The public opposition to AI infrastructure is heating up | TechCrunch

"A new bill in New York State would impose a three-year moratorium on the issuance of new permits for data center construction throughout the state, while local regulators are given a chance to study the environmental and economic impacts the industry is having on communities. The bill's co-authors, State Senator Liz Krueger and Assemblymember Anna Kelles, have called the legislation the "strongest" introduced in the country."

"While no statewide moratoriums have passed so far, local bans are proliferating fast. Several weeks before Krueger and Kelles introduced their bill, the New Orleans City Council passed a moratorium, pausing all new data center construction in the city for a period of a year. In early January, Madison, WI passed a similar law after protests erupted over regional tech projects."

"Environmental activists have long taken aim at data centers, but the more recent concerns have come from high-level lawmakers, drawing on populist anger at the tech industry broadly. In conservative Florida, for instance, Gov. Ron DeSantis recently announced an AI "bill of rights" that gives local communities the right to limit new data center construction."

Public opposition to data center proliferation accompanying the AI boom has intensified across the United States, prompting legislative action at state and local levels. New York proposed a three-year moratorium on data center construction permits while regulators study environmental and economic impacts. Local bans have already passed in New Orleans, Madison, and numerous communities in Georgia, Michigan, and other regions. Environmental activists and high-level lawmakers from both political parties—including Governor Ron DeSantis in Florida, Senator Bernie Sanders in Vermont, and Governor Katie Hobbs in Arizona—have voiced support for restricting data center development, reflecting broader populist concerns about the tech industry's expansion.

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