Red state residents lead growing rebellion against data centers that Trump loves

ThatRobGuy · 2026-02-21T08:09:16-0600

RocksInMyHead said:
No, because the complaints I'm seeing aren't really about immediate, neighborhood-level impacts.

Per the OP:
But many red state residents are becoming increasingly angry about data centers' intrusion on their rural communities.
That's according to a Tuesday article by the Washington Post's Evan Halper entitled "The data center rebellion is here, and it's reshaping the political landscape," which reported that residents in deep-red states like Indiana, Oklahoma and elsewhere are showing up in droves to public hearings solely to speak out against proposed data center construction. The Post zeroed in on an ongoing conflict over a planned data center in Sand Springs, Oklahoma, where Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) has championed the project.
"We know Trump wants data centers and Kevin Stitt wants data centers, but these things don’t affect these people," Trump supporter Brian Ingram said. "You know, this affects us."
U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright admitted that the data centers are unpopular as they have been tied to higher utility costs in adjacent communities

ThatRobGuy · 2026-02-21T08:20:49-0600

rambot said:
Well okay but the...the other point is that the other data centres were smaller and didn't have the same kind of impact on their community as these new ones would.

That is kind of THE point.

I have only ever heard "NIMBY" being brought up to discredit an argue but I think their argument is valid.

But those data centres, on the whole, were MUCH smaller and so their impacts, though already a strain, is simply going to be amplified in new communities. IOW, AI data centre's impact, though previously great, is getting greater

But the complaints in the context of what was posted in the OP are basically the definition of textbook NIMBYism.

Opposing the development of real-estate and/or infrastructure projects because it is close to them, that they would otherwise tolerate or support it if it were built farther away and didn't have any negative impact on them personally.

The OP noted that these oppositions are coming from deep red rural areas in Indiana and Oklahoma.

Forgive me if this is presumptuous, but I'm going to to out on a limb and suggest that rural republican voters in those areas gripes aren't stemming from climate change concerns.

Their concerns are more akin to that of people who don't want new Section 8 housing built two blocks away from their house.

Tuur · 2026-02-21T08:23:24-0600

JustaPewFiller said:
BUT - after they are built, they are not really bringing any long-term jobs into these rural areas. It takes between 5 to 100 people to run one

In a rural area, that’s pretty good. You then also see an increase in “support” businesses for those employees. This holds true for any sort of new business.

rambot · 2026-02-21T10:39:17-0600

ThatRobGuy said:
But the complaints in the context of what was posted in the OP are basically the definition of textbook NIMBYis

Ok. This seems to be the most important argument for you to make.
You seem to be using NIMBYism to, discredit or disparage these people in some way. Am I understanding that correctly?

Say it aint so · 2026-02-21T11:25:35-0600

Tuur said:
What we don’t need are a bunch of self-proclaimed elites who consider us fly-over country telling what to do.

“Rates go up, rates go up.” Here’s a newsflash: building and upgrading transmission for solar panel fields does, too, to the tune of about six million a mile. And we’re going to need new generation just from growing population. I run figures every year, and even with dropping energy use per consumer, energy use increases.

If cities don’t want data centers, then let them zone against them. That’s them and their business. Just let them feel the same toward us.

(The emboldened) Which is one of the points of the OP. Trump et al are trying to prevent local governments from regulating them and anything else Ai.

wing2000 · 2026-02-21T11:49:45-0600

Matt5 said:
AI data centers are just warehouses with huge energy consumption. So the problem is the energy. They should be generating their own power.

...they already are.

Tech companies are building data centers with their own private power plants, a risky bet that will increase carbon emissions and other pollution.

The GW Ranch project approved on 8,000 windswept acres of West Texas will look like many of the other data centers that have sprung up across the country to support Silicon Valley’s ambitions for artificial intelligence. Dozens of airplane-hangar-size warehouses packed with computing hardware will consume more power than all of Chicago.

But it’s missing one standard feature: The mammoth project, recently green-lit by state environmental regulators, won’t need new power lines to deliver the electricity that it guzzles. GW Ranch will be walled off from the power grid and generate its own electricity from natural gas and solar plants installed on site.

Dozens of sprawling off-grid data center projects are planned across Texas, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Wyoming, Utah, Ohio and Tennessee, according to a review of regulatory filings, permits, earnings call transcripts and other documents by the energy industry research firm Cleanview. Several are already under construction.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2026/02/19/data-centers-power-grid-ai/

wing2000 · 2026-02-21T11:57:31-0600

ThatRobGuy said:
It's a reasonable concern, but it's only a concern people seem to have once it starts to impact them personally, which was kind of my point lol.

...of course. That is human nature....
It's also a reason there is a housing shortage in many cities. Existing residential neighorhoods resist mult-family housing when they perceive it will impact their quality of life or home values.

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Red state residents lead growing rebellion against data centers that Trump loves

ThatRobGuy

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ThatRobGuy

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Tuur

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rambot

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Say it aint so

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wing2000

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wing2000

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