Data centers are booming in the US. Erin Brockovich is tracking them.
Environmental activist Erin Brockovich has launched a new website, Brockovich AI Data Center Reporting, to track issues related to the booming data center industry across the United States. The initiative aims to provide transparency and allow communities to report concerns regarding data centers' environmental impacts and perceived lack of local notice. This comes as data center construction accelerates, exemplified by projects in Wisconsin, and faces growing public opposition over energy, water, and noise issues.
Environmental activist and consumer advocate Erin Brockovich has launched a new online platform, Brockovich AI Data Center Reporting, to increase transparency around the rapid expansion of data centers across the United States. The website, launched in April, allows Americans to report local issues and track operational, under construction, and proposed data center facilities nationwide.
Brockovich stated her motivation stems from hearing community concerns about data centers appearing "with little to no notice." Her past activism, including a landmark case against Pacific Gas and Electric Company, underpins her focus on environmental and community welfare. The initiative addresses growing resistance to data center construction, with a May Gallup report indicating 70% of Americans oppose new data centers in their communities.
Environmentalists, including Brockovich and anti-AI activists, argue that data centers are significant consumers of energy and water, contribute to air and noise pollution, and generate electronic waste. The article highlights that in 2023, data centers consumed 176 terawatt-hours of electricity in the US, over 4% of the country's total, and large facilities can use up to 5 million gallons of water daily. Conversely, advocates for AI and data centers emphasize their necessity for technological innovation, creation of high-paying jobs, and economic benefits for local communities.
While Virginia and Texas lead the nation in data center density, the article cites specific examples of ongoing construction, including a $1 billion, 520-acre Meta data center in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, and a $15 billion Vantage Data Centers campus in Port Washington, Wisconsin. These projects are part of over $57 billion in data center developments pending in Wisconsin alone, illustrating the national scale of this industry boom.