The battle in rural America against AI data centres
Americast
BBC
4.3 • 3.1K Ratings
🗓️ 12 June 2026
⏱️ 39 minutes
🔗️ Recording | Apple Podcasts | RSS
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The world’s largest data centre (62sq miles) has been approved in Utah, but there is growing opposition towards the project. At twice the size of Manhattan with promises to create thousands of jobs, we look at the bi partisan opposition against it. In this episode, Justin and Anthony discuss the enormous buildings being built across rural America, to house the huge amounts of data that A.I companies work with. Tech bosses say the centres are essential to the growth of Artificial Intelligence. Also, for many of these companies, now valued at billions of dollars, their stock price is based on data centres which need to be approved and built. But there are growing bi partisan which range from the environmental impact, water pollution, electricity usage, sound pollution, falling property prices and their impact on the landscape of rural America. We hear from the journalist and author Robert Bryce, who is an energy specialist and Substack columnist. He has been geographically tracking the development and opposition to data centres across the United States and has interesting observations on how this compares with the development of wind and solar energy.
HOSTS: • Justin Webb, Radio 4 presenter • Anthony Zurcher, North America Correspondent
GUEST: • Robert Bryce, Energy journalist, author and Substack columnist
GET IN TOUCH: • Join our online community: https://discord.gg/qSrxqNcmRB • Send us a message or voice note via WhatsApp to +44 330 123 9480 • Email Americast@bbc.co.uk • Or use #Americast
This episode was made by Tom Gillett, Ellie House, Alix Pickles and Purvee Pattni. The technical producer was Stephen Bailey. The series producer is Purvee Pattni. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.
If you want to be notified every time we publish a new episode, please subscribe to us on BBC Sounds by hitting the subscribe button on the app.
You can now listen to Americast on a smart speaker. If you want to listen, just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Americast”. It works on most smart speakers.
US Election Unspun: Sign up for Anthony’s BBC newsletter: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-68093155
Americast is part of the BBC News Podcasts family of podcasts. The team that makes Americast also makes lots of other podcasts, including Newscast. If you enjoy Americast (and if you're reading this then you hopefully do), then we think that you will enjoy some of our other pods too. See links below.
Newscast: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/series/p05299nl Radical: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/p0gg4k6r The Global Story: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/w13xtvsd
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:07.2 | If you're the person always being asked, what's happening in the news? |
| 0:10.9 | You could do with a podcast wingman. |
| 0:13.3 | Newscast is just that, a little voice in your ear, |
| 0:16.5 | giving you a deeper understanding of what's going on in the world. |
| 0:19.5 | We won't even mind if you try and take |
| 0:21.0 | the credit yourself. Listen to Newscast every day on BBC Sounds. Hello, it's Anthony, and you're |
| 0:27.6 | about to hear AmeriCast, and we're delighted to have you with us. And if you enjoy what you hear, |
| 0:32.3 | please do consider subscribing to the podcast. That way, you'll never miss an episode. Now, on with today. |
| 0:39.2 | Stan in Brighton in the UK has been in touch. I was wondering, says Stan, whether you could cover |
| 0:44.5 | the recently approved Stratos Data Center in Utah. As a UK listener, I find it equal parts |
| 0:50.6 | fascinating and concerning that such a project has been approved. It would be great to |
| 0:55.1 | hear your thoughts on it and the wider implications for the politics of the AI revolution in the |
| 1:00.8 | US. Well, Stan, we're going to do exactly what you tell us to do, as we always do. And you're, of |
| 1:06.1 | course, dead right. It is a massive, massive American story and it's not actually much covered or maybe not |
| 1:12.4 | covered as much as it should be. And it's not just in Utah, where that campus is apparently |
| 1:17.4 | going to be 62 square miles, but it's also all around the US. So opposition is growing to these |
| 1:24.2 | huge data centres right around the country, including New York, where a one-year moratorium |
| 1:29.1 | on large data centers |
| 1:30.9 | has just been passed. |
| 1:32.2 | So, is the AI revolution |
| 1:33.9 | changing the landscape of rural America? |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.