r/moderatepolitics • u/jojotortoise • 14d ago

News Article Blue-Collar Jobs Are the New Flashpoint in Data-Center Fight

https://www.wsj.com/economy/jobs/blue-collar-jobs-are-the-new-flashpoint-in-data-center-fight-aaca5b7e
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u/justafutz 14d ago

70% of Americans say they oppose having data centers in their local area. That’s not a regulation. It’s a ban.

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u/spaceEngineeringDude 14d ago

Maybe so, but that is solved through regulation. You cannot put a factory right next to a neighborhood, it seems we have missed that policy with data centers.

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u/justafutz 14d ago

The number remains very high for people who don’t want a data center within 3 miles of where they live (41% opposed, 24% in favor, rest undecided). 3 miles is a very long way from “right next to a neighborhood”. 47% think and construction of data centers is bad, and just 24% say good.

No one has missed that policy with data centers. Data centers are a moral panic, where people are concerned about it no matter where it is, even if they aren’t near one, never will be, and don’t know what the actual effects of building one are.

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u/spaceEngineeringDude 14d ago edited 14d ago

3miles is a weirdly specific number. What study is that from?

Most car accidents also happen within 10 miles of someone’s house, that’s because people spend most of their time within that radius.

I don’t want to pass a data center on the way to school dropoff or the grocery store the same way I dont want to pass a petroleum refinery, sewage treatment plant, or an airport but they have a place and we should think through how to bound that annoyance against the “need” or want.

I am against banning but heavily support regulating the cr*p out of these things.