It's worse than that. Data centers aren't a net zero for the area, they're a net negative. They use up water, arguably pollute said water [1], they jack up the price of everybody's electricity (because everyone else ends up paying for the extra infrastructure), can cause pollution directly (eg xAI runs highly-polluting gas turbines in a city through a legal loophole of them being "mobile" [2]) and aren't the quiet, unseen facilities proponents make them out to be (eg [3]).

On top of all that they typically get massive subsidies and tax credits. Why? Because the DC might go somewhere else, allegedly. Where? Nobody wants it. Everybody knows the politicians approving all this are getting bought or just coerced.

I'd love to see a single example of where one of these data centers was welcomed by the community or somehow a net positive.

[1]: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy8gy7lv448o

[2]: https://earthjustice.org/case/xai-illegal-gas-power-plant-da...

[3]: https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/northern-virginia/n...