hub, known as Data Center Alley. Concrete buildings line the major roads there, and the sheer scale of the facilities is hard to miss. Technology executives have increasingly framed the pushback as a broader culture war fueled by concerns about affordability, corporate power, and a loss of control over people’s futures. OpenAI’s chief global affairs officer, Chris Lehane, has described data centers as a proxy for that public unease. A closer look at the region suggests a more concrete explanation: the backlash is largely about electricity.
How a facility gets its power matters a great deal. In Loudoun County, most data centers connect to the existing grid, and the local utility, Dominion Energy, relies heavily on natural gas. A typical facility in the area now draws enough power to rival a major airport. Local activists argue that the fight has always been about power rather than an abstract cultural conflict. In response, Virginia has moved to require data centers to pay the full cost of new transmission lines so that other ratepayers are not stuck with the bill, and developers say they expect future rules that could limit grid access during periods of peak demand.
The situation is even more intense in rural areas where AI companies are building their largest campuses. Many of these sites lack nearby grid infrastructure, so developers are bringing their own power through gas-fired turbines and diesel generators. Those on-site plants release air pollutants, and some operators have run into legal trouble, including a reported violation of air quality rules in Memphis. Generating electricity at this scale affects surrounding communities in ways that public utilities have traditionally been required to address through public input. Viewed in that light, residents’ wariness is understandable. Opposition also draws on job concerns, misinformation about water use, and worries about concentrated corporate power, but the industry’s enormous appetite for electricity remains at the heart of the debate.
Source: The backlash about data centers might really just be about electricity via MIT Technology Review