00:00In New York's Rockland County, protesters stood outside town hall chanting,
00:05stop databank. And by the end of the night, a single planning board decision had stalled the
00:11project indefinitely. From a Florida County freezing hyperscale construction until 2027
00:18to the U.S. Navy itself objecting to a California data center, the resistance to the AI build-out
00:26just found a new gear and a $130 billion price tag. We begin in Orangetown, New York, where the
00:35fight over databank's Phase II expansion near Lake Tapan came to a head. Inside a packed town hall,
00:43dozens of residents waited to speak against the project while protesters chanted, stop databank.
00:49Outside, neighbors like David Rosen, whose property borders the existing campus,
00:56warned about noise and emissions from backup generators proposed near his property line.
01:02Company officials pushed back, blaming misinformation for the opposition. But the
01:08night ended with a decision that stunned the developer. The planning board is requiring a
01:13full environmental impact study before the expansion can move forward. A review with no fixed timeline,
01:21which opponents say delays the project indefinitely. Food and Water Watch called it a huge victory for
01:28grassroots opponents. And a bigger question still looms. Whether Orangetown's new data center moratorium
01:36applies to an application filed just before it passed. That kind of pressure is now writing itself
01:44directly into county law. In Florida, Sarasota County commissioners voted five to nothing to halt the
01:51acceptance, review, and approval of hyperscale data centers until at least July of 2027.
01:59The freeze covers any facility drawing 50 megawatts or more. The state's own threshold for hyperscale,
02:07and at minimum the electricity of 35,000 homes. Assistant Planning Director Michelle Norton told
02:14commissioners these facilities can consume millions of gallons of water every day and often require
02:21entirely new power infrastructure. The vote followed an inquiry from a firm called XF Group about building
02:28a data center along Cattlemen Road, and it revealed just how hard the county's mood has turned.
02:35Commissioner Joe Nunder didn't hedge at all, saying he opposes such projects.
02:41Quote, not now, not ever. The county plans clearer regulations by August.
02:48Add up all of these local fights, and the number is staggering. A new report out this week puts the
02:55total value of AI data center projects blocked or delayed by American communities at more than $130
03:03billion dollars, with more than 70 rejections or restrictions recorded in the first four months
03:09of this year. Alone, that's more pushback than the industry saw in all of last year combined.
03:16The most dramatic example came in Indianapolis, where Google walked away from a $1 billion data center
03:24in Franklin Township, pulling its proposal minutes before the city-county council was set to vote it down.
03:31Virginia, the data center capital of the world, is now the focal point, with more than 40 activist
03:39groups campaigning to slow or stop development. And organizers have called a national day of protest
03:46against data centers for July 18, spanning cities across the country.
03:52And the opposition is now coming from a source nobody had on their bingo card.
03:57The United States military, in California's Kern County, the China Lake Naval Base has formally
04:05objected to the proposed R.B. Inyokern data center, a facility backed by 40 diesel-fired generators,
04:133 megawatts each, providing 99 megawatts of emergency power. The Navy warns the plant's cooling system and
04:22generator exhaust would create a thermal plume that prevailing winds could carry directly over its
04:28adjacent weapons test range. Inyokern Airport joined in with its own letter to county supervisors
04:34and the California Energy Commission, arguing the project threatens aviation safety and navigable
04:42airspace. The developer, meanwhile, is seeking a small power plant exemption that would narrow the
04:49state's environmental review to just the backup generators. With the city of Ridgecrest also
04:56preparing comments. Regulators are under growing pressure to look much closer.
05:03Tribal nations are pressing the same hard questions in Idaho. And their case starts with electricity.
05:09The Shoshone-Bannock tribes have reaffirmed their opposition to a proposed AI data center at
05:16Pocatello's former Hoku industrial site, ahead of a city council appeal hearing set for July 16.
05:23The tribes say their review of public records backs the city's own hearing examiner,
05:30who found the developer never supplied enough information for a meaningful review.
05:35On power, they argue Idaho's new law requiring developers to cover infrastructure costs is unlikely to stop.
05:43Rate increases, pointing to testimony that Idaho power may not have enough near-term supply.
05:50And to the utility's recent rate case as evidence bills will rise anyway.
05:56On water, the developer's only answer to questions about cooling was a vague estimate of
06:02quote, four to five houses worth of water, with nothing on cooling chemicals or risks to the nearby Portnoof River.
06:12Electricity is only half the ledger. Water is the other. And in Indiana, it has Amazon answering to federal regulators.
06:21The state's Department of Environmental Management held a public hearing Wednesday on Amazon's
06:27application for a federal water quality permit at its data center project near New Carlisle.
06:33A permit that would allow the company to impact nearby wetlands and streams in exchange for buying.
06:40Mitigation credits. The project's water history is already contentious.
06:46Amazon previously sought permission to de-water the site at up to 35 million gallons per.
06:52Day. And in August of 2025, the company impacted a wetland without authorization.
06:58At the hearing, Jennifer Betts of the South Bend Elkhart Bird Alliance said Amazon had already partially
07:06destroyed a wetland without a permit, and that it remains unclear whether the company ever faced
07:12consequences. Written comments stay open through July 17 before regulators decide.
07:20City halls are scrambling to write rules fast enough. And in Texas, the first draft just got sent back.
07:28Fort Worth's Zoning Commission voted 7-4 to deny the city's first-of-its-kind data center.
07:35Zoning ordinance. Ruling it needed more detail.
07:39Stricter standards. And more review before it reaches the city council on August 11.
07:45And this wasn't a weak proposal. The draft would ban cryptocurrency mining outright.
07:51Restrict data centers to industrial zones. And require at least 250 feet of separation from homes.
08:00Up from the 20 feet industrial projects need today. Plus rules on generator placement.
08:07Noise barriers. Lighting. And a 50-foot landscape buffer near neighborhoods.
08:13Commissioner Matt McCoy still called it insufficient. Given how many variables remain unresolved.
08:19City staff say setback distances drew the most public concern of all.
08:25The revised ordinance returns for public input August 4. One week before the final vote.
08:32Yet even with the rule books unfinished. Developers keep pushing forward. Sometimes behind closed doors.
08:40In Festus. Missouri. Developer CRG presented a downsized version of its $6 billion data center proposal to the
08:49city council in a closed session. And this week the criticism boiled over.
08:56The company says the revised design would use significantly less electricity and switch to a
09:02closed-loop cooling system that reuses water with little to no wastewater discharge.
09:08But opponent Mary Fakes called the private meeting. Quote, shameful. Part of a pattern of closed-door
09:15sessions despite promises of public meetings that never happened. CRG president Chris McKee insists the
09:23$6 billion investment figure hasn't changed. Saying it reflects power infrastructure and equipment rather
09:31than building count. A public information session required under the city's own data center ordinance is
09:37promised. But still not scheduled. The build-out isn't stopping. The question is who gets a say.
09:45A public information required under the city's own data center. If you found this useful, subscribe,
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