The WSJ talks about the latest pessimism hitting Americans: data centers. For certain, data centers are unlikely to pop up in NYC or, for that matter, on Martha’s Vineyard.

Data centers look like warehouses. They also are crucial for artificial intelligence. The US is in competition with China. Should the US lose to China, you can be pretty darn certain China will not be a benevolent winner.

Without the energy and the data centers to power it, notes the Editorial Board of the WSJ, “America’s safety and prosperity will be compromised.”

Attribute starting the firestorm on the left to Sen. Bernie Sanders, who would like a nationwide halt to new data centers. Now the issue has become a nationwide political battle.

In Ohio, Sherrod Brown is making the issue the center of his comeback bid against appointed GOP Sen. Jon Husted.

Why are politicians, who once supported these centers, turning?

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker once courted data centers but now is giving them a cold shoulder.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who has a huge lead in his re-election campaign, this month issued an executive order restricting their development.

Republicans aren’t about to be left out of this about-face:

GOP Rep. Tom Tiffany is running ads in Wisconsin in his campaign for Governor calling his opponent “Data Center David Crowley.” “Our lakes run dry, family farms paved over,” says the fear-mongering spot.

Isn’t it time for politicians to fess up to what’s going on? This summer, Gov. Greg Abbott (TX) paused new construction pending the completion of a statewide audit, citing concerns about data center power and water use. Abbott blamed AI firms: “They basically dug their own grave for the problem that’s been caused for them, and that’s why they got the backlash they deserve.”

By many measures, the AI industry has hurt its own cause by fueling speculative anxiety about mass unemployment. AI developers also have failed to explain how data centers benefit local communities. But the larger failure has been the lack of political leadership in explaining the technological and economic transition now underway and how to address it.

It’s not only utilities that benefit from AI (monitoring natural disasters and preparing for power outages); AI models also diagnose cancer earlier and help develop cures, and building the data centers creates a lot of jobs.

Data centers bring high-paying construction jobs, and skilled blue-collar workers are needed to run them.

What about pollution from data centers? Good question. Scant.

Their CO2 emissions mainly stem from the natural gas plants that power them. But modern gas generators produce upward of 90% less fine particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, and carbon monoxide than a steel mill.

How about wastewater? Aren’t data centers notorious for producing wastewater? Data centers also deploy efficient systems to recirculate wastewater, so they don’t affect the supply of drinking water.

For example, Microsoft’s new data center in Wisconsin will use about only four Olympic swimming pools of water this year, half as much as a car wash. Golf courses use about 30 times more water than data centers.

Understandably concerning for all Americans are higher utility costs.  But data centers aren’t to blame, explains the WSJ.

Average electric rates nationwide have increased roughly in line with inflation since 2016, with larger increases in the Northeast and California, largely because of climate policies such as net-metering that lets homes with solar panels free-load on the grid. A study by the Electric Power Research Institute found that data centers between 2015 and 2024 reduced residential rates by 3.5%, reports the WSJ, spreading the grid’s fixed costs over a larger electric load.

What’s the Reality

The surge of opposition to data centers, reports the Journal, reflects misinformation and anxiety about the future more than it does reality.

President Trump is speaking up, however, noting that data centers will provide “far lower taxes and jobs all over the place.”

Please keep it up, pleads the Journal.

President Trump rightly notes that if the bipartisan campaign against data centers succeeds, the winner will be the Chinese Communist Party.