What would it take to actually stop the data centers?
TL;DR
In the United States, building a data center now polls roughly as well as abolishing the police. In an August survey from Heatmap Pro and Embold Research, just 15 percent of Americans said they would support a data center being built in their area, while 75 percent expressed opposition. One year earlier, 43 percent approved of nearby data center development and 42 percent opposed it.
Nauti's Take
The opportunity buried in these numbers is site competition: regions that disclose water use, grid connection and tax deals win projects that stall in permitting elsewhere. The risk is a rebound effect, because when capacity moves to wherever the fewest questions get asked, environmental costs shift rather than shrink.
Anyone with a vote locally is better served pushing for hard conditions than for a blanket no.
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