Data Center Boom Spurs NIMBY Opposition
Opposition to data center developments is growing nationwide, exemplified by protests and a lawsuit against a large data center campus in Grayslake, Illinois. The Lake County Board has since enacted a temporary moratorium on new data centers in unincorporated areas. Concurrently, the U.S. House approved a bill to protect consumers from increased electricity costs linked to data center energy consumption.
The "Not In My Back Yard" (NIMBY) movement is increasingly targeting data center construction across the United States, prompting local and federal governmental responses.
In Grayslake, Illinois, a proposed 472-acre, 18-building data center campus, representing an $18 billion investment, faced significant local opposition. Despite protests from Grayslake residents and abutting communities like Avon Township and Round Lake Park, officials proceeded with issuing building permits for the first 800,000-square-foot facility. However, a lawsuit has been filed to challenge the project, and in response to the controversy, the Lake County Board recently enacted a temporary moratorium on new data center developments in unincorporated areas until at least May 2027. Other Illinois counties and cities are also expressing skepticism regarding the impact of these facilities.
At the national level, the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed the Ratepayer Protection Act. This bill, supported by Tenth District Congressman Brad Schneider, D-Highland Park, aims to mandate state utility regulators to establish rules preventing communities from shouldering the costs of new power generation and infrastructure upgrades required by large data centers. Concerns about data centers' heavy water and electricity consumption are central to the debate, with data centers accounting for 4% of U.S. power consumption in 2024, projected to rise to 8% by 2030, and using 66 billion gallons of water in 2023.