{"id":206687,"date":"2026-06-05T12:14:40","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T17:14:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=206687"},"modified":"2026-06-05T12:18:37","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T17:18:37","slug":"op-ed-data-centers-not-the-enemy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2026\/06\/05\/op-ed-data-centers-not-the-enemy\/","title":{"rendered":"Op-ed: data centers not the enemy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Brent Stevens<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many well-meaning people scrolling Facebook don\u2019t realize they\u2019re being pulled into a coordinated narrative. They see emotionally charged posts with sensational headlines about \u201cdirty data centers\u201d destroying the planet, share them in outrage, and join local opposition efforts\u2014unaware that much of the anti-data center movement rests on a rigid \u201cgreen energy now\u201d ideology amplified by outside influencers and well-funded campaigns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why the Sudden Surge in Opposition?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Brent Stevens<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Data centers have operated across America for more than 50 years, quietly powering everyday internet use. What changed is the explosive growth of artificial intelligence. AI training and inference demand hyperscale facilities with unprecedented electricity needs\u2014often rivaling the consumption of small cities. This surge, combined with a highly coordinated national campaign that intensified in 2025, turned data centers into a lightning rod. Foreign interests and activist networks have seized the moment to stall U.S. AI progress at a critical time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ohio\u2019s Recent Step Backward<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just recently, Ohio announced a pause on new data center tax exemptions while the General Assembly\u2019s Joint Data Center Committee studies the industry\u2019s growth. Although framed as a temporary review, this decision puts Ohio at a competitive disadvantage. Thirty-seven other states continue to offer robust data center incentives to attract these high-investment projects. The pause risks signaling that Ohio is no longer open for business in one of the most important industries of our time\u2014potentially costing communities like Van Wert billions in investment, jobs, and local revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Green America\u2019s \u201cDirty Data\u201d Campaign<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A prominent national voice in this effort is Green America, which launched its \u201cDirty Data: Stop Big AI from Polluting Our Climate & Communities\u201d campaign in August of 2025. On the surface, the message sounds responsible\u2014warnings about pollution, higher electricity bills, and climate impacts. But the campaign advances a simplistic narrative that \u201cgreen energy is ready right now\u2014no transition needed.\u201d It operates within a larger, well-orchestrated network of outside-funded activism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Scale of Coordinated Opposition<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In December 2025, more than 230 national, state, and local environmental and progressive organizations sent a coordinated letter to Congress demanding a nationwide moratorium on new data center construction. This directly fed into legislation: In March 2026, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) introduced the Artificial Intelligence Data Center Moratorium Act (S.4214), which would impose an immediate federal pause on new AI data centers. An April, 2026 American Energy Institute report documented more than $39 million in foreign funding\u2014primarily from European billionaires and foundations such as the Wyss Foundation, Chris Hohn\/TCI, the Oak Foundation, Quadrature Climate Foundation, and Denmark\u2019s KR Foundation\u2014flowing to a core network of U.S. activist organizations driving opposition across 37+ states. Even more concerning are foreign influence vectors aimed at slowing U.S. AI infrastructure. Chinese state media echoes activist talking points on energy and emissions while Beijing fast-tracks its own data centers with massive subsidies.
