Elena Schlossberg and her husband bought their property in Prince William County, Virginia, in 2000. Over the years, the rise of artificial intelligence has transformed their bucolic community into a major hub for data centers, and Mrs. Schlossberg isn’t standing for it.
Spurred to action by an Amazon Web Services data center project in 2014, Schlossberg founded the Coalition to Protect Prince William County. This grassroots organization aims to defend the community against the impact data centers have on residents’ quality of life. Despite the Coalition’s efforts, the county is now home to 44 data centers operated by various tech companies, with 15 more under construction, according to its latest tax revenue report.
“It’s not like I’m anti-data,” Schlossberg told Gizmodo. “But the way they are growing cannot continue.”
Prince William County is a microcosm of a larger phenomenon that’s taken root in rural America in recent years—particularly in low-income areas and communities of color. Data center construction is surging nationwide to support AI’s rapid growth. While some may see opposition as overhyped NIMBYism, experts and community leaders warn of very real consequences for Americans, including rising utility costs, environmental concerns, and public health risks.
If you don’t already have one in your hometown, there’s a good chance that will change in the near future. Here’s what it could mean for you.
Less money in your pocket
Proponents of data centers often argue that these facilities bring jobs and tax revenue to rural communities. In practice, however, these benefits haven’t been fully realized.
“I don’t think that the case is super compelling for what these data centers are bringing to the table,” Ben Green, an assistant professor at the University of Michigan’s School of Information, told Gizmodo. “And I think that is borne out by just how many communities are pushing back against them.”
A data center project may provide thousands of short-term construction jobs in the beginning, but once the facility is up and running, it typically only requires several dozen staffers to oversee operations. According to Green’s research, data centers do not bring in permanent, high-paying tech jobs because they operate as infrastructure projects rather than traditional businesses.
What’s more, data centers may eliminate long-term jobs already available to the community by purchasing land from local businesses. Schlossberg points to Merrifield Garden Center in Gainesville, Virginia, as one example. The nursery is set to close in December after selling its 38 acres to a data center developer for $160 million, the Prince William Times reports.
Tax revenue can be a real benefit, Green said, but much of this is offset by tax breaks provided to the billion-dollar tech companies building data centers. “It’s not clear why we should be giving these companies—which are the wealthiest in the world—money to come and essentially tap the region’s resources,” he said.
And the strain they put on local resources can be immense. Data centers consume huge amounts of water and electricity, driving up utility costs for residents. Meanwhile, data centers frequently negotiate lower energy rates through bulk power purchasing agreements (PPAs) with utility companies.
In August 2024, for example, Meta signed two long-term PPAs for solar energy production in Illinois and Louisiana. While solar PPA prices have held steady, energy prices for residents have increased more than 20% in Clark County, Illinois, and 39% in Laffite, Louisiana, according to Green’s research.
Power-hungry data centers won’t just impact your wallet, however. To meet rising energy demand, many communities have been forced to keep fossil fuel plants open, Green explained. And when the overstressed electric grid fails, most data centers rely on diesel backup generators. This leads to air pollution that poses significant risks to local health and the environment.
Greater risks to your health
Shaolei Ren, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of California, Riverside, is a co-author of a recent study that investigated the air pollution produced by data centers—primarily their backup generators and electricity usage.
The findings, which are undergoing peer review, suggest that the total public health burden of U.S. data centers will cost more than $20 billion per year by 2028, double that of U.S. coal-based steelmaking.
But what does this mean on a local scale? Well, Ren and his colleagues also found that both electricity consumption and backup generator usage impact the local air quality around data centers, emitting pollutants such as PM2.5, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide. Studies have linked long-term exposure to these pollutants to adverse health outcomes and premature death.
“We found that in certain areas like Northern Virginia, the direct impact is really substantial,” Ren told Gizmodo. The analysis shows that—assuming the actual emissions are only 10% of the permitted level—the data center backup generators registered in Virginia could already cause 14,000 asthma symptom cases and other health outcomes.
This equates to a total public health burden of $220 million to $300 million per year, impacting residents not just in the immediate vicinity of data centers but in multiple surrounding states and as far south as Florida.
“These air pollutants are traveling hundreds of miles,” Ren explained. “But most of the pollutants are concentrated within 50 miles [of the data centers].”
What experts say you can do about it
Schlossberg and the Coalition to Protect Prince William County have become a model for communities looking to organize against local data center projects. She speaks with people across the country, helping them form their own grassroots efforts to push back against the impact of data centers on their lives.
Her word of advice? “Never give up, even when you’ve lost.” Standing up to some of the largest corporations in America is no easy feat, but it will make a difference, she said. And there are plenty of solutions you can advocate for, according to Ren and Green.
Ren highlights fighting for policies that require data centers to switch to tier 4 diesel backup generators, designed with state-of-the-art emission control technologies to meet the most stringent air quality standards. Green emphasizes urging policymakers to repeal tax breaks for data centers and demanding greater transparency around their water and energy use.
“Your community is your firewall,” Schlossberg said. “What we are doing now—town by town, city by city—is mitigating the damage to save what we can until this bubble bursts.”
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