Local Pushback Halts $68B in US Data Center Builds

Between April and June, opposition to data centers blocked or set back 45 projects across the US with a combined value of $68 billion, according to Data Center Watch.

Public attitudes are increasingly negative, and state governments are responding with construction moratoriums and stricter regulations.

30 States Take Action on Data Center Rules

Around 30 state legislatures have introduced or passed measures concerning site selection, power, and water usage, Watch reported. Communities are acting before developers can even submit permit applications.

The rate of disruptions has slowed compared with the beginning of the year, when the firm counted 75 stalled projects totaling approximately $130 billion from January through March.

Still, the 45 cases represented more than half of all major new developments monitored in the quarter. This pressure has turned Bitcoin miners into unlikely property owners, as their power-connected sites offer AI developers a way to plug in without long waits for grid access.

Active opposition groups have grown to 843 across 49 states, with Hawaii the only state without one. Online campaigns are intensifying the pressure; a petition in Tennessee gathered over 500,000 signatures on Change.org.

Amazon data centers consumed 2.5 billion gallons of water in a single year. That volume is sufficient to fill roughly 3800 Olympic sized swimming pools.

The company operates more than 900 data centers across over 50 countries supporting services that include online shopping… pic.twitter.com/EOGIFlQ562

— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) July 14, 2026

Lead analyst Miquel Vila said the movement is still expanding.

“New groups continue to emerge, opposition is appearing across a wide range of states and jurisdictions, and online petition signatures continue to grow,” he said.

The Backlash Crosses Borders

For the first time in two years of tracking, the firm recorded protests outside the US. Campaigns have emerged in Europe, Australia, and South Africa, with organizers facing similar issues to those in America.

The White House views the resistance as a political issue rather than a planning one. President Donald Trump told communities that rejecting data centers would leave them behind and poor.

On September 14, he went further by dismissing warnings about artificial intelligence as a hoax. The pressure is already reaching investor filings.

Anthropic will list public hostility toward AI and data centers as a risk factor in its IPO prospectus, according to media reports. The next quarter’s numbers will resolve an open question: whether fewer communities are fighting, or fewer projects are getting to the stage where residents can fight them.