People are PUSHING BACK On Data Centers

Our Take

Radio's roundup lands on the thing we've been saying for months: the real data center policy is being written in city council chambers, not Congress. New York's proposed moratorium, a landslide ballot vote in Monterey Park, and a growing list of counties from Tennessee to Utah scrambling to write zoning and noise rules — none of that is federal action. It's communities finding out after the fact what a hyperscale campus does to a substation, a well field, or a quiet residential street, then racing to get ahead of the next one.

That patchwork matters because it's where the actual leverage lives. Tax abatements, water allocations, and rate-case decisions get approved by planning commissions and utility boards that most residents never attend. By the time a facility is under construction, the deal is done — the power contracts are signed, the tax breaks are locked in, and the only thing left for the public is the bill. Videos like this one are useful precisely because they compile the scattered local fights into one picture, and credit to Radio for doing the legwork across so many states in a single sitting.

If you want to see how this is playing out near you, check our facility map for what's proposed or under construction in your area, and if you'd rather not find out about a deal after the vote, our take-action page has the questions worth asking your local officials before they sign.