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Posted on 07/29/2026 7:06:05 PM PDT by Libloather
Willie Nelson urged Americans to think again when it comes to building the future.
Nelson, 93, encouraged followers to “fight against data centers invading our land” in a social media plea shared Tuesday.
The country music legend reflected on being able to see “stars at night” in his Texas hometown, but that light pollution and “water thieving” were imminent in a looming industrial climate.
“I grew up in Abbott, and I still have a home there with farmed land where I can still see stars at night,” Nelson told his followers.
“And now our community, like many others, needs to fight against data centers invading our land.
“The last thing we need is a loud, water thieving, light polluting, data center anywhere near our town (or any others for that matter).”
The “On the Road Again” singer noted how “the strength of rural America has never come from big industrial footprints.”
“It comes from generations of people, open spaces, local businesses, and a connection to the land,” Nelson wrote. “All of America deserves thoughtful stewardship that doesn’t steal farmland (where our essential shared-food is grown) and small family farmers’ livelihoods, and not data centers that only destroy the environment around them.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
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From what I have heard, it can’t be salt water. Maybe brackish.
It’s just a giant radiator. They process it until it’s distilled water and then add ethylene glycol.
A company I own (that makes vessels of various kinds — eg heater treaters) has been making vessels for the cooling systems.
They are closed loop, just like your car. They do not require a constant flow of water. It’s not evaporative cooling.
This entire controversy is made up and based on the assumption AI centers use the Chinese design which is evaporative.
Willie can barely move or sing on tour anymore, and may not even show up, but his son Lukas wants a musical career so he drags out this extremely elderly man on the road. It’s kind of Dr Jill Bideny
Now do windmills and solar panels on farmland.
Seems like data centers are one thing the country can agree\disagree on beyond political parties.
I think the data will be used for good just like TNT. 🙄
Water thieving, electricity thieving.
What about job thieving? What about AI being part of big brother?
LOL. Gotta love Willie. But in some of the areas where they are going to put these data centers, the main industry is SSI disability. OK. Don’t build the data centers. The areas will stay poor. Water is a problem. A huge problem. But it can be planned for. The process has to be open and scrutinized so its not managed by some corrupt local water official who takes a bribe from the data center developer to cut corners.
I still ain’t figured out where y’all are getting all of the frac water in the Permian. Kind of like iPhones and such, there must be a lot of refurbishing going on.
“ In short, governments deliberately forgo significant tax revenue to attract these facilities”
But how many data centers are needed? Here in mid size county in central Texas I can identify 6 being built in this county. They are not near any large cities. What is the “enough” number per county?
Wind power generation and solar are covering up the fertile farmland. These data centers likely will. Ot employ many once operational. Basic maintenance for cleaning and such. Programming can be done from anywhere.
Whats the benefit to the taxpayers?
the answer is that in the long term these data centers are money earners for local economies. In the short term maybe not so much. Relative outcomes depend on the deal that was struck
Don’t worry Willie, San Jose has a bunch and will add more soon.
The San Jose area has 57 data centers with a couple more on the way.
https://www.datacentermap.com/usa/california/san-jose/
General Reference
Data Center Map has 12,138 data centers listed worldwide.
https://www.datacentermap.com/
US Data Map has 950 listed.
https://usdatamap.com/
Virginia leads the pack in the United States with 651. Texas comes in second with 512. California only has 296.
https://www.datacentermap.com/usa/
Outcomes are highly location-specific. Established hubs with mature tax structures (e.g., parts of Virginia) show clear local windfalls;
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In my county of Northern Virginia, which is the world center of databases is also one of the richest counties in the USA.
Yes, we do recycle a lot. Especially if we put the multiple wells on one pad.
We can also use produced water if we have to. You force salt water through what is essentially a giant version of a camping filter. That’s more of a Delaware Basin thing due to lack of infrastructure.
See the stars again,
Just can’t wait to see the stars again . . .
Around here, we just suck it out of a farmer’s pond and pay him for it. The next rain we have, it fills up. Yet, we have pine trees and humidity out this way.
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