A conservative group is making its way across the country advocating for limiting what it calls government overreach and corporate influence in the construction of new data centers.
Opposition to data centers is an issue uniting conservatives and progressives. A recent poll by The Economist and YouGov of over 1,500 adults found that 33% of respondents thought data centers were "very bad" and another 18% thought they were "somewhat bad." Of those, 69% identified as voting Democrat, but 40% of Republican respondents also opposed data centers.
"This is an apolitical issue, because every one of us drinks water, every one of us uses electricity and every one of us would like to have our voice heard," said Tom Gaitens, a senior advisor at Humans First.
The group describes itself as a "grassroots conservative organization," and has embarked on a 27-state bus tour to bring attention to its goal of fostering what it calls an "America First" AI policy. Their goal is to "demand local control, protect ratepayers and natural resources and to "end eminent domain and corporate welfare for Big Tech," according to their news release.
This past weekend, their bus stopped in Boulder City, Nevada, where a data center has been proposed on public land.
Regardless of whether a data center is supported or rejected locally, Gaitens says their development should only take place with community input and full transparency.
"Through that accountability and transparency, our goal is to empower people to stand up and demand their rights in this process," he said.
While not taking a position on data centers on public lands, Gaitens believes that if data centers are considered on public lands, they should be limited to locations with pre-existing build-outs like decommissioned military sites, rather than new construction in open spaces.
In November, voters in Boulder City will decide if it should change its zoning laws to allow data centers.
Democratic lawmakers recently sent a letter to the U.S. Department of the Interior asking for additional information, including whether and where other public lands across the country are also being considered for data center development.
Environmental organizations, like The Wilderness Society, are calling for a complete moratorium on data centers on all national public lands. The Center for Biological Diversity and local residents successfully halted, for now, the development of the proposed data center on public land near Boulder City as the case makes its way through an appeals process.
Research suggests that Democrats are more likely than Republicans to be critical of the impacts of data centers. But Republicans' views in recent months have become more negative, according to Pew Research. For example, 42% of Republicans say the facilities are mostly bad for the quality of life of people nearby, up from 24% in January.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Northern Colorado, KANW in New Mexico, Colorado Public Radio, KJZZ in Arizona and NPR, with additional support from affiliate newsrooms across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Eric and Wendy Schmidt.
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