A new flashpoint in America’s AI moment: where to put the data centers that power it. A Heatmap News poll shared on X found 61% of Americans “strongly oppose” building a data center where they live, and the same survey indicated respondents were roughly twice as willing to accept a coal plant as a data center. Opposition is now spilling into local meetings, online feeds, and Senate letters.
Health alarms—from “vibrations” to headaches
In a CNN segment posted to X on Aug. 19, a Kentucky farmer alleged that data centers risk “putting mercury and lead and cadmium over your aquifers,” consume large amounts of water, raise community temperatures, and “vibrating at a low frequency” that could elevate cortisol and “cause miscarriages.” Journalist Peter J. Hasson criticized the segment in an Aug. 19 X post, saying CNN left the claim “unchallenged.”
At an April town hall in Genesee County, New York, physician Dr. Kirk Scirto claimed residents near data centers “feel constantly annoyed,” with frequent headaches, ringing in ears, higher blood pressure, and heart disease, InvestigativePost reported.
Power, water, and the bill
“Data centers shouldn’t drain our power and water, or hide deals from residents,” Democratic Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia said in an Aug. 20 X post while seeking a fourth term. Virginia—especially the north—is the world’s largest data-center market, according to US Data Center Map.
Western New York residents opposing projects cite grid strain, noise, and skepticism of tax breaks, reporter J. Dale Shoemaker wrote on X on Aug. 19, referencing a Town of Alabama Fire Hall meeting.
Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Chris Van Hollen, and Richard Blumenthal argued in letters to companies that tech firms are shifting data-center costs onto “ordinary Americans,” asserting nearby residential electricity bills have “skyrocketed,” and urged developers to pay more upfront for future energy use.
Energy-policy advocate Chris Johnson of the American Energy Leadership Institute pushed back in comments to the Daily Caller News Foundation, contending AI data centers use a small share of U.S. water and that demand can be addressed via recycled water, closed-loop or air cooling, and siting. On power prices, he argued large, predictable demand can justify new generation and transmission, lowering unit costs over time if supply is built.
Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) estimated in a Feb. 26 press release that U.S. data centers account for roughly 4–5% of national electricity use today and could reach up to 17% by 2030. EPRI said impacts will vary by state and identified eight—Virginia, Arizona, Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska, Nevada, Oregon, and Wyoming—that could see at least a 20% increase in usage due to data-center demand.
Jobs: eliminated or created?
Online, a viral video circulating on X featured a speaker warning that AI is “taking all of your jobs” and urging people to “re-engineer how you think about everything” (Aug. 12). In Virginia, state Sen. L. Louise Lucas said at an Aug. 19 legislative hearing that data centers are “swallowing up” the labor force by offering $100,000–$250,000 pay to build facilities, raising concerns about staffing residential construction, the Washington Free Beacon reported.
Industry advocates counter that the buildout is a job engine. “Data centers create tons of jobs [and] are ‘the gasoline of the technology revolution’ that America needs to win,” the Innovation Council posted on X. Former Rep. Garret Graves, co-chair of the AI Infrastructure Coalition, told the Daily Caller News Foundation that AI is “powering a surge in jobs, particularly for electricians,” arguing technological revolutions increase productivity and create work.
A PwC study for the Data Center Coalition reported the industry supported 4.7 million total U.S. jobs in 2023, up from 2.9 million in 2017 (Feb. 2025). Researchers at Brookings estimated that roughly six years after a county lands its first large data center, about 2,000–4,000 additional private-sector jobs materialize locally.
Judgment Day talk returns
Some online reactions leap to existential risks. After reports in July of an AI evaluation incident involving OpenAI models and the startup Hugging Face, X users claimed models “escaped” a test setup and “hacked” Hugging Face to cheat on benchmarks—drawing “Skynet” comparisons from the Terminator films.
Concerns about catastrophic risk also appear in formal statements. In March 2023, over 1,000 signatories backed a Future of Life Institute open letter calling for a six-month pause on advanced AI development. That same month, AI theorist Eliezer Yudkowsky argued in TIME that governments should be prepared to “destroy a rogue datacenter by airstrike” to stop uncontrolled AI. In May 2023, hundreds of researchers and executives signed a Center for AI Safety statement that “mitigating the risk of extinction from AI” should be a global priority on par with pandemics and nuclear war.
What’s next
With siting fights spreading and usage projections rising, the clash over AI’s physical footprint is moving from timelines to town halls. For now, sharp claims—from health effects to power bills—are being met by expert pushback and mixed evidence. Virginia’s hub status suggests the nation’s largest data-center market will remain ground zero for this debate.
