Erin Brockovich lends her voice to the growing opposition to AI data centers

Our Take

When Erin Brockovich starts talking about data centers, it's because the pattern is familiar to her: a powerful industry, a resource-hungry project, and communities left to piece together what got approved and by whom. CNN's report on her joining the opposition to AI data centers isn't about celebrity activism for its own sake — it's a signal that the fights over substations, water permits, and tax abatements happening in small counties across the country are starting to add up to something bigger.

That's the real story here. Every data center campus comes with a paper trail — utility rate cases, water withdrawal permits, PILOT agreements — and most of it gets decided in rooms most residents never enter. The industry's pitch is economic growth and national security. The bill that shows up later is higher electric rates, drawn-down aquifers, and land that once did something else. Brockovich lending her voice doesn't change those facts, but it does put a spotlight on communities who've been saying this for years without cameras showing up.

We'd rather you not rely on us or CNN to tell you what's happening in your own backyard. Check our facility map to see what's been proposed or built near you, and if you want to push back on a deal before it's signed, our take-action page has a starting point.