Communities are rising up against data centers - and winning

"For communities sick of rising electricity bills and pollution from power plants, data centers have become an obvious target. Fights against new data centers surged this year as grassroots groups, voters, and local lawmakers demanded more accountability from developers. Already, they've managed to block or stall tens of billions of dollars' worth of potential investment in proposed data centers. And they're not letting up."

""We expect that opposition is going to keep growing," says Miquel Vila, an analyst at the research firm Data Center Watch who's been tracking campaigns against data centers across the US since 2023. "We expect that opposition is going to keep growing." The group's latest report found that developers either canceled or delayed 20 projects after facing pushback from locals, representing $98 billion in proposed investments in the secon"

Local resistance to large, energy-hungry data centers accelerated in 2025, with opposition spanning Republican and Democratic communities at the local level. Residents and local officials cited rising electricity bills and pollution from power plants as central concerns driving campaigns against new facilities. Grassroots groups, voters, and local lawmakers pushed developers for greater accountability and succeeded in blocking or stalling numerous proposed projects. An analyst tracking these campaigns reported expectations of continued growth in opposition. A recent report documented that developers canceled or delayed 20 projects, representing about $98 billion in proposed investment.

Read at The Verge