The CCP-aligned Singham network has produced domestic content opposing U.S. AI development. Investor Kevin O\u2019Leary, developing a major AI data center campus in Utah, has publicly accused certain opposition groups of Chinese-linked funding ties and shared evidence with federal authorities, warning: \u201cChina\u2019s our adversary\u2026 We can\u2019t let the Chinese beat us in AI.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What the \u201cGreen-Only\u201d Advocates Push and What They Ignore<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their proposed solution often involves solar panels, wind turbines, and home battery storage through Community Partnership or Virtual Power Plant models. It sounds clean and community-friendly. Yet there is no honest transitional plan. Advocates declare \u201czero fossil fuels, no nukes, period\u201d\u2014while ignoring today\u2019s explosive AI demand, the intermittency limits of renewables, and the massive real-world environmental and human costs of mining for \u201cgreen\u201d technologies (including child labor in cobalt mining and enormous water consumption in lithium extraction).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Real-World Proof: Renewables — Only Isn\u2019t Ready<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

California\u2019s ongoing energy reliability challenges, the April 2025 blackouts in Spain and Portugal, and China\u2019s 2025 addition of roughly 78 GW of new coal-fired power (with another 161 GW proposed) tell a different story. China is scaling renewables aggressively but refuses to gamble its energy security on intermittency alone\u2014while the United States has started zero new nuclear plants in the same period. A successful \u201cdomino effect\u201d of stalled projects would hand victory in the global AI race to another country without a single shot fired.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Stakes and the Path Forward<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Data centers are not the enemy. They are the critical infrastructure America needs to stay competitive in AI, national security, and economic leadership. Using our existing grid and natural gas as a reliable bridge for the next 5\u201310 years is not surrender\u2014it is responsible realism that buys time to scale better
solutions. Many good-hearted Facebook users are unknowingly participating in a manipulated narrative. We cannot let a false \u201cgreen is ready now\u201d story\u2014amplified by outside money and foreign influence\u2014create a cascade of lost investment and lost opportunity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What We Can Do Next<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reject the false narrative. Insist on a real transitional design that faces mining realities, grid limits, and strategic competition with China. Understand how platforms like Facebook spread coordinated campaigns. Demand transparency and local benefits. Only then can we keep the lights on, protect American leadership, and deliver the cleaner energy future we all want. In places like Van Wert, Ohio, we have the chance to lead with facts\u2014securing high-wage jobs, strengthening our schools and infrastructure, and ensuring that outside pressures do not dictate our community\u2019s future. America cannot afford to lose this race. It\u2019s time to push back with facts before the dominoes fall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sources<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Green America. \u201cDirty Data: Stop Big AI from Polluting Our Climate & Communities\u201d campaign (launched August 2025).\u00a0https:\/\/greenamerica.org\/ai-polluting-our-climate<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • U.S. Senate. S.4214 \u2013 Artificial Intelligence Data Center Moratorium Act. Introduced March 25, 2026, by Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.\u00a0https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/bill\/119th-congress\/senate-bill\/4214<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • American Energy Institute. \u201cForeign-Funded Opposition to U.S. Data Center Expansion\u201d (April 2026 report documenting >$39 million in foreign funding to 12 U.S. organizations).\u00a0https:\/\/americanenergyinstitute.com<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Bitcoin Policy Institute. \u201cForeign Influence in the Campaign against American AI\u201d (May 2026 report on converging foreign influence vectors).<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Public statements by Kevin O\u2019Leary (May\u2013June 2026) regarding Chinese-linked funding channels in data center opposition (shared with federal authorities, covered in Yahoo Finance, Washington Post, and related reporting).<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Industry and global energy monitoring reports on China\u2019s 2025 coal additions (~78 GW online, 161 GW proposed), U.S. nuclear starts, and renewable integration challenges (including California reliability issues and the April 2025 Spain\/Portugal blackout events). <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • State policy tracking on data center tax incentives (37+ states actively offerin incentives contrasted with Ohio\u2019s recent pause).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Editor’s note: Brent Stevens is the executive director of Van Wert Area Economic Development Corporation<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    By Brent Stevens Many well-meaning people scrolling Facebook don\u2019t realize they\u2019re being pulled into a coordinated narrative. They see emotionally charged posts with sensational headlines about \u201cdirty data centers\u201d destroying the planet, share them in outrage, and join local opposition efforts\u2014unaware that much of the anti-data center movement rests on a rigid \u201cgreen energy now\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-206687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinions"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-13 18:18:35","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206687"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206687\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":206695,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206687\/revisions\/206695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}