Experts debate data center backlash, moratoriums and local tax benefits
The short version: CNBC's Power Lunch hosts a former senator and a tech-industry think tank rep to debate data center moratoriums, and predictably land on 'more dialogue' rather than 'more oversight.'
Our Take
CNBC's Power Lunch put this fight in a familiar frame: Heidi Heitkamp, who now runs a group funded partly by industry interests, versus Daniel Castro of ITIF, a think tank that has never met a tech buildout it didn't like. Credit to CNBC for even airing the backlash segment — but notice who wasn't in the chairs: the county commissioners fielding angry callers, the ratepayers watching their bills climb, or the residents living next to a substation expansion they never voted on.
Moratoriums aren't happening because people hate jobs or tax revenue. They're happening because communities keep discovering the details after the site is graded — the water allocation, the transmission upgrade costs quietly folded into rate base, the tax abatement locked in for 20 years while the assessed value of everyone else's house does the heavy lifting. 'Backlash' is the polite word cable news uses for 'we found out too late.'
If your county is currently 'in dialogue' with a hyperscaler, that dialogue is happening right now, often before residents even know a project has a name. Check our facility map to see what's already been approved near you, and use our take-action guide before the next zoning hearing gets scheduled for a Tuesday afternoon nobody can attend.
This is GridWatch the USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of CNBC Television, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.