DATA CENTER WATCH

$64 billion of data center projects have been blocked or delayed amid local opposition

 

Local activism threatens to derail the U.S. data center boom

TL;DR: $64 billion in U.S. data center projects have been blocked or delayed by a growing wave of local, bipartisan opposition. What was once quiet infrastructure is now a national flashpoint — and communities are pushing back.

Report Objective: This report catalogs and analyzes the rise in local opposition to data center projects across the United States. It focuses on projects blocked or delayed over the past two years amid permitting or regulatory challenges, primarily driven by organized activist groups.

Note: This report highlights political risks and local opposition as frequent factors in data center project delays or cancellations, including community resistance, environmental concerns, and zoning issues. However, attributing delays exclusively to these factors oversimplifies a complex landscape.

Data center projects are influenced by multiple intertwined elements—regulatory compliance, infrastructure readiness, utility availability, economic incentives, and broader market dynamics. Each project's circumstances must be individually assessed to fully understand the combination of forces causing delays or obstructions.

Research Timeline: May 2024 - March 2025.

Methodology: Data Center Watch tracks opposition to large-scale data center projects across 28 U.S. states, building a database of activist activity and public officials involved in blocking or delaying development. We reviewed public sources such as local media, government filings, petitions, social media, and official statements. The database is continuously updated, though some figures reflect estimates that may change.

About This Report’s Focus: This report offers insights for stakeholders but does not assess — or in any way seek to diminish — the motivations or merits of activist concerns; such evaluation is simply outside the scope.

Big Takeaways:

Bipartisan Backlash. Opposition to data center development cuts across political lines. Republican officials often raise concerns about tax incentives and energy grid strain, while Democrats tend to focus on environmental impacts and resource consumption. This cross-party resistance defies expectations and marks a rare area of bipartisan alignment in infrastructure politics.

“AI Infrastructure” Isn’t Always Welcome. Despite the post-ChatGPT enthusiasm for AI, communities are not universally embracing the physical infrastructure behind it. Even when promised jobs and tax revenue, local residents often push back against data centers — challenging the prevailing narrative that tech development is always a local economic win.

Data Centers Are the New NIMBY Flashpoint. Where communities once rallied against factories, warehouses, or retail sprawl, they’re now opposing data centers.

• From noise and water usage to power demands and property values, server farms have become a new target in the broader backlash against large-scale development. 
• The landscape of local resistance is shifting — and data centers are squarely in the crosshairs.

Executive Summary

1. $18 billion worth of data center projects were blocked, and another $46 billion of projects were delayed over the last two years in the face of opposition from residents and activist groups.
2. There are at least 142 activist groups across 24 states organizing to block data center construction and expansion.
   

Opposition to data center construction is largely motivated by local concerns. While the exact reasons opponents cite vary from location to location, some common themes are higher utility bills, water consumption, noise, impact on property value, and green space preservation.

• Data center projects that involve building their own power supplies are likely to attract additional opposition related to energy-generating infrastructure.

A recent survey shows that while a majority of Americans support data center construction in the abstract, most are skeptical of projects in their communities.

The backlash to data center development is bipartisan and does not follow the typical ideological fault lines of American politics. There have been projects blocked in red states and blue states, and there are both Republican and Democratic officials opposing new projects. 

•  A review of public statements by elected officials in districts with large data center projects (50 MW>) under consideration found that 55% of the politicians who had taken public positions against the data center projects were Republicans, and 45% were Democrats. 
• This bipartisan opposition is notable because major data center developments tend to be located in red states, with Virginia and Oregon being notable exceptions. 
• Even in famously business-friendly Texas, there is bi-partisan support for additional regulations on data center development in the State Senate.

While there is bipartisan opposition to data center development, the exact issues emphasized by activists often differ based on their partisanship. 

On the left, you often see arguments around environmental concerns, while on the right, conservatives will often cite opposition to tax abatements. 

• However, concerns over power consumption and grid strain have gained support across the political spectrum. 
• And the traditional NIMBY opposition to new developments is driven by local residents and doesn’t tend to have a partisan lean.

Data center challenges arise primarily at the local level, as most permitting decisions are made by local authorities. Consequently, even a supportive White House has limited control over delays arising at the local level. 

 

The map above shows states where data center projects have been blocked or delayed in the last two years, with details about each blocked or delayed

Blocked: A project is considered blocked when its development has been definitively halted, either due to permit denials by local authorities or the voluntary withdrawal of the proposal in response to local opposition. While blocked projects can sometimes be reactivated by developers, for the purposes of our research, any such reactivation is classified as delayed, as activist actions have disrupted the original timeline. If a company submits a new proposal with similar characteristics in a different but nearby location after withdrawing a previous project, we treat it as a distinct project.

Delayed: A project is considered delayed when its original development timeline has been disrupted, but the developer is still working to get permitting and regulatory approval. This may occur due to extended regulatory reviews, temporary permit denials, legal challenges, or significant opposition from local communities that forces developers to modify or postpone their plans.