A Political Battle Is Brewing Over Data Centers

“I think it’s good policy, for us to take a national standard,” they said.

Although the intention of the AI ​​moratorium has not been to regulate physical infrastructure, the Massie’s reaction illustrates how much the centers of data button data centers become across the country.

The rapid growth in the number of data centers across the United States has had a corresponding increase in local decline against them. Although projects provide taxes, they often use massive quantities of electricity and water. A recent bloombergnef analysis have found that AI electricity demand in the United States should triple by 2035, while in Virginia data centers Currently use as much electricity as 60% of households in the state.

A recent report From Data Center Watch, a project managed by the intelligence company AI 10A Labs, noted that the local opposition to data centers has blocked or delayed their development in many places across the country in the past two years, with a watch of data centers with more than 140 groups of activists working in 24 states. The report noted that the decline against the construction of the data center is “bipartite”, republican politicians and democrats making public statements between data centers in their districts.

“From noise and water consumption to electricity requests and properties values, servers have become a new target in the broader reaction against large -scale development,” notes the report. “The landscape of local resistance changes – and the data centers are downright in the reticle.”

In Virginia, data centers have already reshaped political battle lines: in Prince William County in 2023, The President of County Supervisors was ousted in 2023 following the community opposition to a new complex of data centers. Data centers also played a main role During a recent debate for republican primary for the 21st Virginia State district, candidates focus on problems concerning tax rates and zoning for data centers.

The one who won this republican primary later this month will face outgoing president Josh Thomas, a democrat, in the siege elections in November. Thomas says that data centers have become a frontal problem since he took office in 2022.

“I wanted to run to help families live and help women keep their rights reproductive, but it turns out that data centers have ended up being the number one,” he said. Thomas has filed several laws on the growth of the data center since its entry into office; One has passed with bipartite support this spring but was veto by governor Glenn Youngkin.

The Mégabill’s moratorium in the megabill, according to Wired sources, was led in the Chamber’s Energy and Trade Committee by representative Jay Obernolte, a Republican of California. Obernolte is the president of the bipartite working group on artificial intelligence, who worked in 2024 to form political recommendations on how to sponsor and treat the growth of AI at the federal level. While the group’s final report did not mention in particular the laws on data centers at the level of the State, he recognized the “challenges” of the high demand for energy of the AI ​​and made recommendations concerning energy consumption, in particular the strengthening of “efforts to follow and project the use of the energy of the AI ​​Data Center”.

In March, Obernolte described the recommendations of the working group report as a “future control list” in a event Hosted in March by the Cato Institute, a right -wing reflection group. Obernolte, who declared during the event he had given with White House advisers, including bags on AI policy, also said that states “acted alone” with regard to the legislation of AI models-a situation, he added, which made it imperative for the Congress to start regulating AI as soon as possible.

“We must clearly tell the states what are the railing,” said Obernolte. “We have to do it all at once.”

It is not clear if the moratorium will survive the Senate. Friday, Punchbowl News reported Senator Josh Hawley, a Missouri republican, will work with the Democrats to withdraw the moratorium from the AI ​​of the final text of the bill.