Wow, this was a difficult op-ed to actually read. It was so absurdly one sided that it was almost unbelievable.
The op-ed predominantly ignores details in favor of skewed claims.
In reality, data centers in general arent as bad as some claim and arent as good as some claim.
It’s true the AI industry has hurt its own cause by fueling speculative anxiety about mass unemployment. AI developers have also failed to explain how data centers benefit local communities.
YEP!
It shouldnt be a surprise to anyone that when the tech leaders, who really are Oligarchs at this point, constantly claim for years that huge amounts of jobs will be eliminated in the coming 1, 3, and 5 years- a lot of people then view data centers as dangerous to them and their family's security.
And since there are countless examples over the years of towns being on the short end of the stick regarding data center contracts, it shouldnt surprise anyone to see citizens pushing back and saying they either dont want the data center at all, or arguing that the deals arent good enough.
Mr. Trump is finally speaking up, with a Truth Social post Monday pointing out that data centers will provide “far lower taxes and jobs all over the place.” Please keep it up. The President rightly notes that if the bipartisan campaign against data centers succeeds, the winner will be the Chinese Communist Party.
This largely hasnt happened up to now. As a result, there is no justification to claim more data centers will make taxes drop and generate a net increase of 'jobs all over the place' will pop up.
Yes, there are examples like the one time payment to teachers in a rural Louisiana Parrish or Loudoun County VA taxes being lower due to data centers.
One time payments by definition arent recurring and dont benefit the area for years to come.
And for Loudoun County to be an example where taxes are lower, it needed to have over 250 data centers which handles over 2/3 of the world's internet traffic. That is such a clearly impossible to replicate, its dishonest to cite it as an example.
Data centers also generate scant pollution. Their CO2 emissions mainly stem from the natural gas plants that power them. But modern gas generators produce upward of 90% less fine particulate matter, sulfur dioxide and carbon monoxide than a steel mill.
Um...ok cool, I guess?
This totally ignores the noise pollution that very much exists at many data centers. Also, comparing the air pollution a data center creates to a steel mill is odd.
Steel mills are well known to be one of the heaviest industrial polluters in the world. Comparing a data center(what size?) to a steel mill(what size?) is disappointing because of course it pollutes a lot less than one of the most polluting industries.