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https://www.newsweek.com/cost-me-the-election-data-centers-trigger-voter-backlash-12118327
A wave of voter anger over massive data center projects is beginning to reshape U.S. politics, with local officials and senior lawmakers losing elections after backing controversial developments tied to the artificial intelligence boom.
In Utah on Wednesday, State Senate President J. Stuart Adams—one of the most powerful Republicans in the state—lost his primary election after supporting a major data center development near the Great Salt Lake, in one of the clearest signs yet of the growing political risks tied to the industry.
At the local level, the fallout was just as direct. "Do I think that the data center vote cost me the election? Yes I do," former Box Elder County Commissioner Lee Perry said after conceding his primary race, after voting to advance the same project.
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Monday June 29, @02:31AM
I have heard the same, and it's probably true, BUT ... just because the Chinese would love to make us put the brakes to any tech they can't catch up with doesn't necessarily mean that datacenters in our front yards is a great idea, or that there aren't piles of drawbacks in the way it's being implemented.
Put 'em on the sites of old steel mills, already well-supplied with infrastructure, and can't be uglier or noisier. Don't put 'em near residential, or in areas that are already water-starved, and make them bring their own power so they don't impact everyone else. Were all that the case, we wouldn't be having this discussion.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.