Activists at the Minnesota state capitol are calling for a moratorium on any new data centers in the state.
"Currently, there are 23 hyperscale data centers being proposed in our state," says spokeswoman Eleanor Dolan. "And we have no regulatory framework in place to protect our communities and the environment from the detrimental impacts of these facilities."
Dolan says excessive water usage and high energy consumption top the list of their biggest concerns.
Data center advocates tout the jobs and tax revenue these facilities can bring, however.
Dolan says a moratorium should be enacted to allow state agencies enough time to draft and enact environmental regulations.
"We want development for the common good, not for the elite few," she adds. "This world belongs to all of us."
Data centers are sprouting across the U.S., as tech giants scramble to meet worldwide demand for chatbots and other generative AI products that require large amounts of computing power to train and operate.
The buildings look like giant warehouses, some dwarfing the footprints of factories and stadiums. Some need more power than a small city, more than any utility has ever supplied to a single user, setting off a race to build more power plants.
The demand for electricity can have a ripple effect that raises prices for everyone else. For example, if utilities build more power plants or transmission lines to serve them, the cost can be spread across all ratepayers.
Concerns have dovetailed with broader questions about the cost of living, as well as fears about the powerful influence of tech companies and the impact of artificial intelligence.