Let’s talk about the issue that no one in Washington wants to talk about: data centers.
You’ve seen the stories in the paper about some tech giant building “the worlds largest AI campus” and all the jobs and tax revenue it will bring in for the local economy. But you most likely haven’t heard the other side of the story; the one about tightening water supplies, increased electric bills, and people who are supposed to be able to help you with these problems taking a nice chunk of change from the companies responsible for them
I’m not saying this is anything close to the most important thing happening in the United States today, but I do believe this could be an issue that affects millions of everyday Americans in the coming decade and there isn’t much being done to stop it.
The Power Grid Issue Is Not A Conspiracy Theory
Did you know that data centers consume about 176 terawatt hours worth of electricity per year; about 4.4% of the worlds total electricity consumption? Thats a lot, but it gets better. This number is projected to more than double by 2030 (upwards of a few hundred terawatt hours) due to AI companies constructing new data centers to store information.
This is a problem because this demand for electricity is coming out of the same power grid that your household uses to power your home.
Prices for this electricity can and will go up when this kind of demand is placed on the grid. In penna and the PJM grid region, the price for power capacity spiked upwards of 800% for utilities that were buying and selling power around the time data center demand for power began to skyrocket and continues to climb steadily year after year.
This means when you go to pay your electricity bill this month, it might be a little more expensive than it was two years ago. Part of the reason for this may be due to a server farm in another state that you have no control over and are indirectly subsidizing.
There Is Also A Water Conservation Angle
This angle is complicated because the companies often times make misleading claims about their impact on water conservation.
While it’s true that data centers only consume a fraction of the waters used nationwide (about 0.3% according to recent studies), most of that number comes from indirect consumption due to the electricity needed to power these facilities. Once you factor in the water needed to power these facilities at the power plant level, the number jumps to an astonishing figure that is more than double what the companies have originally claimed and is set to climb even further by 2028.
The other issue with the way companies report their impact on fresh surface water use is that the statistics are often reported at a national level; completely disregarding the impact these large-scale industrial facilities have on local economies and water supplies.
The residents of these areas don’t care that the data center industry only comprises a fraction of total water use in the United States, they care that their family’s well is running dry because a multi-national corporation has drained it.
“Big AI” Has Bought Itself A Lot Of Friends
This issue does not reflect badly on just the general population, many state legislators have been aware of this issue for quite some time, and have even paused proposals for new data centers during the legislative review process to better understand their impact on the community. This shows us that the issue is serious enough that it warrants attention from people who are in power; however, many elected officials have bent over backwards to support tax incentives, regulatory rollbacks, and expedited project completions for data center companies.
Some states even give these companies tax exemptions worth more than $1.6 billion to the tune of Virginia each year! In fact, some legislators are now trying to roll back some of these incentives, but the data center industry is pushing back hard.
This shows us that these companies don’t get favorable treatment in the government because they’re beloved or popular; rather, it shows us that they have more money than most small countries and can afford to buy favors from people who put themselves in office so they can control what happens to an industry worth trillions of dollars.
The people who are paying for these bribes by having their electricity rates hike at an unsustainable pace and having their local water supply contaminated have little to no representation from people who will actually fight for them.
Now Lets Talk About What We Do From Here
Please hear me out on this one, I’m not saying you need to run out and join some doomsday cult and stop using social media, but I am saying we need to put people in office who will fight for the little guy and not give million dollar tax breaks to corporations that fund their re-election funds.
This includes putting pressure on elected officials to ensure that these companies pay a fair share for the impact they’re making on the power grid, ensuring transparency on the amount of power and water they’re using in local areas (not just massaged figures that favor the companies bottom line), and fighting for communities to have a voice in approving or denying these projects in their area before they get permits.
Some states have begun doing this by implementing policies that force large electricity consumers to fund their own power grid improvements instead of passing the cost onto rate payers, as well as pausing new projects until legislators have enough information to effectively analyze the economic and environmental impact.
But none of this would have happened if the general population hadn’t taken notice and brought this issue to light.
So now its your turn. Pay attention to the politicians who can make a real change in your community and ask them about data center projects that may be coming to your area. Ask about tax incentives and loopholes for these companies and how it might affect the electricity rates in your area. This is how we can fight for the little guy and make sure he doesn’t have to subsidize a multi-billion dollar industry.