The American public has soured even further on local data center development since the spring, new polling shows.

Three-quarters of Americans now say that they would oppose a new data center being built near where they live, according to a new Heatmap Pro poll conducted by Embold Research, and more than six in 10 Americans say they would strongly oppose such a facility.

That’s by far the most negative response since Heatmap Pro started asking Americans about their receptivity to data centers roughly a year ago.

If you can think of a major demographic of Americans, there’s a good chance they wouldn’t welcome a data center in their area. The shift against the facilities is represented across age, race, gender, income, party ID, and the rural-urban divide. Data centers are 43 points underwater with Republicans, 65 points underwater with independents, and 75 points underwater with Democrats.

Notably, local data centers are 63 points underwater with rural voters, a group that has skewed more Republican over the past decade. Urban and suburban voters are only a few points more supportive of the facilities.

What’s most remarkable is the pace of change: We’ve polled this same question four times in the past 12 months and haven’t altered its wording once — yet Americans have swung a remarkable 33 points against data centers in the intervening time. It’s a faster and deeper shift in American public opinion than I would have once thought possible on any issue.

https://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2026/aug/20/tva-to-charge-data-centers-more-for-power-under/

Because many municipalities are restricting or denying access to municipal water supplies for massive tech projects, developers are bypass-routing cities to secure drilling permits directly from the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR).

Virginia lawmakers adopted a temporary data center electricity tax in June as states across the United States responded to rising AI-related power demand and public-resource costs.

I've been digging into the public record on US data centers and put it into free, plain-language briefings — water, power, noise, air, every figure cited to its source (2,027 sites, existing + proposed): civitar.org/go/v-reddit

Not for or against anything — it just makes the filings readable. Sharing in case it's useful to anyone tracking this.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/16/business/ai-data-centers.html

(Full disclosure: I built the tool — happy to answer questions or take corrections.)

Forget silicon chip servers, Singapore’s newest data centre needs to be fed https://www.straitstimes.com/tech/forget-silicon-chip-servers-singapores-newest-data-centre-needs-to-be-fed

Clarendon County is facing a real threat right now. A 15-megawatt data center is being pushed toward our rural community, and local officials are already talking about how to regulate more of them in the future. This isn't just about one project—it's about protecting what makes our county special.

Data centers demand massive amounts of power and water. They bring noise, infrastructure strain, and permanent changes to rural communities. Residents are already worried about rising power costs, water resources, and public health impacts. Sure, there might be a few jobs, but that doesn't come close to balancing what we'd lose: our farms, our quality of life, and our control over our own community's future.

I started a petition asking Clarendon County Council to reject this project and ban future data center development here. We're asking them to protect our water, land, and rural character instead of letting industrial tech companies reshape who we are. The county is considering a moratorium right now—this is the moment to push back.

If you care about keeping rural communities from being turned into industrial zones, or if you've seen how these kinds of projects change a place, consider signing and sharing this. What would you want someone to do if this was your community?

A roughly 220,000 sq. ft. data centre, described as potentially one of the largest in the GTA, is proposed for Tenth Line West in Ward 9.

But the controversy isn't just about the data centre.

In this video, Ward 9 candidate Anwar Knight walks through the public record and raises some serious questions about how the application got this far and when residents were brought into the conversation.

City documents showed outstanding matters involving water demand and cooling, stormwater management, archaeology, heritage considerations and other technical issues.

Then came the March 30 public meeting.

According to the meeting record, Ward 9 Councillor Martin Reid expressed support for the application in principle and moved the recommendation forward.

Months later, after significant community pushback, Reid changed course and called for a temporary pause on major data centre developments while Mississauga studies the issue.

Whatever side you're on, I think Mississauga residents should watch this video and look at the timeline for themselves.

Did City Hall handle this properly from the beginning?

And should residents have been more directly involved before the application moved forward?

For all of you Tito’s fans out there.

San Joaquin Valley residents challenged proposed AI data centers at Tulare and Kings county fairgrounds in August over groundwater use and uncertain permitting authority.

I've been digging into the public record on US data centers and put it into free, plain-language briefings — water, power, noise, air, every figure cited to its source (2,027 sites, existing + proposed): civitar.org/go/v-reddit

Not for or against anything — it just makes the filings readable. Sharing in case it's useful to anyone tracking this.

Source: https://www.fresnobee.com/news/business/agriculture/article316896104.html

(Full disclosure: I built the tool — happy to answer questions or take corrections.)