00:00In one of the busiest data center markets on the planet, local leaders just ended automatic approvals.
00:07In North Carolina, a judge let a 750-megawatt project roll right past a moratorium.
00:14And across the country, $68 billion in projects stalled in just three months.
00:21In the county that hosts more data centers than almost anywhere on Earth, the rules just changed.
00:28On Tuesday, Prince William County's Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to end a decade-long policy that let data centers
00:38go up by right.
00:39With no board approval, the vote shrinks the county's data center overlay district from about 9,700 acres to 3
00:48,500.
00:49After a 90-day grace period, every new project will need a special use permit and a full public review.
00:56We've bent over backwards enough for this industry, said Supervisor George Stewart.
01:03Now it's time to stand up for the people who have to live with these minstrosities.
01:08Hours later, State Senator Danica Roham joined residents rallying against a Dominion Energy substation expansion.
01:16At Vint Hill, which supervisors reportedly rejected, even so, 140 data centers remain in the county's pipeline.
01:27That opposition is now colliding with the courts.
01:30And in North Carolina, a developer just won a major round.
01:34In February, Chatham County commissioners passed a year-long moratorium on new data centers.
01:42But Superior Court Judge John Morris has ruled that one project,
01:46a 750-megawatt campus planned by Ecotip West at the Triangle Innovation Point West
01:53Business Park near Moncure, can move ahead anyway.
01:57The developer sued in April, arguing its project was already in motion,
02:03on land already zoned for data centers.
02:06When the pause took effect, it says it had spent $11 million.
02:11The judge agreed, granted summary judgment, and ruled the county must pay damages.
02:18The developer's lawyers called the moratorium a legal train wreck that should never have been
02:23approved, at least 30 local governments across North Carolina have passed similar pauses.
02:31And all of them will be watching what happens next.
02:34The backlash isn't only playing out in courtrooms, it's reshaping politics across the Midwest anew.
02:42Investigation from the Midwest newsroom finds data center opposition has become a rare coalition
02:48that crosses party lines.
02:51On the left, people worry about water and climate.
02:55On the right, it's property rights, local control and utility bills.
03:00In Festus, Missouri, voters ousted most of the city council members who approved a $6 billion data center in
03:09March.
03:10In St. Charles, residents couldn't even learn who was behind a 440-acre project until it was tied to
03:18Google, and the city passed a 1-year moratorium in August in Nebraska.
03:24Otoe County paused permits, and Republican Governor Jim Pillen rescinded the state's data center tax incentives,
03:33saying billion-dollar companies can pay their own way.
03:36Gallup finds 7 in 10 Americans don't want an AI data center nearby.
03:42Add it all up, and the numbers are staggering.
03:46According to the research group data center watch, as reported by Bloomberg, 45 data center
03:53projects worth $68 billion were blocked or delayed by local opposition between April and
04:00June alone.
04:01That's more than half of all the new large-scale developments the group began tracking during
04:06the quarter.
04:08In the first three months of the year, 75 cases worth roughly $130 billion faced organized pushback.
04:16Social media is amplifying the fight.
04:20One petition against a project in Tennessee gathered more than half a million signatures on change.org.
04:27Over a third of all signatures on the platform that quarter.
04:31Communities are now passing moratoriums before developers even apply.
04:36And about 30 statehouses have introduced or adopted rules on citing power and water.
04:43For the first time, the group is also tracking protests outside the United States.
04:49And the reason these fights keep escalating comes down to one thing.
04:54Power.
04:55In Aurora, Colorado, planning documents quietly filed with the city show Vantage data centers
05:02once to build what would be the largest data center in the state, the Trident campus would
05:08put two buildings totaling more than 860,000 square feet on 143 acres, with about 500 megawatts
05:17of total electrical demand.
05:19That's roughly 11 times the power used by Denver International Airport.
05:24Because the lot is zoned industrial, city staff can approve it administratively.
05:30With no public hearing, even though a new housing development sits right across the street,
05:36the plans also call for 28 diesel backup generators.
05:40In a neighborhood already exposed to more toxic air than 98% of the state.
05:46Council member Amy Wiles says the community response has been overwhelming.
05:51They do not want data centers.
05:54Period.
05:55The pressure on the grid is only half the story.
05:59Water tells the other half.
06:01In California, Governor Gavin Newsom has signed seven data center laws.
06:06And three of them target water.
06:08Assembly Bills 2469, 1577 and 2619 require developers to disclose or estimate how much
06:18water their facilities will use.
06:22Under AB 2469, projected water demand, water supply and efficiency measures become a condition
06:30of local project approval.
06:32That's a sharp turn.
06:34Just last year, Newsom vetoed a water disclosure bill, warning it could stifle the growth of
06:40AI.
06:41This year, facing a public backlash, he signed the whole package.
06:46Another new law strips data centers of blanket environmental review exemptions, but offers a
06:53fast track to facilities that meet state water and energy standards.
06:57The industry's data center coalition warns that more regulation could push investment out of
07:03California.
07:06State legislators aren't the only ones acting.
07:10Local governments are moving even faster.
07:13On Monday night alone, communities in seven states voted to ban or pause data centers.
07:19Wiccala County, Florida, unanimously adopted an ordinance prohibiting them throughout its
07:26unincorporated areas.
07:28Salem, Oregon, gave final approval to a 120-day moratorium while a new task force holds town
07:35halls in October.
07:38In South Carolina, Spartanburg County Council passed a one-year pause by a 5-to-1 vote.
07:44With a narrow path for projects of 65 megawatts or less on existing industrial sites that
07:51don't generate their own power, North Mankato, Minnesota, and Zionsville, Indiana, adopted one-year
08:00freezes.
08:01Fayette County, Ohio, paused projects in seven townships through next June, after a commissioner
08:08reversed his position following public comment.
08:11And normal, Illinois, extended its moratorium into next year while it waits to see what
08:18state lawmakers do.
08:21Yet despite that regulatory wave, construction is pressing forward, sometimes inside buildings
08:28that already exist in Irving, Texas.
08:31Just outside Dallas, a venture of Infrascale Systems has secured $11.6 million of commercial
08:38property, assessed clean energy financing, known as CPACE, to convert a vacant industrial
08:46building into a data center.
08:48The property, at 6001 West Campus Circle Drive, covers more than 113,000 square feet.
08:56PACE Loan Group of Minneapolis provided the financing, and Loan Star PACE arranged it.
09:03CPACE loans are repaid through an assessment on the property tax bill and fund energy
09:08efficiency, and clean energy improvements, which is why they're turning up in more data center
09:15deals.
09:16Reusing an empty building avoids the fight over rezoning farmland.
09:20And in a market as hot as Dallas-Fort Worth, it can be the fastest path to getting servers
09:26online.
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