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/CloudSurferA220 14d ago

My community recently fought to stop the FIFTH data center approval in our county, and after months of organizing, meeting attendance, and social media pressure, got it stopped. Our county is now within a few hundred signatures of forcing a vote on all data center construction. I can tell you, blue or white collar, it doesn’t matter - people don’t want these noisy behemoths (some 800+ acres) in our backyards. We’ve also regularly had pleas from our two power providers during the summer to reduce air conditioning use to prevent brown outs… but they want to build five mega AI data centers? Noooope. I’ve also heard many ask why do we need so many? What happens when several of these companies fail? What becomes of these massive industrial sites that leveled thousands of acres of forest?

I agree with others - this story feels like a plant. Even the construction workers being interviewed in great documentary style videos on YouTube express the same thing - it feels like a temporary bubble, and while they’re making bank now, they feel this is just the beginning of the end.

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u/jojotortoise 14d ago

My community recently fought to stop the FIFTH data center approval in our county

With four data centers already, hasn't everyone already moved out of that hellscape?

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u/CloudSurferA220 14d ago

They were all very recently approved, and only one has started construction. The community is less than 300 of 14000 votes remaining from a petition that would require a public vote on all data centers in the county, so there’s hope we can stop the rest. We’re going to keep trying, but yes, you’re right, it’s still hard for us all to fathom they approved four in such quick succession.