State lawmakers consider construction moratoriums amid energy and environmental opposition
As data-center expansion accelerates in the United States, public pushback over energy demands and environmental footprints has turned the facility build-out into a contentious issue ahead of the midterm elections, The Wall Street Journal reported. The newspaper said a growing wave of voter resistance has prompted lawmakers in several states to consider moratoriums on new construction.
The potential restrictions threaten to slow the rapid real-estate development fueled by the artificial-intelligence boom, according to The Wall Street Journal.
President Donald Trump wrote in a Truth Social post early Wednesday: “New and large, in some cases gigantic, data [c]enters are mandated by me to make their own electricity, and give or sell any excess back to the local community, or grid.” To make data centers more popular, he said companies should “pay the community, and/or individuals within the community, a ‘dividend.’”
The electricity proposal applies to what Trump described as new and large centers, while the dividend proposal applies when companies construct new facilities. The local community or grid would be the recipient or buyer of excess electricity, and the dividend could go to the community and/or individuals within it.
Earlier, MSI reported that Trump had said he would welcome data centers in his own community while the Senate Republicans’ campaign arm warned that voter anger over the facilities could cost the party a seat. His new proposals add self-generated electricity and community dividends to that earlier position as voter resistance continues.