US data center protests go national as backlash grows | 104.1 WIKY

A coordinated nationwide campaign saw 142 protests across 42 US states opposing rapid data center expansion for AI, organised by HumansFirst and drawing cross-partisan opposition on water use, environmental impact, and community consent. Public approval for data centre construction sits at just 33%, with only 14% of Americans supporting AI data centres in their own communities. If you're building data centre capacity for AI, you no longer have a permitting window—you have a permitting fight in 42 states, and it's now cross-partisan enough to reshape 2028 election politics. Water use in arid regions is now your blocking issue, not your afterthought.