Who is really behind data center opposition?

American Thinker ^ | 05/28/2026 | Mike McDaniel

[SeekAndFind]

We are often best defined not by the company we keep, but by our enemies. Having the right—left—enemies tends to be a very good thing indeed, as it’s a reliable indicator we’re doing the right things with the right people and for the right reasons.

It’s not always easy, however, to know the motives of people, or nations, when we’re dealing with issues of technology and/or public policy. One such issue is the proliferation of data centers, necessary for the burgeoning AI revolution, but controversial for that and other reasons. Among them is the amount of water and power they require. This is particularly ironic because they tend to be built in sparsely populated states like Wyoming, which often have water usage and power issues. More densely populated states tend to have reflexive “not in my backyard” sensibilities.

Cowboy State Daily—CSD--reports:  

Advertisement

Residents around industrial-scale data centers proposed near Casper and Evanston are raising a number of questions about whether data centers are right for Wyoming, ranging from water and electricity use to fears of a growing artificial intelligence-powered surveillance society.

The CSD report cites concerns about water use, power consumption, surveillance, and power plants and data centers despoiling the wild Wyoming landscape. That stands in mild opposition to greater development and prosperity for Wyoming. Those worries appear to be grassroots-motivated and limited to Wyoming residents, but that’s not the case elsewhere:

Advertisement

For many years the Soviet Union, and then Russia, financed the environmental movement in the United States. Their purpose was to suppress American production of oil and gas, and they succeeded to a considerable degree, to their own great benefit. Today, we are in the midst of another kind of race with Communist China–the race to develop superior systems of artificial intelligence.

---

TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: aidatacenter; china; datacenter; datacenters; electricity; environmentalism; power; russia; ussr; water; wyoming

[SeekAndFind]

Today, we are in the midst of another kind of race with Communist China–the race to develop superior systems of artificial intelligence. The Chinese Communist Party knows that if it wins this race, it will contribute greatly to its dreams of world domination, while if it loses, China, with its rapidly shrinking population, could be on the way to the garbage dump of history. So the stakes are enormous.

And our number one near--peer enemy, China, is funding opposition, which it launders through cooperative NGOs:

[ChinaGotTheGoodsOnClinton]

Data centers are your friend...

[Obadiah]

To equate the environmental movement to opposition to data centers is nuts. I would argue this type of tripe is bought and paid for by guys like Zuckerberg and his big tech buddies.

[yesthatjallen]

"Data centers are your friend..."

I for one welcome our new data center overlords.

[bray]

Thought computer industries were the earth friendly jobs they wanted?

[rlmorel]

Without reading, it is the CCP feeding this into the American Left, and people who would panic at anything new.

I have concluded this is the case for some time now.

I wrote this in a post earlier today in a discussion about nuclear weapons:

---

I view the development of nuclear weapons in much the same light as I view the pursuit of artificial intelligence. Our country has its faults, but I would much rather see a country like ours develop and be a leader in the use of artificial intelligence than a country like communist, China.

Like nuclear weapons…if we didn’t develop AI and lead in it and provide direction, someone else would. At the very least I feel that America has a foundation of moral Christian underpinnings (even with all of our faults) that tyrannical governments like communist China simply don’t have. I would rather that the leadership and development be attributed to the United States, and not to a country like communist China.

[dfwgator]

Chy-na!

[bigbob]

The same people whose lives revolve around the internet, streaming, social media, and AI.

Just like those people who bitch about cellular towers being ugly but spend hours per day talking and texting.

[ridesthemiles]

MR WONDERFUL CAN KMA.

THE LOCAL “DATA CENTER” HAS MORPHED FROM “ONE BUILDING WITH 30 EMPLOYEES” (A YEAR AGO)TO 7 “COMPLEXES” & OVER 2,000 EMPLOYEES (THE FIRST WEEK OF MAY)

THIS RURAL VALLEY IN N NEVADA IS ENTIRELY ON WELLS FROM AN AQUIFER.

THE ABSOLUTE DANGER OF OUR WELLS GOING DRY IS NO JOKE.

POWER IS ALSO AN ISSUE.

OUR POWER COMPANY HAS GIVEN A YEAR’S NOTICE THAT RESIDENTS ON THE EAST SIDE OF LAKE TAHOE -—THE NEVADA SIDE-—49,000 +++-—MUST FIND ANOTHER POWER SOURCE==+BECAUSE THE “DATA CENTERS NEED THE POWER”.

THIS IS NOT A JOKE TO ANY OF US.

THIS VALLEY IS PRIMARILY PEOPLE WHO ARE RETIRED ON FIXED INCOMES. DIGGING ANY WELL”DEEPER” IS NOT CHEAP. WE DO NOT HAVE BUDGETS FOR SUCH. THIS WAS TO BE OUR LAST “STOP”.

NOW—_WE ARE FACING LOSING EVERYTHING WE HAVE SPENT A LIFETIME BUILDING.

BUT “MR WONDERFUL” WILL MAKE MORE MILLIONS”.

I WONDER IF HE THINKS SHROUDS HAVE POCKETS.

[GreatRoad]

I wonder what people think about putting data centers in the desserts of NV, et al and adding solar power fuel them.

[ek_hornbeck]

It's nonsense to claim that Chinese or Russian propaganda is behind opposition to data centers.

People oppose data centers in their communities because each data center consumes as much electricity as 100K+ households, thus driving up electricity prices for everyone while offering absolutely nothing for the communities in question in return. They also consume vast amounts of water, thus depleting already low aquifers and reservoirs when put in desert states.

By all means let the Silicon Valley oligarchs have their data centers for their bit coin scams and social media rubbish, but let's have them in Silicon Valley - in their backyards, where they belong.

[Macoozie]

Remember all the CAT5 wire run though your attics and basements so you could have network access in all the rooms of your house?

And now?

Yeah, Bid Data centers are gonna be just like that. Better put a "Shut Down and Clean Up" package into any build outs.

And make it stick to any dollars generated for Claw Back.

In 20 years you won't be able to send these rotting husks of buildings out to India for disassenbiy like an old Cruise Ship.

The Future of Big Data centers

[econjack]

I doubt that many of the Left’s protests are organic. How is it possible to have an “event”, and within a few hours have T-shirts printed and being worn by “protestors” carrying professionally printed signs? Theses are NOT a grassroots movements. They are being professionally funded and directed using empty-headed minions with the IQ of dust to do their dirty work.

[Revel]

One has to be completely spiritually bankrupt to support the coming of the beast.

[Resolute Conservative]

The people that want this crap live in mega cities, build them there, they can do with a few less golf courses and outdoor theme parks.

[Theo]

This is the money quote:

Data centers “tend to be built in sparsely populated states like Wyoming, which often have water usage and power issues.”

The question, then, is why? Why are data centers being proposed in the town next to ours here in the Arizona dessert, where water is scarce and there’s not enough power for both the centers and the residents? It regularly gets to 115 here — it doesn’t make sense to me why data centers would want to be ... here.

Why not build where there’s plenty of water and electricity already?

[Theo]

It’s inevitable.

It’s literally been prophesied.

[Resolute Conservative]

Your premise assumes that our powerbrokers here (dims, pubbies, and zillionaires) will use it for good as well, they won’t! They will use it against us just as much as our enemies.

[Tell It Right]

I wonder what people think about putting data centers in the desserts of NV, et al and adding solar power fuel them.

I'm surprised that's not already being tried, with the U.S. government owning 80% of the land in Nevada.