Data center backlash hits politician

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I’m sure he won’t be the first politician to lose due to local data center backlash. The voters still have a voice. And pols’ first priority is re-election.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/24/us/j-stuart-adams-utah-senate-data-center.html

Utah Senate President Loses Primary After Data Center Backlash

The upset of J. Stuart Adams represented one of the strongest examples of how the data center issue has affected elections.
By Jack Healy, The New York Times, June 24, 2026

The president of the Utah State Senate, who championed a huge data center beside the Great Salt Lake, was defeated in his Republican primary on Tuesday night, one of the most high-profile signs of the voter backlash to data center projects.

The vote to oust the Senate president, J. Stuart Adams, was a stunner. Mr. Adams was one of the longest-serving and most powerful politicians in Utah, a solidly Republican state, and had won earlier re-elections with little opposition…

Mr. Adams did not directly represent the 40,000-acre proposed site of the data center in Box Elder County, a fast-growing farming and industrial area about 60 miles north of Salt Lake City.

But he became the focus of an anti-data-center groundswell because he served as chairman of a Utah agency that approved initial plans this spring to build the data center, known as Stratos…

The furious debate over building A.I. data centers has helped to tip races in Alabama, Missouri, Wisconsin and beyond, with supporters arguing they will generate money and jobs and opponents assailing their environmental impacts and a lack of transparency surrounding their approval and operations…[end quote]

Billions for the owners, higher electric, water costs and wrecked environment for me…

No thanks!

This is kitchen table politics. Politicians ignore it to their peril.

Americans Oppose AI Data Centers in Their Area

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The data center question parallels the wording Gallup uses to ask about local nuclear power plant construction. In the same March survey, 53% of Americans say they oppose building a nuclear energy plant in their area, far less than the 71% opposed to data center construction. Since Gallup first asked the nuclear power plant question in 2001, the high point in opposition has been 63%. [end quote]

Politicians will have to decide between big campaign bucks from the AI builders and realize that political ads may not overcome grass-roots opposition. Voters hate data centers worse than even nuclear power plants.

What will happen to the data center build-out if pols turn against them?

If it becomes difficult and/or expensive to get new permits, the existing data center companies will become more valuable. These “gatekeepers” include Wholesale & Retail Data Center REITs: Digital Realty Trust (NYSE: DLR), Equinix (NASDAQ: EQIX), and Iron Mountain (NYSE: IRM). Plus Independent Energy Infrastructure: Bloom Energy (NYSE: BE), Ameresco (NYSE: AMRC). Of course, each company has its own business model.
Wendy

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This is not the first time. In Fenton Mo, city council voted to approve data center. Council members were voted out next election. Now they have a recall petition for the rest of the council. So far council has blocked the vote but likely headed to the courts.

In the St Louis area opposition to large data centers is vigorous. But outstate some are being approved for economic benefits, jobs, and taxes to be paid.

Voters must decide if they will take the risk.

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We had an earlier thread about this topic here. As it turns out, I’m from Box Elder County (have not lived there for many years), site of the Stratos data center The way this deal went down was about the most ham-handed manner you can imagine. Adams used backroom channels and a shadowy state agency to bypass all the normal process. So the data center project just sort of appeared fully formed with no public input.

The locals were not amused, I assure you.

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They do in general, but I read somewhere that small towns in rural areas welcome them. Kind of like building a state correctional facility. Much more likely to be accomplished in an area of small rural towns.

DB2

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The data center companies usually bring some sweeteners with them. They offer to pave the roads, distribute some community grants, some conservation easements, fund emergency services, things like that, plus improve the tax base. So there definitely can be some benefits.

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