As massive, resource-hungry data centers that power AI models and cloud computing have proliferated across the U.S. and around the world, a growing number of people have expressed concern about their impact on electricity bills, air quality, water supplies, and rural landscapes.
This opposition has included local activists and elected officials in Michigan, who have spearheaded a campaign to push back against several large data-center projects in their rural communities.
"These are big corporations that are looking for the cheapest, quickest, least resistant places to build their data centers," said Shannon Beeman, a Washtenaw County Commissioner, during a commission meeting in September 2025, according to Planet Detroit.
Beeman argued that the powerful, monied interests behind data centers target rural communities because of the relative lack of zoning requirements and because they view local officials in those areas as "soft touches," per Planet Detroit.
"They have the wrong assumption. We're not soft touches," Beeman said.
A growing body of data has shed light on the enormous toll that data centers impose on communities, essential resources, and the environment.
For one, the huge quantities of electricity that data centers consume have sent energy costs soaring for everyday consumers, many of whom have struggled to keep up with the skyrocketing expense.
According to Bloomberg, monthly electricity costs for consumers near data centers have increased by as much as 267% in just five years.
All of this electricity use comes at an environmental cost, as well. A team of researchers at Cornell University found that "by 2030, the current rate of AI growth would annually put 24 to 44 million metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, the emission equivalent of adding 5 to 10 million cars to U.S. roadways."
Further, data centers require an enormous amount of water, largely for cooling purposes.
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$200 or more 💰 "Large data centers can consume up to 5 million gallons per day, equivalent to the water use of a town populated by 10,000 to 50,000 people," according to the Environmental and Energy Study Institute.
Thankfully, elected officials like Beeman have increasingly been taking local action, making a stand against data centers in their communities.
"We're literally replacing humans with these data centers that are hurting our community, and we the taxpayers are paying the bill to make that happen," Yousef Rabhi, another Washtenaw County Commissioner, told Planet Detroit.
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