US mayors are pushing back against the AI data centre boom, citing pollution, strained power grids and a lack of transparency as public scepticism grows.
AUSTIN: US mayors are pushing back against the rapid expansion of data centres needed to power the artificial intelligence revolution. What was once seen as an economic gift is now being treated as a problem of pollution, strained power grids and a lack of community transparency.
The issue has reached the White House, where President Donald Trump this month assembled big tech companies. He demanded they bear the exorbitant cost of powering the new data centres breaking ground in communities across the nation.
“Most talk has been, ‘hey, this is the future, this is economic development, we need to go as far and as fast as we can,’” Tim Kelly, the mayor of Chattanooga, Tennessee, told AFP. “I wouldn’t say I necessarily disagree with that, but I think now it’s starting to get interesting.”
A top concern is Elon Musk’s xAI, which is building AI infrastructure at dizzying speed in Memphis and neighbouring Mississippi. To meet massive energy demands, xAI has been running at least 18 methane gas turbines at its South Memphis site, sometimes without permits.
The company stands accused of pumping pollutants into predominantly Black neighbourhoods already burdened by industrial pollution. Mississippi’s environmental regulator this week gave its green light to the gas generators despite fierce local resistance.
Microsoft, Google, Meta and Amazon are also scouring the country to build sprawling windowless concrete structures. They are driven by the insatiable computing demands of AI.
Phoenix has become a prized destination thanks to generous tax incentives and low regulation. But Mayor Kate Gallego says the local population is growing tired of seeing data centres multiply.
She warns they strain water supplies and a power grid already at breaking point. “When you suddenly have transmission equipment in your front yard, that, for many people, does not make it more desirable,” she told a South by Southwest (SXSW) conference audience.
Her frustration extends to Arizona’s largest utility, APS. The company says it cannot accommodate all the demand from proposed data centres.
If every data centre seeking to locate in its service area were approved, electricity demand would reach 19,000 megawatts. That is more than double the grid’s record peak.
“We are in constant battle with our utility provider,” said Larry Klein, the mayor of Sunnyvale in the heart of California’s Silicon Valley.
Gallego said she often discovers a tech company has arrived in town only by checking the utility’s latest list of biggest customers. This is the result of non-disclosure agreements that leave citizens in the dark until it is too late.
“There’s a real spectrum of companies — some are proud to be your partners, and others would just prefer you not even acknowledge that they’re there,” she said. She pointed to Microsoft and Google as more transparent operators.
Mayors warn the data centre issue is becoming a symbol of Americans’ growing doubts about AI more broadly. An NBC News poll released this month found 57% of registered voters saying the risks of AI outweighed its benefits.
Just 34% said the opposite. “I’m not a Luddite,” Kelly said. “But I do think these are the right conversations to figure out how we manage this.”
The Sun Malaysia
