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In first, California city overwhelmingly votes to permanently ban datacenters
(www.theguardian.com)
Great, now do the whole state.
this post was submitted on 05 Jun 2026
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I could see a reasonable statewide zoning law but a statewide ban? You’ve got to be kidding. Tech is one of California’s biggest industries. We’re just going to NIMBY the problem onto someone else?
We’re just going to NIMBY the problem onto someone else?
As is tradition.
Yup. Also traditional: the blind hypocrisy of using a tech product that routes through a data center to call for a total ban on data centers.
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I think Tennessee took a small step in the right direction: datacenters must pay for electrical system improvements they need. In theory no impact to the existing customers. However o believe they forgot the part about adhering to energy and pollution regulations (in case red states have any). They shouldn’t be allowed to set up coal burners for example.
Just like anything else, datacenters don’t have to be a bad thing. The bad part is our economic system letting them externalize the costs onto everyone else
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It's going to be really, really frustrating watching Democrats campaign in support of AI companies this fall.
But this is a good reminder. Your only power now is local, so take an interest in your neighborhood and fight for it.
What happens when they get built anyway. Would it be legal to burn them down.
Because a lot places voters voted to not allow them and they get built anyway.
It won't ever be legal, but I don't think that's going to matter. These data centers are threatening hundreds of communities' basic survival, and there are so many people in this country that are struggling and ready to snap.
Also just to add but when the current financialized system finally implodes it's gonna make things a whole lot worse and make people a whole lot more volatile. Personally I think either the SpaceX or OpenAI IPO will cause it, either those or some type of supply chain failure kinda a coin flip IMO.
There is an extremely good reason why the government is preemptively getting a rubber stamp with "technology extremist terrorists" written on it ready. They know how fraught things are getting
Will the billionaires let them do this?
You can be sure Monterey Park didn’t have any data centers to begin with. They aren’t exactly in every town. And there’s no shortage of towns ready to line up for data center money. I’m sure this town will be fine.
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Hamilton, ON, blocked a land severance designed to allow development of a datacenter yesterday.
Among the lies from the developers:
$3.8B in economic activity
23,000 new jobs. (hilarious)
The centre would only be used for data storage...sure, which is why it was planning to use 10mW of power and suck cooling water from Lake Ontario.
But the big question is whether Doug Ford will waddle in and let them build anyway.
Hamilton with a population of 570 000. So the data center would employ about 4%. Sure.
Just to be a pedant, I know you meant MW not mW.
I'm happy for them to waste 10mW but paper straws vs 10MW of bs... well I think we know what we prefer.
Holy shit! That's amazing! Great job Hamilton!
Monterey Park is the city in California, in case anyone else is wondering.
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My fucking idiot neighbors would say, "bUT ThE jObBBs!"
They're just against anything that sounds vaguely "liberal".
Speaking from experience here, there are vastly more people employed just to build datacenters than there are to fully staff one. Hundreds of engineers, consultants, general contractors and construction laborers to build the datacenter versus maybe a dozen people at best to staff a football field sized datacenter. If datacenters go away those builders will still have jobs because they'll just pivot to building schools or hospitals or whatever else is needed at the time. Heck, even the IT guys who work on the racks could pivot and find another role somewhere else.
The only people who will be out of a job when the AI bubble pops are the hucksters pushing it.
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Good they should go where there's cheaper land value and the water flows downstream from where I live! Also any traffic needed for construction should be diverted to the point it doesn't affect my day to day.
wonder if that will change if Xavier becomes the next governor since hes a full on DINO corporate shill,.
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For any kind of industrial facility I've always felt like whosoever is most directly responsible for the safety and negative externalities of the facility should be required to live in the area most affected by them.
You responsible for safety at a chemical plant, our ass gets to live wherever will be most hit by a spill of whatever your most deadly product or reagent is.
You responsible for a data center, you get to live where the water and power issues are most felt.
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