Silicon Valley wants communities across the country to make room for its data centers. On Tuesday, those communities had their say. Voters considered nearly 40 data center-related ballot measures across 10 states, turning the midterms into a sprawling referendum shifting the technology industry’s demand for power into a test of political power. Of the ballot […]
Data Centers
Posted inEconomic Development, Environmental Justice
Data Center Coming to Your Neighborhood? See Where Your Candidates Stand.
If you’re a Black American worried about a data center coming to your neighborhood, the questions are immediate and seemingly boundless. Will electricity bills rise? How much water will it use? And will elected officials listen before approving it? A new nationwide election dashboard from the NAACP and the Memphis, Tennessee-based Black environmental organization Young, […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice
For Black Voters, Climate Action Means Little Without Relief From Rising Costs
For Elijah Lee, protecting the environment has always been about what’s happening close to home. He grew up in a predominantly Black, low-income community in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina, and went to school next to a paper mill that filled the air with pollution. He always wondered why it seemed like the only employment option […]
Posted inAir Pollution, Environmental Justice, Politics & Policy
Residents Stopped a Data Center, but a Gas Plant Still Threatens This Black Community
For nine months, the Rev. Edward Moultrie of St. Paul CME Church and his congregation filled county meetings, urging officials to reject a proposal for a massive data center near their church and homes. They warned that the project near Walterboro, South Carolina, would threaten the waterways they rely on and bring pollution to their […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice
Federal Government Moves to Limit Public Input on Data Center Projects
Americans don’t agree on much, but that’s not the case when it comes to data centers. Seven in 10 Americans oppose building data centers for artificial intelligence in or near their communities. Despite this, the federal government is moving to make it easier for them to be built. And in some places, residents won’t even […]
Posted inEconomic Development, Politics & Policy
A Data Center Promises Jobs in This Black Town, but Residents Aren’t Convinced
CLARKSDALE, Mississippi — Rumors of a potential data center had loomed over Voneshay Walker like a cloud for months. She’d heard the whispers and seen reports of other centers popping up in small towns across the South. She didn’t expect it to hit so close to home. Walker is a native of Tutwiler, Mississippi, a […]
Posted inEconomic Development, Environmental Justice, Politics & Policy
Meta’s Data Center Will Be the Biggest in the U.S., but No One Knows Who They’re Hiring
Across a rural pocket of cotton and soybean fields in northeast Louisiana, Meta, the eighth most profitable company in the world, is attempting to build America’s largest data center. The project, which is located in Richland Parish, an area home to three times as many Black residents as the national average, has seen its anticipated […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice, Politics & Policy
Data Center Surge Worsens Electricity Costs for Black Families
In the sweltering Alabama heat, where a trailer home can feel like an oven during each new heat wave, Esther Calhoun’s electricity bill has doubled in recent years. On a fixed income of about $1,300 a month, the 63‑year‑old Calhoun now pays roughly $350 monthly for electricity in rural Alabama. President Donald Trump came into […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice, Religion
Meta’s $250B Louisiana Data Center Is the Most Expensive in U.S.
RICHLAND PARISH, Louisiana — Seen as far as 2 miles away, a white cross — the size of a 12-story building — welcomes you to this largely forgotten stretch of Delta country. While cotton no longer runs supreme here, every road, ballot measure, and industrial promise still has to pass the faith test that once […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice, HBCUs, Technology
As Fisk University Moves Forward With Data Center Proposal, Opposition Grows
When Naimah Muhammad heard that her alma mater, Fisk University, planned to build a data center on campus, she was annoyed and confused. The announcement came just days after the spring semester ended. There were no hearings, town halls, or meetings with students or residents of the majority-Black neighborhood in north Nashville, Tennessee, she said. […]
