[fc417fc802]

Nobody is complaining about the acreage used. The objection is power and water consumption and any other externalities imposed on the local community. If they were just purchasing 100 acre lots of land and letting it sit vacant I don't think anyone would really care for the most part.

[Gormo]

> The objection is power and water consumption and any other externalities imposed on the local community.

That seems a bit bizarre, since people opening new facilities are usually responsible for paying for their inputs with their own funds -- if merely increasing demand for power or water is itself generating externalities, that implies that there's a much more fundamental economic problem that needs to be resolved.

[luxuryballs]

the one gripe I do have is with the power companies in one state building new infrastructure for a neighboring state to pipe power out for data centers but then raises rates on the locals to fund it, something def needs to be done about that

[Gormo]

Agreed. I don't know whether that's a significant problem, though, or if it's being overblown in the media, given that most states already have oversight mechanisms for utility pricing from monopoly service providers.

Where I live, for example, consumer rate increases above a certain level have to be validated by the state's Public Service Commission.