Bipartisan Opposition to Data Centers Grows in Nebraska, New Mexico and Other States
Bipartisan opposition to data center development is growing across the US, exemplified by concerns in rural eastern Nebraska over farmland, water, and electricity, leading Cass County to enact a moratorium. In New Mexico, Oracle's Project Jupiter faces a lawsuit over water rights, with the state Supreme Court granting an injunction to halt well drilling. The debate is influencing state and local politics and policy decisions.
Across rural eastern Nebraska, communities like Murdock in Cass County are experiencing a technology boom with proposed data center developments. This has sparked an unusual bipartisan opposition, uniting conservative farmers and the state Sierra Club chapter against labor leaders, driven by concerns over dwindling farmland, declining water supplies, and rising electricity bills. Cass County officials recently enacted a 12-month moratorium on data center development, impacting potential projects from energy company Tenaska and data center operator CyrusOne.
The article also highlights significant divisions in New Mexico surrounding Oracle's Project Jupiter, a $165 billion data center complex planned near the Mexican border. Critics, including water attorney Samantha Barncastle Salopek, express alarm over the project's water demands in a drought-stricken state, despite Oracle's pledges to invest in water systems and efficient usage. The Center for Biological Diversity filed an emergency petition with the New Mexico Supreme Court, which subsequently granted a request to halt authorization for well drilling to supply water for the project, pending the legal outcome.
While some labor leaders, like Mike Gage of the Nebraska State AFL-CIO, support data centers for job creation, politicians from both parties are adapting to growing public hostility. Figures like former President Donald Trump champion data centers for economic growth, while Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has ordered a one-year ban on large data centers. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro altered permitting priorities, and Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced a halt on new data center approvals to assess grid impact, indicating a shifting political landscape where data centers are becoming a contentious issue nationwide.