‘Hideous’ and ‘devastating’: Data centers are shaping how these women vote
The article profiles women in Texas, Virginia, Ohio and California whose opposition to data center development is influencing their voting decisions. In Piqua, Ohio, residents are fighting Meta’s planned 600-acre data center through protests, petitions, recall elections and proposed ballot restrictions, while residents elsewhere cite noise, farmland loss, water use and electricity demand.
The 19th News interviewed five women from across the political spectrum who say opposition to data centers is reshaping their participation in elections. Their concerns include noise and health impacts from a bitcoin mining operation in rural Texas, farmland and wildlife loss in Wythe County, Virginia, and the water and electricity demands associated with artificial intelligence and data center construction.
In Piqua, Ohio, Alisha Lange is organizing against Meta’s proposed data center on 600 acres. Residents have mounted protests, circulated petitions and placed measures on the ballot, including a proposal to limit data centers to less than 25 megawatts and a separate effort to retroactively ban construction and void the city’s power agreement. The article also describes broader opposition efforts involving environmental activists and candidates who have made data center regulation a campaign issue.