Dems Eye Rural Data Center Backlash    07/23 06:19

   

   AMARILLO, Texas (AP) -- When Gina Hinojosa, the Democratic nominee for Texas 
governor, began her campaign last year, candidates weren't talking about -- or 
hearing about -- data centers.

   But with barely three months until November's contest, the perceived threat 
to rural life, ranchland and dwindling water supplies could become a defining 
issue for her longshot challenge to Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, dividing 
conservative rural areas that have traditionally served as a counterweight to 
Democrats' urban strongholds.

   The backlash to energy-guzzling server warehouses that power artificial 
intelligence is also shaping other statewide campaigns from Arizona to Ohio to 
New York, and even giving Democrats a glimmer of hope in Texas, where 
Republicans have dominated for three decades.

   "There is this little issue that I recently started hearing about that I 
wanted to tell you about, in case you don't know," Hinojosa quipped to a 
Democratic Party-organized crowd of about 160 seated on fold-out chairs at an 
Amarillo social club in Texas' panhandle. "It's this issue of data centers."

   The crowd booed, and she went on: "They are owned by the richest men in the 
world. We're all footing the bill. There are no rules. It is the wild west of 
data centers."

   The fast growth of massive data centers has already upended races for local 
offices across the country, often uniting conservatives and liberals in 
revolting against projects in their midst.

   People don't like the secrecy surrounding the projects or the prospect of 
air, noise, water and light pollution. They fear electric bills going up, wells 
going dry and losing open space, farmland or forest.

   Now the ripple effects have spread to top-of-the-ticket races, where 
incumbents and challengers are trying to show that they hear an angry 
electorate.

   In Ohio, Democratic nominee Sherrod Brown aired a television advertisement 
attacking Republican U.S. Sen. John Husted as the "face of data centers in 
Ohio" as people gather signatures for a statewide referendum to outright ban 
their construction.

   In Wisconsin, a Democratic candidate for governor, Francesca Hong, is 
pledging to "tax the rich, fund our schools and stop AI data centers" as she 
campaigns for her party's nomination in a crowded primary.

   In Pennsylvania, Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro is facing heat from some 
voters who feel like he's been too welcoming to tech behemoths. Sam Burleigh, a 
Democrat whose rural community is fighting off data center projects, accused 
Shapiro of "allowing these data centers to come in and take over acres and 
acres of prime farmland."

   Texas is fertile ground for data centers

   Any political unrest may be felt most acutely in Texas.

   The state is poised to overtake northern Virginia as the largest global data 
center market by 2030, according to a report by commercial real estate giant 
JLL. It has lots of land, lots of energy and a friendly regulatory environment 
under Republican leadership.

   In rural west Texas and its panhandle, gargantuan data centers are under 
construction, including one near Amarillo touted as the world's largest. Some 
come with designs for natural gas-fired turbines to power them.

   Rumors are flying about others popping up -- Google, which is building four 
data centers in northwest Texas, sponsored moderated conversations with 
officials and business elite in Lubbock and Amarillo in recent weeks -- and it 
is sowing an outcry across small cities, tiny towns and sprawling ranches where 
people vote overwhelmingly Republican.

   Google says its investments are advancing American innovation, fortifying 
cybersecurity and boosting energy capacity, while President Donald Trump has 
made data centers a top priority to help the U.S. compete against China for AI 
superiority.

   But tech giants and developers can be secretive about their plans, making it 
impossible to know what will be built or what sort of pollution they'll create, 
critics say. Some worry that data centers will destroy rural Texas' low cost of 
living and sully sunsets and sweeping views that stretch toward the horizon.

   Others say construction and an influx of workers are already causing havoc 
for ranchers and towns, driving up rents, snapping up farmland, illuminating 
the night sky, clogging roads and turning parts of rural Texas into industrial 
zones.

   Opposition crosses a partisan divide

   Democrats are prominent among the data center critics, but so are 
Republicans, including Texas' sitting agriculture commissioner, Sid Miller. 
They say there are many more Republicans who are quieter because they fear 
publicly opposing their governor and party.

   "They're upset with Greg Abbott," said Suzanne Bellsnyder, a former 
Republican activist from Spearman who writes a syndicated column that advocates 
for rural Texas. "Whether that translates into voting against him, I don't 
know."

   Abbott has aggressively advocated for big projects in Texas and, in 
November, he helped make Google's announcement of a $40 billion investment 
there, saying "Texas is the epicenter of AI development."

   Compounding that, Texas counties don't have zoning authority -- precisely 
the local land planning authority that communities around the country are 
increasingly using to fight off data centers.

   Abbott seems to recognize that data centers are dividing his base. In recent 
weeks, he ordered regulators to take steps to ensure Texans weren't paying 
higher electricity bills because of data centers and promised to push a 
legislative agenda next year to impose regulations on data centers.

   At an East Texas campaign stop, Abbott said that includes taking away the 
state's billion-dollar-plus-per-year tax break and preventing data centers from 
being built in "rural Texas neighborhoods."

   Hinojosa and others derided Abbott's words about "rural Texas neighborhoods" 
as meaningless -- "doublespeak that makes no sense to anyone," Hinojosa said -- 
and lacking urgency or seriousness.

   "Now we have this gold rush of data centers in our communities," Hinojosa 
said in an interview, adding that "people want a say, and I think that's fair."

   As governor, she said she'd block a permit for a data center if it wasn't a 
good deal for Texans or residents hadn't gotten a say in the matter.

   Abbott tries to soothe concerns

   Abbott's campaign season turnabout on data centers doesn't seem to have 
soothed many.

   Of great concern is the prospect that data centers will consume massive 
amounts of water and worsen drought conditions for ranchers and farmers in a 
state where water shortages already crippled the sugar cane industry.

   "Oh, I guarantee you, it's on everybody's mind," said Giles Dalby, a cattle 
rancher and a Republican county commissioner in west Texas.

   Dalby, who raises Angus and Brangus cattle on ranchland that's been in his 
family for 125 years, pointed to fast-growing cities where water authorities 
have had to go to greater lengths to procure water, including the "water wars" 
between San Antonio and ranchers several years ago.

   Texas is increasingly steamrolling over landowner rights in the quest for 
public water, Dalby said, and that could mean that data centers get in line 
ahead of ranchers when shortages or rationing worsen.

   Clayton Tucker, a rancher and the Democratic nominee for state agriculture 
commissioner, said his campaign events are consumed by talk of data centers. It 
doesn't matter whether he's meeting with Democrats or Republicans.

   "This is the most cross-partisan issue I've ever seen in my life," Tucker 
said.

   Meanwhile, protest groups are springing up, including one in Lubbock that is 
led by Republicans. The founders, Stephen Sanders and Hallie Bertrand, like 
some other Republican opponents of data centers, say it's possible or even 
certain they won't vote for Abbott, although they may not necessarily vote for 
Hinojosa.

   There is still time for Abbott to push through major legislation before the 
election and "be a hero," Sanders said.

   The big question is whether enough rural voters will turn against Abbott to 
give Hinojosa a shot. It's hard to tell, Bertrand said, especially when some 
know nothing about the issue.

   "They'll just hit that button, Republican all the way down," Bertrand said. 
"But I think it's a step towards something that we have not seen in Texas in a 
long time, with people on the right switching to the left. Or scooting a little 
closer to the middle, maybe."