$130 billion in data center projects blocked by protests so far this year

今年迄今已有价值 1300 亿美元的数据中心项目因抗议受阻

It’s clear that communities now have an effective playbook to block data center construction. This week, researchers flagged the first quarter of 2026 as producing the “most blocked and delayed data center projects on record,” NBC News reported. 显而易见，社区现在已经掌握了一套阻止数据中心建设的有效策略。据 NBC 新闻报道，研究人员指出，2026 年第一季度是“有记录以来数据中心项目被阻挠和延误最多”的时期。

Data Center Watch, a project from AI intelligence firm 10a Labs that tracks data center fights around the US, reported that protestors “blocked or delayed at least 75 projects nationwide worth about $130 billion from January through March,” NBC News reported. 据 NBC 新闻报道，由人工智能情报公司 10a Labs 发起的、旨在追踪全美数据中心争议的项目“数据中心观察”（Data Center Watch）报告称，从 1 月到 3 月，抗议者在全国范围内“阻挠或延误了至少 75 个项目，总价值约 1300 亿美元”。

That’s “the most in a three-month period since the group began tracking in 2023,” and it shouldn’t be parsed as “a cyclical spike,” the researchers said. Instead, there’s been a “structural shift,” as “communities have internalized an opposition playbook, legislative sessions introduced formal regulatory uncertainty, and the number of active opposition groups more than doubled to 833 across 49 states,” researchers said. 研究人员表示，这是“自该组织 2023 年开始追踪以来，三个月内数据最高的一次”，且不应将其解读为“周期性激增”。相反，这是一种“结构性转变”，因为“社区已经内化了一套反对策略，立法会议引入了正式的监管不确定性，且活跃的反对团体数量翻了一番多，在 49 个州达到了 833 个”。

The political momentum behind data center protests is expected to influence the upcoming midterm elections, with both parties increasingly sympathizing with resistance as opposition intensifies. 数据中心抗议活动背后的政治势头预计将影响即将到来的中期选举，随着反对声浪的加剧，两党对这种抵制情绪的同情度都在增加。

Sociologist’s unique take on data center opposition

社会学家对数据中心反对浪潮的独特见解

Sociologist Tressie McMillan Cottom has been spending time with organizers in North Carolina to better understand the playbook that’s fueling this momentum. In an op-ed for the New York Times encouraging Democrats to make data centers a key campaign issue, she noted that she “wasn’t sold on data center resistance as a political possibility,” but “time on the ground changed my mind.” 社会学家 Tressie McMillan Cottom 一直在北卡罗来纳州与组织者们接触，以更好地理解推动这一势头的策略。在为《纽约时报》撰写的一篇鼓励民主党将数据中心作为竞选核心议题的评论文章中，她指出，她起初“并不相信数据中心抵制运动能成为一种政治可能性”，但“实地考察改变了我的想法”。

Not only are people crossing political divides to oppose local construction projects, but also people “are passionate enough to attend political education sessions about water rights, land use, and thermodynamics,” McMillan Cottom wrote. McMillan Cottom 写道，人们不仅跨越政治分歧来反对当地的建设项目，而且“热情高涨到愿意参加关于水权、土地利用和热力学的政治教育课程”。

As she explained, people aren’t just educating themselves to keep noisy factories from driving up utility costs, threatening public health, or wasting local resources; some people are, for the first time, experiencing what it’s like to work with their neighbors to overcome adversity through political will. 正如她所解释的那样，人们学习不仅仅是为了防止嘈杂的工厂推高公用事业成本、威胁公共健康或浪费当地资源；有些人是第一次体验到与邻居合作，通过政治意志克服逆境的感觉。

“I have been watching this new groundswell of dissent firsthand in community meetings, organizing sessions and civic trainings here in North Carolina. The resistance has lifelong joiners, alumni from environmental and housing movements and young organizers. There are also a lot of people who have never dreamed of being disagreeable in public, much less considered joining a raucous social movement. The imminent risk of living next to a data center may be why they show up for a meeting, but they’re committing to the issue for bigger, deeper reasons. Political corruption and corporate malfeasance make them feel politically impotent. Voicing their objections, sharing their anxieties with others, recalling politicians who override them and in some cases beating the opposition is giving them something few politicians are offering—a taste of political power.” “我在这里（北卡罗来纳州）的社区会议、组织会议和公民培训中亲眼目睹了这股新的异议浪潮。参与抵制的人包括终身活动家、环境和住房运动的资深人士以及年轻的组织者。还有许多人从未想过要在公共场合表达异议，更不用说考虑加入一场喧闹的社会运动了。住在数据中心旁边的迫在眉睫的风险可能是他们参加会议的原因，但他们致力于此有着更大、更深层的原因。政治腐败和企业渎职让他们感到政治上的无力。表达反对意见、与他人分享焦虑、罢免那些无视他们的政客，并在某些情况下击败对手，这给了他们极少数政客能提供的东西——一种政治权力的滋味。”

