When Your New Neighbor Is… a Data Center

Climate One

News, News Commentary, Science, Earth Sciences, Social Sciences

4.7 • 583 Ratings

🗓️ 26 June 2026

⏱️ 60 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Across the country, developers are racing to build huge new buildings to house computers to fuel the AI boom, creating an explosive demand for new energy. While some hyperscalers seek renewable energy, others are turning to fossil fuels. But concerns around high electric bills, air and noise pollution and water depletion have generated widespread community pushback against these giant facilities, and it seems opposing data centers is a bipartisan issue. Many cities and states are working to rapidly update zoning and other local regulations to respond to the dual pressures of developer interest and constituent backlash. Since data center development isn’t slowing down, what policies or creative strategies can lessen the impacts for local communities and ratepayers? Guests: KeShaun Pearson, Executive Director, Memphis Community Against Pollution Rebecca Egan McCarthy, Freelance Journalist Jason Plautz, Reporter, E&E News and Politico Astrid Atkinson, CEO, Camus Highlights: 00:00 Introduction 3:15 KeShaun Pearson on updates to the Colossus data center pollution 6:18 KeShaun Pearson on state regulators allowing an expansion of gas turbines 8:08 KeShaun Pearson on the effect of the pollution on the community 16:24 KeShaun Pearson on what he hopes the lawsuits can achieve 19:38 Rebecca Egan McCarthy on Archbald and data center development 22:26 Rebecca Egan McCarthy on who has the power to regulate data center projects 28:16 Rebecca Egan McCarthy on data center development outside of Archbald 30:21 Jason Plautz on changing attitudes toward data centers 34:32 Jason Plautz on where there is meaningful regulation happening 39:27 Jason Plautz on state level regulatory changes 41:26 Jason Plautz on the pace of data center development 44:45 Astrid Atkinson on the effects of data center energy load on the grid 46:19 Astrid Atkinson on what flexibility means in the energy world 50:39 Astrid Atkinson on hyperscalers paying for their energy 55:22 Astrid Atkinson on how some policy changes can help communities For show notes and related links, visit ⁠our episode page⁠ at climateone.org --- Join Climate One for an induction cooking demonstration night on July 21, at 6 p.m. at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco. Come enjoy delicious food and wine, and learn about why cooking with magnets beats cooking with gas. Tickets available at ⁠climateone.org/events⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:38.9	I'm Ariana Brocious. I'm Kushanavadar. And this is Climate One.
0:46.5	Ariana, it feels like I cannot go a week right now without seeing a new headline about data centers.
0:53.1	I mean, there are billions of dollars flowing
0:55.1	into the industry, massive new construction, and it's resulting in concerns about depleted water
1:01.1	sources, higher electricity costs, and pollution. And a lot of community frustration. Yeah.
1:08.4	I mean, there are a couple of data centers proposed in my Arizona
1:11.8	County that have been very contentious. And the same story is playing out in so many other places.
1:19.1	And because of the speed of the development, lawmakers are trying to scramble to write rules
1:25.9	for facilities in their communities, facilities that never
1:28.9	existed at this scale.
1:30.9	Right.
1:31.3	The data centers being built now are way larger and more energy and water hungry than
1:36.2	their predecessors.
1:37.6	And this gets to a term we'll be hearing a lot in today's show, Hyperscaler.
1:42.0	Yes, hyperscaler.
1:43.7	Definition. A large cloud computing service provider that runs through a distributed
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