AI data center buildout is triggering bipartisan, citizen-led demands for local and national moratoriums, with Sanders and 230+ groups explicitly targeting generative AI and crypto as major threats.
The core friction is power and water: projections show U.S. data centers could hit 106 GW by 2035, consume up to 12 percent of U.S. electricity by 2028, and use 720 billion gallons of water annually for cooling.
Local communities in places like Loudoun County, Chandler, and Leesburg are pushing back over rising electricity prices, climate impacts, water stress, and the thin long-term job base these GPU farms actually deliver.
Developers are leaning on tax credits, NDAs, and opaque PILOT deals instead of transparent tax revenue, but secrecy is fueling distrust as residents learn after the fact that AI giants like OpenAI and Oracle are the real tenants.
The political risk is now showing up directly in capital markets, with at least $100 billion in projects slowed or blocked in Q2 2025 and financiers like Blue Owl backing away from mega–AI data center deals over siting uncertainty.
For operators and vendors, the message is clear: grid and water constraints plus local resistance are becoming first-order design constraints, not afterthoughts, for large GPU data center programs.
The article is worth a full read if you care about how community pushback and resource limits will shape the next phase of AI infrastructure buildout.
Source: Demands for Data Center Moratoriums Surge – The American Prospect
