A former White House scientist described data centers as necessary to serve the everyday life of every American, amidst ongoing protests about the construction of data centers in Texas.

Protests in Texas

Mark Mills, executive director of the National Center for Energy Analytics, told The Center Square that data centers have been around for over 25 years and are crucial for various daily activities, including cellular communications, medical records, and social media.

According to Mills, data centers provide tax relief to local residents and pay big taxes, reducing the taxes for the local residents. He also compared the current protests surrounding data centers to demonstrations that arose after World War II when the aviation industry expanded.

Concerns and Opposition

One advocacy organization, Humans First, organized 142 protests across 42 states during its July 18 “AI Datacenter National Day of Protest.” Texas hosted 18 protests, more than any other state. The organization labels itself as a “conservative social movement” and has expressed concerns about expanded electricity and water demands, noise, and land use, as well as national security.

Mills recognized that opposition to data centers has come from both sides of the aisle, with self-identified Democrats more worried about environmental impacts and energy use, and self-identified Republicans less happy about Big Tech and social media.

Mills argued that protests related to increasing electricity bills and water usage should not disallow the construction of data centers, as electric rates have gone up due to policies unrelated to data centers, and water usage concerns are “fundamentally a bogus issue”.

Original reporting: KTBS 3 (Shreveport) — read the source article.