The Pattern
Howell Township, Michigan - conservative, business-friendly farmland - voted down a $1 billion Meta data center last year. The developer withdrew after the township imposed a moratorium on new data center development.
This isn't isolated. In the last week, Sand Springs, Oklahoma residents formed the Protect Sand Springs Alliance against an 827-acre AI data center annexation. Hanover County, Virginia saw bipartisan protests after a state study projected data centers would add $37/month to energy bills by 2040. Energy Secretary Chris Wright warned developers about rising rural anger over electricity prices.
The trade-offs are stark. Umatilla County, Oregon's budget grew from $7M in 2011 to $144M last fiscal year, with doubled public workforce - all from data center development. These facilities span areas larger than half of Manhattan and colocate with power grids. Hyperscalers invest in schools and infrastructure for what they view as 30-50 year assets.
Why This Matters
Enterprise AI deployment increasingly depends on infrastructure rural America doesn't want. The backlash is bipartisan and organized - Republicans and Democrats united in Virginia, conservative Michigan townships blocking Meta, Oklahoma forming formal alliances. The White House is monitoring ahead of midterms.
For CTOs planning AI infrastructure: Site selection just got political. Water and power strain, opaque deals, and farmland industrialization are mobilizing communities in Oklahoma, Virginia, Arizona, Indiana, and Maryland. What hyperscalers viewed as friendly territory is pushing back.
The Agricultural Angle
The irony: USDA's FY2025-2026 AI strategy promotes rural innovation through predictive analytics for agricultural production and sustainability. But the infrastructure needed for agricultural AI tools - precision farming, IoT sensors, machine learning models - runs into the same connectivity challenges these data centers could help solve.
Edge computing and federated learning might offer a path forward. Offline AI models for precision agriculture don't require the massive centralized facilities causing backlash. Several agricultural tech vendors are already deploying edge AI models designed for low-bandwidth farming communities.
H.R.5227 now mandates a study on AI data center energy impacts. Worth watching: whether the industry shifts strategy or doubles down on rural sites despite organized resistance.