Although it may be hard for Democrats to craft a national message that capitalizes on anti-data-center sentiment, McMillan Cottom suggested that, if they could, it would be the “greatest untapped opportunity” to win more elections. 尽管民主党可能很难制定出一套利用反数据中心情绪的全国性信息，但 McMillan Cottom 建议，如果他们能做到这一点，这将是赢得更多选举的“最大的未开发机会”。

Data Center Watch noted that the record of $130 billion data centers blocked or delayed in early 2026 was close to matching the value of the total number they recorded for all of 2025, about $156 billion. The researchers suggested that the back half of 2025 marked a “turning point, as data center opposition emerged as a national-level narrative” that showed the AI industry can no longer see the fights as individual zoning disputes. It “is now reshaping elections, regulation, and site viability nationwide,” Data Center Watch reported last year. “数据中心观察”指出，2026 年初被阻挠或延误的 1300 亿美元数据中心项目记录，已接近其 2025 年全年记录的总价值（约 1560 亿美元）。研究人员认为，2025 年下半年是一个“转折点，因为数据中心反对运动已演变为全国性的叙事”，这表明人工智能行业不能再将这些斗争视为个别的分区纠纷。“数据中心观察”去年报告称，它“现在正在重塑全国范围内的选举、监管和选址可行性”。

For officials hoping to quickly build data centers to propel America’s AI ambitions, facing the mounting opposition as the playbook has come together has been tough, NBC News reported. Where before, officials were criticized for quietly signing deals without discussing construction with nearby residents, now they’re encountering backlash before any deal is in the books, Data Center Watch found. “In some cases,” researchers reported, “opposition mobilized before any project was officially filed, the mere rumor of a data center was enough to trigger organized resistance.” 据 NBC 新闻报道，对于希望快速建设数据中心以推动美国人工智能雄心的官员来说，面对随着策略成熟而日益高涨的反对声浪非常艰难。“数据中心观察”发现，过去，官员们因在不与附近居民讨论建设事宜的情况下私下签署协议而受到批评，而现在，他们在任何协议达成之前就遭遇了强烈抵制。研究人员报告称：“在某些情况下，反对力量在项目正式提交之前就已经动员起来，仅仅是关于数据中心的传言就足以引发有组织的抵制。”

AI industry struggles to counter narrative

人工智能行业努力应对叙事挑战

AI firms and data center developers, as well as officials who hope to benefit from striking deals, are beginning to counter the data center hate as best they can. Most recently, OpenAI released a report claiming that China was trying to influence the US data center debate by using ChatGPT. OpenAI quickly banned the bad actors, they reported, who were creating comics and memes to post on X, as well as generating social media comments, supposedly in the hopes of swaying US sentiment. 人工智能公司、数据中心开发商以及希望从达成交易中获益的官员们，正开始尽其所能反击对数据中心的敌意。最近，OpenAI 发布了一份报告，声称中国正试图利用 ChatGPT 影响美国关于数据中心的辩论。据报道，OpenAI 迅速封禁了这些不良行为者，他们制作漫画和表情包发布在 X 上，并生成社交媒体评论，据称是为了左右美国的舆论。

There has also been a push to paint public dissent as “naïve,” McMillan Cottom noted, “or, worse, un-American.” Proponents of data centers argue that debates over electricity price hikes or water resources are misinformed. In a recent Atlantic piece claiming “the data-center panic is overblown,” it’s emphasized that only drought-stricken locations or areas with strained grids need to worry about those concerns. And economists suggested that communities risk overlooking little-discussed long-term benefits, like employment gains that “are likely to grow as new data centers attract businesses that use AI.” McMillan Cottom 指出，还有一种倾向是将公众的异议描述为“天真”，或者“更糟糕的是，不爱国”。数据中心的支持者认为，关于电价上涨或水资源的辩论是信息误导的结果。《大西洋月刊》最近的一篇文章声称“数据中心恐慌被夸大了”，并强调只有干旱地区或电网紧张的地区才需要担心这些问题。经济学家则建议，社区可能会忽视一些鲜少讨论的长期利益，例如“随着新数据中心吸引使用人工智能的企业，就业增长可能会增加”。

In Loudon County, Virginia, The Atlantic noted, 53 million square feet of data centers have been constructed over the past 20 years. Although data centers account for only about 3 percent of the county’s land area, they generate “almost half of its property-tax revenue—a projected $1.3 billion in 2026,” The Atlantic reported. 《大西洋月刊》指出，在弗吉尼亚州劳登县，过去 20 年里已经建设了 5300 万平方英尺的数据中心。尽管数据中心仅占该县土地面积的 3% 左右，但它们贡献了“近一半的房产税收入——预计 2026 年将达到 13 亿美元”。