Dem
47
GOP
53
Data centers (especially for AI) have become very unpopular. First, because AI threatens many jobs. Second, because data centers use massive amounts of electricity and water, can harm local property values, and are ugly and look out of place everywhere. For a lot of voters, they see little to no value in them (especially if they are nearby) and a lot of harm in them. That is starting to become very political and is one of the few issues Democratic and Republican voters agree on.
This hatred of data centers has become an issue in an unexpected place: Oklahoma. There the city council of Sand Springs (Pop. 19,900), a suburb of Tulsa, welcomed a Google data center. Two weeks later a group of local residents marched into city hall with the paperwork for a ballot initiative to recall the mayor and every member of the city council. They also filed a lawsuit. They did not want the data center, no matter what Google promised. So far, they have half the signatures needed to put the measure on the ballot. If small towns in deep-red Oklahoma are now up in arms about data centers, that should be a warning to the tech industry. Recall petitions are also being circulated in several other states.
The council was well aware of Google's plans. The land Google purchased was zoned for agriculture, so the company had to ask for it to be rezoned industrial, which the council did. That is what triggered the recall effort. One of the opponents of the data center is Rick Plummer, whose 165-acre quarter horse ranch is only 300 feet from where the data center will be. He is worried that construction and sound from the data center will spook his horses. A local real estate agent told him to be prepared for his property to go down in value by seven figures. Locals are putting up yard signs opposing the data center.
Google is fighting back. It offered a $250,000 donation to the local volunteer fire department. However, the department refused it, even though it is more than its annual budget. The people in it value their peace and quiet more than they value the money. (V)