Abstract:
U.S. President Trump once again defended data center expansion on Monday. As concerns from both parties in the United States about the costs and impacts of related projects continue to intensify, this issue is becoming an important political topic before the midterm elections in November this year.
Trump posted on the "Real Social" platform that day that data centers will make Americans richer and more successful, and criticized those who oppose the construction of data centers.
Trump wrote: “The only reason communities across America don’t want data centers is because they want to end up poor and left behind. If we destroy the goose that lays the golden eggs, we will only have ourselves to blame.”
Data center expansion has become a key issue as we approach the November midterm elections. Multiple polls show that a majority of Americans oppose the construction of data centers in their communities. Republicans and Democrats alike have expressed concerns about such projects, with lawmakers and state leaders warning that data centers could overload the power grid, stress water systems and create severe noise problems.
Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott this month introduced new regulations targeting data centers, even though he has been broadly supportive of data center construction during his campaign over the past year. Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers of Michigan and Republican gubernatorial candidate Stacey Garrity of Pennsylvania have also called for a moratorium on some data center projects.
U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance told reporters at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Monday: "I think about 99% of the backlash caused by data centers occurs in areas where building data centers means that local residents have to bear higher utility bills and higher electricity bills."
Vance suggested that one way to resolve related disputes is to require companies building data centers to send power back to the grid.
He said: "If you build a data center, you should deliver power to the grid, not take power from the grid. If you can do that, I don't think data centers will cause too much controversy. The real problem is that when residents' utility bills go up significantly, the situation becomes serious."
However, Trump still insists that data centers are crucial for the United States to maintain its lead over China in the artificial intelligence race. Trump expressed this sentiment in a recent interview with his former personal adviser Michael Cohen and reiterated it on Monday.
Trump also wrote: "It's impossible for China not to be happy about this anti-data center movement. In fact, they can't believe this is happening!"
This is not the first time Trump has pushed for data center expansion. Last year, he signed an executive order to speed up the approval and construction of data centers. In another Real Social platform post in July, he called data centers “one of the biggest drivers of future employment.”
New York State became the first state in the United States to suspend the construction of new infrastructure in July this year. Shortly after Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul signed the relevant executive order, Trump criticized the move.
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