Kevin Fagan for Congress: Data Center Moratorium
The short version: A congressional candidate in WA-5 is campaigning on a national data-center moratorium, arguing hyperscale buildouts hike bills and drain water for few local jobs.
Our Take
Kevin Fagan, running for Congress in Washington's 5th District, is putting data centers front and center in his campaign — calling for a moratorium and criticizing incumbent Michael Baumgartner for not pushing back on the buildout. Whatever you think of the politics, the underlying grievance is one we hear from ratepayers and county commissions across the country: these facilities promise jobs and tax revenue, but the visible costs — rising electric bills, strained water supplies, land rezoned for warehouses full of servers — land on neighbors who never got a real vote on the deal.
We're not in the business of endorsing candidates, but we do track the pattern this ad points to: utility commissions and local officials approving massive power and water allocations for AI infrastructure with little public disclosure of who pays for the grid upgrades or what happens to rates when the next facility comes online. A campaign ad won't settle whether a federal moratorium is the right fix, but it's a useful signal of how much local anger this industry is generating, district by district.
If you want to see what's already been approved near you — and who signed off on it — check our facility map, and if you're ready to push back locally, our take-action page has a starting point.
This is GridWatch the USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of Kevin Fagan, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.