Data Centers have existed for 50+ years. Hyperscale data centers emerged in 2002. In 2024 there were thousands in the US, over 100 in any state with a big city.
There were zoning issues the same as one would see for any warehouse or similar large commercial building.
But one cannot see “opposition” to “Data Centers” for being “Data Centers” until late 2025. Now there are more stories about opposition in 1 week than in all of 2025.
Who is driving the panic? Who is fear mongering? Who benefits from killing data centers in the US?
Example: I googled complaints and issues with data centers in GA. Equifax uses big data centers in Atlanta for many years. No issues popped up about the data centers. What popped up was issues about the invasion of privacy of Equifax and issues about the bad quality of the Equifax data.
State Farm sold its data center in Johns Creek GA, a tony Atlanta suburb. No complaints when State Farm owned it. No complaints against the new owner. But complaints about the way State Farm handled some claims.
In googling for complaints about dozens of specific data centers, no complaints about those specific data centers.
But now in 2026 ignorant fear mongering about the building of new data centers.
Just as with a new warehouse, a new factory, a new shopping center, there are legitimate issues:
...Should they be subsidized, receive tax breaks
...Should they....
But who benefits from and is driving the fear mongering?
There was an episode of The Rockford Files that touched on data centers.
It was called “The House On Wills Avenue “.