People have begun to voice their concerns about the more than 4,000 AI data centers that have been constructed in the United States.
Some, like the people of Dowagiac, Michigan, have filed lawsuits against the companies behind these data centers because of the negative effects of them on their surrounding community, like becoming increasingly ill due to the noise emitted by them nonstop.
The community of Urbana, Ohio, voiced its concerns about having an AI data center structured in their small town when they first heard of big tech company Thor Equities' plans to build there.
During a town hall meeting, the city council listened to their community members and voted against the proposed build, concluding that it would do more harm than good for the 11,000 people living within their town.
Thor Equities did not appreciate this ruling, however, and has filed a lawsuit against Urbana to contest the decision.
According to X user @WallStreetApes, the relationship between Thor Equities and Urbana, Ohio, is highly imbalanced.
"Urbana only has a population of about 11,000, but they're going up against a $20 billion company."
"The company wants to put in a data center so massive, it will use eight times the entire town's current annual electricity usage."
"The data center project would claim 565 acres."
The entirety of Urbana, Ohio, is only about 7.91 square miles, or 5,062 acres.
The X user continued:
"The $1 billion AI data center would likely use an enormous amount of water, up to hundreds of millions of gallons per year."
"For a project of this scale, the Thor Equities' proposed annual usage could easily reach 300 to 1,800 or more million gallons per year in water usage."
Of the lawsuit, she said:
"The city council put a 12-month moratorium in place on all data centers, and on June 16th, they finalized the zoning regulations that said 'no data centers,' leading Thor Equities to file a federal lawsuit against this tiny town."
"Laughably, they say they look forward to resolving this so they can continue being a strong partner for Urbana."
"Even when residents and the city council vote for what they want, these massive companies won't be stopped."
You can watch the video here:
Some were disgusted by what was happening.
It's concerning that a town can't choose to opt out without facing litigation. Many of these data centers are being built in rural locations with big farms and small populations, making it much harder for people to object to them—especially when potentially expensive lawsuits are the result.
@sanho/Bluesky
@dytsras/Bluesky
