Willie Nelson Gets It—This Time About Data Centers

Donald Trump is a big fan of the data centers powering the AI industry’s boom: “Everything’s good around them,” he recently told Fox News. Figures as diverse as Willie Nelson, Pope Leo, and Erin Brockovich might beg to differ, however—and all three have warned of the energy-guzzling behemoths’ environmental hazards in recent months.

They’re far from alone in sounding the alarm, and the president’s position is, in fact, increasingly unpopular: Seven Americans in 10 now believe that everything is not good around data centers, and say they’d oppose the construction of the computing hubs in their communities.

American anxiety about artificial intelligence has been rising for years. But until now, there have been limited outlets to channel that anxiety into action. With tech giants racing to build AI server campuses quickly and with limited oversight, Americans now have a (literally) concrete target for their protests.

In an Instagram post striking out against the dozens of data centers slated for construction in his native Central Texas, Nelson summed up the national mood: “The last thing we need is a loud, water thieving, light polluting, data center anywhere near our town (or any others for that matter).”

The 93-year-old singer-songwriter speaks for backlash that crosses all the usual political lines—and opens promising ground for progressive politics.

In some ways, it’s hard to imagine a construction surge less primed for popularity. Large-scale computing facilities are greedy consumers of water and electricity, requiring the latter in such massive quantities that dozens of natural-gas-burning power plants are being built to keep them online. Data centers offload heat pollution that raises the temperature in surrounding areas, and they can emit a droning hum day and night, resulting in migraines and sleepless nights for their neighbors.

All of which job-strapped communities would perhaps tolerate, if AI data centers produced considerable lasting employment—but they don’t do that, either. In fact, the supposed upside most visibly championed by big business is the idea that the technology will allow employers to replace countless jobs. And while everyday Americans have little ability to slow the AI rollout in the workplace, they can go to a local planning committee meeting and vent their disapproval. No wonder Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk are currently cooking up long-shot plans to offshore the mega-computers in space.

Data centers are so resoundingly unpopular that in the response to them the partisan divide marking almost every debate in American life is surprisingly absent. Governor Kathy Hochul (D-NY) signed the first statewide moratorium on new construction last month, and just last week, Governor Greg Abbott (R-TX) halted data center approvals in Texas pending an audit of their impact on the state’s electric grid—making Trump’s glowing assessment all the lonelier.