A Data Center Revolt in Missouri

The Journal.

The Wall Street Journal

Daily News, Business News, News

4.2 • 5.8K Ratings

🗓️ 7 May 2026

⏱️ 21 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Around the country, there’s been a construction boom in AI data centers, but opposition is surging too. In the small town of Festus, Missouri, a $6 billion project angered residents, leading to the removal of local council members and a campaign to recall the mayor. WSJ's Will Parker explains how intense local pushback is changing where data centers are built. Ryan Knutson hosts. Further Listening: - More Coding, Less Slop? Why OpenAI Ditched Sora - The AI Economic Doomsday Report That Shook Wall StreetSign up for WSJ’s free What’s News newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	In March, more than a hundred residents of a small Missouri town gathered in a high school gymnasium to watch a city council vote.
0:21.0	Things got heated. You got boy! boat. Sell out!
0:23.4	Things got heated.
0:25.4	You got water out.
0:29.8	People who are there to do quite a bit of shouting.
0:33.8	People who are there to do quite a bit of shouting.
0:36.0	That's our colleague Will Parker.
0:37.2	Your kids are going to hit you. I hope you have nightmares.
0:39.8	And to make you clear how angry they are sometimes with, you know, a peppery,
0:44.9	expletive-laden language.
0:46.7	Don't do it.
0:47.7	Get off your name.
0:49.3	Don't do it.
0:50.7	The city council vote and all the chaos that surrounded, was over a proposal to build a data center.
0:57.0	No data center!
1:00.0	Residents swore the council members as they were called on to vote.
1:05.0	But despite the opposition, the data center
1:16.6	passed.
1:17.6	Bill 4876 passed.
1:19.6	It's passed.
1:21.6	Uneducated!
1:23.6	That works!
	...

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