In today’s ultra-partisan political climate, few issues transcend party lines, but data centers and their respective development projects have become the top target of wrath from elected officials, candidates, and voters on both sides of the aisle.
Among Democrats, environmental activists lead the charge against data center development. The “Green” left wing of the party focuses on pollution and water consumption as the two primary reasons they oppose any and every proposal to develop a data center. New York’s most vocal socialist Democrat, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, better known as AOC, recently brought a jar of polluted water she used during her dramatic, theatrical speech to fellow members of the US Congress. On the surface, the issue may seem like a typical Democratic grievance about corporations harming the environment, but it extends far beyond the political spectrum.
Polls reveal that rural Republican voters fear rising energy costs and potential foreign influence over the very data the centers store and provide. Independent voters remain skeptical of the job creation estimates touted by data center developers.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill to prevent energy and water utility companies from raising rates on consumers based on data center usage. The bill also restricts foreign investors from developing data centers in Florida. In other states, power companies are offsetting costs through contracts with tech companies investing in data center development.
Ben Burnett, a conservative talk radio show host in Atlanta, highlighted the costs and benefits in an op-ed he penned for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“Companies like Facebook, Google, and Amazon do not need state tax subsidies, Burnett said. “They also do not require discounted power rates. Did you know that Georgia Power guarantees returns? Did you know Georgia Power owner Southern Company’s stock trades near all-time highs? Southern Company is monopolistically protected by the federal government…Look at data centers like the interstate system of the 1950s. 56 Marietta Street is the downtown connector. That is a blessing for the region. Some say that data centers may choose another state, and some will. Alabama and Mississippi would love to have 56 Marietta Street. Data center providers will overwhelmingly pick Georgia. Atlanta is their oxygen, and AI is strategic for America. But those costs should be spread across the country, not just at home. Georgia is better with data centers, but that is not the battle. The battle is literally and figuratively about power.”
John Stossel, a journalist who began his career as a consumer advocate, analyzed politicians’ claims and compared them to available statistics.
Stossel believes the backlash against data centers overlooks the broader economic and technological stakes. Stossel argues that slowing AI infrastructure development in the United States could leave the country behind competitors, particularly China. He also pushes back against claims that data centers are clearly driving up electricity prices, citing research that found no direct relationship between data centers and faster electricity-rate increases, including in Northern Virginia, where data centers are heavily concentrated.
Some concerns about data centers are valid, especially regarding local water use, grid upgrades, and whether homeowners are helping to pay for new infrastructure.
The Institute for Energy Research (IER ) is a pro-energy, free-market group, and critics have linked it to fossil-fuel and conservative funding, so its perspective should be weighed with that caveat in mind. At the same time, a potential vested interest doesn’t automatically disprove an organization’s claims. IER concluded its report by stating that it found no statistically significant relationship between data center concentration and faster increases in electricity rates. The fair way to judge the argument is to look at independent evidence on electricity prices, water use, grid capacity, and whether ratepayers are being asked to subsidize data-center growth.
Other organizations, which could be considered much more neutral than IER, such as DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, the International Energy Agency, EPRI, Duke University’s Nicholas Institute, and Brookings, found that the biggest claims about data centers are often exaggerated. Their research shows that while data centers are rapidly increasing their power consumption, they are not yet the main cause of rising electricity demand in the country or worldwide. The main challenge is the concentration of data centers in certain areas and whether utilities, regulators, and data-center companies ensure these businesses pay their fair share and help reduce demand when the grid is under stress.
International Energy Agency (IEA).
The IEA estimates that data centers used about 1.5% of global electricity in 2024 and projects that, in its base case, this could roughly double to just under 3% by 2030.
The IEA said in the wider global context, a 3% share in 2030 means data centers remain a limited share of total electricity demand. It also noted that data centers account for less than 10% of global electricity-demand growth from 2024 to 2030, with industry, electrification, electric vehicles, and air conditioning also driving demand.
U.S. Department of Energy / Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
The DOE’s summary of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory report says U.S. data centers used about 4.4% of total U.S. electricity in 2023 and could rise to 6.7% to 12% by 2028. That partially rebuts the claim that data centers are already consuming an overwhelming share of the national grid, while also confirming that growth is significant and needs planning.
Electric Power Research Institute
EPRI is not an anti-data-center group or a libertarian advocacy group; it is a major power-sector research organization. Its 2026 data-center scenarios are useful because they show the problem is regionally uneven. EPRI projects data centers could consume 9% to 17% of U.S. electricity by 2030, but the impact varies sharply by state. It says Virginia is currently the only state where data centers consume more than 20% of electricity, though more states could cross that threshold by 2030.
EPRI said that national numbers are serious, but the crisis is not uniform across the country. The real issue is whether specific local grids can handle concentrated demand.
Duke University’s Nicholas Institute
Researchers at Duke’s Nicholas Institute found that if data centers can reduce power use during a small number of peak-stress hours each year, the U.S. grid could accommodate roughly 100 gigawatts of additional data-center load without building new power plants. Brookings also cited this finding in its analysis of AI energy demand.
Brookings Institution
Brookings acknowledged affordability and environmental concerns, but also highlighted ways operators can reduce grid strain. Brookings cites examples of AI workloads being slowed, paused, or shifted during grid-stress periods, including one field trial that cut a data center’s power draw by 25% for three hours while maintaining service quality.
Ultimately, it remains to be determined whether data centers pose as significant a risk to American health and economic security as critics assert. Only time will tell.