Author: Alyssa Guzman
A quaint palm-tree-lined coastal California town is in revolt over plans to build a massive 'hyperscale' data center on their doorstep.
Residents of Pittsburg, California, a sleepy boating town that shares the same name as Pennsylvania's second city, are furious about the move to build a 76-acre data center campus called Perseus on what was once the beloved local golf course.
AVAIO Digital's 99-megawatt facility is 'strategically' positioned near the East Bay, which is located 35 miles outside of San Francisco.
In a rowdy city council meeting on Monday, Pittsburg residents demanded answers and insisted that the project has no home in their town.
'The transparency and knowledge from city council has been horrifying,' resident, James Camoza, 40, who lives four miles from the proposed site, told the Daily Mail. 'They either do not know or do not care how this hurts communities.'
'The city council, in my opinion, purposefully misrepresented the project as a technical park, quoting significant economic growth, which is not the case with a data center,' he said.
'Although there will be construction jobs, these are short-term, and the long-term opportunities amount to roughly 20 roles.'
For Camoza, and many others, this is not enough to justify the feared disruption to their daily lives.
Data facilities can sometimes produce noise pollution, disturb residents' sleep, upset their pets and local wildlife, and in many cases use massive amounts of water resources to keep the machines cool.
There are an estimated 4,600 data centers operating within the US, with thousands more planned or in-development, according to Pew Research.
Centers often pop up in smaller towns with lots of land to build on and a large water source nearby, and increasingly without the consent of residents, which time and time again oppose the operations.
AVAIO has promised to use recycled water, but Camoza is suspicious whether this will be viable in practice. The Daily Mail has reached out to Pittsburg council and AVAIO for comment.
Large data centers can use up to five million gallons of water per day, which is enough water for a population of 10,000 to 50,000 people, according to the Environmental and Energy Study Institute. A medium-sized center can use up to 110 million gallons a year, which is the annual usage of roughly 1,000 people, it said.
The Institute found that data centers 'threaten freshwater supplies,' which is critical for human survival.
With the Perseus facility located 'strategically' on the East Bay, according to its website, residents are concerned as to whether fresh water could ultimately be used.
Camoza said the recycled water supply is 'finite,' and the limited supply would be even more threatened if AVAIO expanded.
'I asked our city council to show me examples of communities who have benefited from a data center without the negative consequences outlined above, and I'm still waiting for that answer,' he told the Daily Mail.
Online, Camoza has staunchly opposed Perseus and has called out city council for 'refusing to hear their constituents.'
'The public has overwhelmingly voiced that we do not want this data center,' he wrote on Facebook.
Local mom Amhari Perkins started a Change.org petition to stop the construction of the data center. It has so far garnered more than 26,000 signatures.
Perkins, who has two children, started the petition after she said she realized many people in her community were not informed about it. Many of her neighbors have been finding out through her petition, she told the Daily Mail.
Perkins, who lives a little over a mile from the proposed site, is worried about air and noise pollution.
Her son is autistic and she worries the increased sound might affect his health. She is also worried that increased air pollution would have long-term effects on the community including several nearby schools.
'It makes no sense,' she said about the center's location. 'There were no questions asked.
'We're pretty much a study at this point.'
The National Response
The aversion to data centers near residential neighborhoods is growing across the nation.
New York became the first to enact a statewide moratorium against large-scale data centers, with Governor Kathy Hochul pausing permits on facilities over 50 megawatts for a year.
Camoza believes there would be enough support in California to do the same thing.
'I think it's needed,' Camoza said. 'Without legislation of this nature, we'll continue to see blatant disregard for the community's health, wellness, and approval.'
Earlier this year, California voted on its first-ever anti-data-center legislation in Monterey Park, near Los Angeles.
More than 85 percent of voters voted to prohibit the construction of new centers in the city in June.
Monterey became the second city in the nation to pass legislation against data centers.
Port Washington, Wisconsin, a suburb of Milwaukee, was the first in April to vote to restrict any future data centers.
California Governor Gavin Newsom spoke about data centers at a press conference on Wednesday, where he said he believes it is a 'local planning decision.'
'We tend to have data centers, hundreds that we have already installed in California that are much more modest in scale compared to some states,' he said.
'I believe localism is determinative. It's a local planning decision, and I think that's appropriate. Now, as it relates to California, these large hyperscale data centers have not been the dominant investment that we've seen over the last few decades in California.'
Virginia has the highest number of data centers with 641, according to Pew Research. This is followed by Texas at 510 and California with 294. New York has 134.
Vermont has the least amount with three, according to Pew Research.
Wannie Park, founder of PADO AI, which helps data centers with energy management, told the Daily Mail that if AI companies want to continue to build facilities, they will have to start taking the human effect into account.
'As AI demand skyrockets, developers are realizing that ignoring local concerns around power grid strain, rising electricity costs, and resource allocation leads directly to regulatory roadblocks and public pushback,' he told the Daily Mail.
'Moving forward, early community engagement, transparency, and demonstrating direct local benefits will be just as critical as securing land and power.'
And for residents who wish data centers be moved to desert areas far away from civilians, Park said this is a fever dream, as the facilities need access to a strong power grid, network connectivity and water sources to survive.
'Developers can’t simply run away from populated areas – they have to learn to be better neighbors where the power and fiber already exist,' he said.