Customer Engagement & Experience
Molly Glick
Molly Glick
Energy Central Team
·Posted in Customer Engagement & Experience
Thu, May 7

NEWS: The data center backlash is now big enough to halt a growing list of projects.

  • Local pushback helped sink at least 25 US data center projects last year—4X the 2024 tally, according to Heatmap. Now, another 99+ projects are facing community opposition. Residents most often cite water use, power demand, higher bills, noise, and rural land impacts.

  • Case in point: A 40K-acre Utah data center project backed by Kevin O’Leary (yes, the guy from “Shark Tank”) drew hundreds of protesters this week, along with online backlash that Leary called “AI-generated.” The full buildout is expected to consume about 9 GW of power—over 2X the entire state’s current energy use.

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