A wave of community resistance is reshaping the future of data center development in the United States, with at least 16 major projects worth a combined $64 billion either halted or slowed, according to new findings from Data Center Watch. The analysis shows that concerns about water, energy use, noise, land impact, and rising local costs are prompting residents and elected officials across seven states to push back on what has become one of the country’s fastest-expanding infrastructure sectors.
In Arizona’s West Valley, opposition from city officials led developer Tract to withdraw a proposed $14 billion campus after the area refused to approve essential rezoning. The company has since shifted focus to nearby Buckeye, where a similar project is moving forward without the same level of conflict. Elsewhere in the Midwest, communities in Peculiar, Missouri, and Chesterton, Indiana, successfully halted billion-dollar data center proposals after vocal campaigns from residents and local leaders.
The study identified six projects that have been fully stopped since May 2024, along with another 10 that are now facing significant delays. Two of those delayed projects belong to Amazon, signaling that even the largest industry players are encountering new headwinds. The most intense resistance, however, continues to surface in Virginia. Long considered the global epicenter of data center activity, the state accounts for nine of the documented blockages or delays.
Researchers found that skepticism toward these large facilities is no longer confined to one political party. In districts with large data center proposals, more than half of Republican officials and nearly half of Democratic officials have taken public stances against the developments. The report describes this emerging trend as an unusual moment of bipartisan convergence around infrastructure concerns.
Data centers have increasingly become a flashpoint in local elections, especially as energy prices rise and public debates sharpen over affordability and land use. Many communities fear that the massive power demands of data centers will push household energy prices higher. Residents also routinely cite worries about round-the-clock noise, substantial water needs, and the strain these facilities can place on local utilities and emergency services.
According to the researchers, Virginia offers a preview of how the conflict may evolve nationally. The state is now home to dozens of activist groups dedicated to slowing, blocking, or tightening regulations on data center expansion, and candidates at every level of government are being pressed to articulate clear positions on the issue. Proposals to rein in data center development have begun circulating in both local jurisdictions and the state legislature.
The report suggests that as data center construction accelerates across the country—driven in part by the rising demand for artificial intelligence and cloud computing—the pattern that emerged in Virginia is likely to repeat elsewhere. Community mobilization, heightened political attention, and growing calls for stricter oversight may soon become standard features of the industry’s expansion in the years ahead.
