Data centers have turned into a high‑stakes battlefield. As demand for AI infrastructure soars, residents coping with water shortages, soaring electric bills and environmental risks are increasingly clashing with developers. The backlash—from local citizens to federal officials—has caused project delays and, in some instances, outright cancellations.
Now an interactive online hub launched by environmental activist Erin Brockovich aims to amplify everyday voices in the data‑center debate. Brockovich rose to fame for taking on Pacific Gas & Electric over water contamination in Hinkley, California, a story later dramatized in a 2000 Hollywood film starring Julia Roberts.
At the heart of the Brockovich AI Data Center Reporting site is a crowdsourced, interactive map that charts AI data centers—both existing facilities and those proposed or under construction—totaling 3,674 reported locations. Anyone can submit a concern via an online form; Brockovich personally reviews each entry, removing duplicates and filtering out submissions lacking ZIP codes.
«Erin is really interested in the map being self‑reported so that everyone who sends in their story can be seen and heard,» said Suzanne Boothby, author who collaborated with Brockovich on her latest book and executive editor of her Substack, The Brockovich Report.
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Pew Research estimates at least 3,000 operational data centers in the United States, with up to 1,500 more in the pipeline. An FAQ on the site clarifies that the map is not meant to catalog every center nationwide, but to spotlight sites where community members are actively raising concerns.
Boothby told Gfaloe via email that one of the toughest challenges for people «facing environmental threats in their backyard is to feel like no one is listening.»
Data centers suffer from a transparency deficit
In a May 27 post titled *If Data Centers Are So Great, Why Are They Being Built in Secret?*, Brockovich asked people to forward their worries and information about nearby data centers. She received «a flood» of responses, and within a month the map displayed 2,716 pins derived from 3,862 reports.
One issue kept resurfacing.
«The single most common concern — more than noise, more than water usage, more than rising utility bills — is the one word that keeps appearing in submission after submission: transparency,» Brockovich wrote.
She argues that secrecy surrounding data‑center projects leaves residents with little say over developments that could affect their lives—through noise, water and electricity consumption, and potential health impacts. The post attracted over 200 comments, including one that read: «Thank you for taking on the powerful!!!!» Another noted that AI’s resource hunger is driving job losses and economic disruption, stating, «Doesn’t sound like a great ‘deal’ to me.»
The rapid rollout of data centers to meet AI compute demands has become a flashpoint for opposition to Big Tech, with some giants—like SpaceX—exploring the idea of building them in space.
On June 1, Oracle and OpenAI broke ground on a $16 billion AI data‑center campus in Saline Township, Michigan, sparking local protests. Pushback on new proposals has ignited political battles over whether states can impose restrictions.
Nearly a dozen states are weighing moratoriums on data‑center construction. In Maine, legislators passed the nation’s first statewide ban on facilities drawing more than 20 megawatts of electricity, only to see it vetoed by Governor Janet Mills.
A recent Gallup poll found a majority of Americans oppose data centers.
Addressing a national challenge
Brockovich’s hub aggregates news articles and videos about specific sites and projects, featuring several photos of data centers under construction. One image shows cleared farmland in Bowling Green, Ohio, being prepped for a complex. The site also lists key concerns about AI data centers and documents how communities are reacting, including a rundown of areas where moratoriums have been enacted or where voters have taken action.
Boothby said the platform gives people a venue to be heard, especially those frustrated by the bureaucracy of agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency or the Department of Natural Resources.
«This map offers them a voice and hopefully launches a larger conversation so that we can all see that this issue isn’t happening in one town here or there. It’s a national issue,» Boothby added.
