The teens, including some in Bay Area, taking on AI data centers
High school students across the US are actively protesting the proliferation of AI data centers, citing environmental concerns like water consumption and air pollution, as well as noise issues and tax breaks for developers. Activists in Pittsburg, California, Colorado Springs, Colorado, El Paso, Texas, and Loudoun County, Virginia, are engaging with local government and legal processes to challenge approved projects.
Across the United States, Generation Z activists are emerging as a new force in the opposition to AI data center development, arguing that these facilities pose significant health and environmental threats. Sadie Cisneros, a 17-year-old from Pittsburg, California, became concerned about a 300,000-square-foot data center slated for her neighborhood, specifically citing its potential water consumption, air pollution, and noise impacts on a nearby middle school. Cisneros has become a regular at community meetings and rallies against the Pittsburg project, which was approved in 2024 by the Pittsburg City Council, and posts viral social media content advocating for youth civic engagement.
This youth-led opposition extends beyond California. In Colorado Springs, Colorado, 14-year-old Kyle McGuffey used the Colorado Open Records Act to investigate Project Taurus, an AI data center approved near his home. His findings, which suggested higher power demands than publicly advertised, were used by opposition groups in an appeal against the data center. Jason Green, co-founder of Raeden, the company behind Project Taurus, stated that the company has addressed community concerns, including noise mitigation, and that the approved plan allows for 50 megawatts, not the higher figure found in early documents.
Further examples include 15-year-old Marco Sanchez, who founded the El Paso Youth Alliance in Texas to oppose a multibillion-dollar Meta data center, criticizing an 80% property-tax break given to the company amidst concerns about increased energy costs and pollution. In Virginia's Loudoun County, 17-year-old Mihir Nimkar and a friend formed Students Against High-Voltage Expansion after a local utility proposed power lines across their high school's property to support data center growth. This project is now headed to the Virginia Supreme Court, underscoring the legal dimension of the opposition.