"Situation escalates rapidly": In just three months, 8 projects have stalled and 9 projects have been delayed! The American public "resists" the data center frenzy.
From the suburbs of Virginia to the towns of Georgia... a "resistance" movement sparked by soaring electricity bills and concerns over resources is impacting billion-dollar data center construction plans across the United States.
According to a recent report released last week by Data Center Watch, a project under AI security firm 10a Labs, the situation is "rapidly escalating." The report shows that in just three months from March to June 2025, community opposition across the U.S. led to the complete cancellation of eight data center projects and forced the postponement of nine others, with a total investment of as much as $98 billion. This number has already surpassed the $64 billion total tracked in the nearly year-long period from May 2024 to March 2025.
The political impact of this trend is becoming increasingly evident. In Georgia, Democrat Peter Hubbard was successfully elected to the state Public Service Commission thanks to his sharp criticism of high electricity costs and unchecked data center expansion—this marks the first time in nearly twenty years that the Democratic Party has won a statewide office in the state.
Despite strong local resistance, tech giants' enthusiasm for AI-driven investment remains undiminished. This is intensifying the conflict between large-scale capital deployment and community interests.
Data Reveals "Rapidly Escalating" Community Resistance
The Data Center Watch report quantifies the intensity of the opposition wave by tracking public sources such as news reports, legal documents, and social media. Report author Miquel Vila points out that this could be a "turning point," indicating that community opposition has shifted from an occasional occurrence to a likely norm in project development.
The report highlights that nearly 50,000 petition signatures opposing specific data centers were collected just from March to June. One of the most notable cases occurred in the suburbs of Atlanta, where under huge public pressure, local officials in May approved a 180-day moratorium, halting a major $17 billion data center development project.
Miquel Vila stated: "In the past, (resistance) only happened occasionally. Now it seems that when you develop a data center, it’s highly likely someone will organize to oppose it."
Electricity Costs Become Political Catalyst
Concerns over electricity costs are the core driving force behind the resistance. In Georgia, newly elected Peter Hubbard made it clear: "The top issue is (energy) affordability, but closely following that are worries over data centers draining water, electricity, and land without paying appropriate taxes."
Similar situations are unfolding in Virginia. According to WIRED, state governor-elect Abigail Spanberger stated during her campaign that she hoped data centers would "pay for" the electricity they consume.
State delegate Josh Thomas, representing Loudoun County, one of the world’s most data center-dense regions, said that data center expansion dominated his recent campaign. In his district, a large-scale project called "Prince William Digital Gateway," planned to build more than 30 data centers near a national protected area, sparked controversy, and a homeowners association successfully sued to suspend the project in August.
Bipartisan Movement Is Forming
Resistance to data centers isn’t limited to Democratic districts. The Data Center Watch report notes that opposition has emerged in red, blue, and purple states. In Republican-influenced Indiana and Kentucky, projects were stopped earlier this year.
At the federal level, several Republicans—including Senator Josh Hawley and Representatives Thomas Massie and Marjorie Taylor Greene—have become outspoken critics of the issue, contrasting with Trump’s pro-growth stance.
On November 7, Marjorie Taylor Greene used social platform X to urge the public to pay attention to local government approvals of data centers and to "demand protection for your water rates and energy bills." According to climate publication Heatmap, its poll shows that regardless of political stance, less than half of Americans are willing to support data center construction in their own communities.
The Contradiction of Industry Silence and Accelerated Investment
In the face of growing opposition, the major tech companies driving this wave of infrastructure construction have mostly remained silent, with many projects protected by confidentiality agreements during site selection and construction phases.
Dan Diorio, vice president of industry organization "Data Center Alliance," stated that the industry still sees "strong interest" from communities nationwide, and its members are committed to "continued community engagement and stakeholder education." He emphasized that in 2023, data centers created enormous economic benefits, supported 4.7 million jobs, and contributed $162 billion in federal, state, and local taxes.
However, the scale of the industry’s capital deployment far exceeds the value of currently blocked projects. For example, Meta announced last week that it plans to invest $600 billion over the next three years in AI infrastructure, including data centers. This number dwarfs the $98 billion in projects affected by community opposition, suggesting that future conflicts may become even more intense.
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