The opposition to data centers is overwhelming.
At the State of the Union Donald Trump falsely claimed that AI data centers would lower utility prices. That is objectively not true. And opposition to data centers is overwhelming.
People see skyrocketing utility prices when data centers pop up.
Yet apparently Donald Trump lied and tried to claim that AI data centers would lower utility prices at the State of The Union. Rep. Rob Bresnahan has attempted to say silly things like that too, about some kind of magical “energy dominance”.
Eric Schmidt speaking about AI data centers: "We as a country do not have enough power to do this."
Eric Schmidt Interview on AI data centers (Former Google CEO) August 2024
Eric Schmidt: “I talked Sam Altman is a close friend he believes that it’s going to take about 300 billion maybe more I pointed out to him that I done the calculation on the amount of energy Acquired and I and I then in the spirit of full disclosure went to the White House on Friday and told them that we need to become best friends with Canada because Canada has really nice people helped invent AI and lots of Hydra power because we as a country do not have enough power to do this the alternative is to have the Arabs fund it and I like the Arabs personally uh spent lots of time there right but they’re not going to adhere to our national security rules whereas Canada and the US are part of a triumvirate it where we all agree.” Erik Brynjolfsson: “so these 300 billion data centers, electricity starts becoming the scarce resource.”
Lackawanna County Commissioner Bill Gaughan: “All you have to do is look at what’s happening in other parts of the country.”
Democratic County Commissioner Bill Gaughan in Lackawanna County Pennsylvania interview by WVIA, PBS station in NEPA (Northeast Pennsylvania). February 2026
Lackawanna County Commissioner Bill Gaughan: “The way that they consume water and electricity is going to leave us in a very very difficult position. And I know these developers come in and they talk a good game, but all you have to do is look at what’s happening in other parts of the country.”
When they say data centers will “provide their own electricity”, they mean burning fuel on-site polluting neighborhoods with diesel and gas turbines, or rushed & risky experimental nuclear reactors.
The Panther Creek crypto printing data center power plant in Carbon County Pennsylvania run by Greg Beard, the US Dept. of Energy Loans Director, is not connected to the grid and self-powers with burning tires, coal waste, and construction debris that might even contain asbestos.
The Grok data center in Memphis Tennessee has been running “temporary” gas turbines long-term on site, belching out air pollution into the surrounding community, skirting environmental guidelines.
These companies are also proposing not proven safe experimental modular nuclear reactors to be positioned in rural areas and near metro areas, and headed by problematic people who sound an awful lot like Stockton Rush types, or that have ties to Jeffrey Epstein and Russia.
And Three Mile Island, the nuclear plant that had a notorious meltdown in 1979, is now poised to be reopened for the sole use of Microsoft’s AI data center, with the help of a taxpayer funded government loan, approved by Greg Beard, the US Dept. of Energy Director of Loans. And this is happening despite reports of Microsoft cutting back on data center leases, and on AI investments because people simply don’t want Microsoft’s AI products. Rick Parks, who is a pro nuclear safety advocate, says Three Mile Island shouldn’t be reopened because it's past it’s 40 year lifespan. Rick Parks is a Three Mile Island nuclear engineer turned whistleblower against Bechtel, the development company that among other things built nuclear facilities and did the Three Mile Island cleanup. The CEO and family heir Brendan Bechtel apparently knows PA’s Senator Dave Mccormick from the Bohemian Grove men’s club society and is reportedly involved in big deals brokered by Donald Trump, and for data centers in Pennsylvania. Reason Magazine had a pro-nuclear op-ed criticizing the taxpayer funded loan to Microsoft for the nuclear plant solely for Microsoft’s use.
This is what is meant by “self-powered” or “providing their own electricity”, this is what Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro and Republican President Donald Trump are proposing when they say self-powered or that the data centers will be providing their own power. They mean data center power plants all over the place; in town neighborhoods, and in bucolic country towns. That’s not a solution, that’s worse. And it doesn’t solve the water issues either, and we have too many problems already with the privatized water utility in Pennsylvania.
NO data centers means NO power plant data centers.
Even Republican PA State Senator Rosemary Brown now supports a data center moratorium.
Northeast Pennsylvania lawmakers target data centers, back moratoriums By Frank Lesnefsky | The Times-Tribune PUBLISHED: February 25, 2026 at 10:07 AM EST | UPDATED: February 25, 2026 at 5:41 PM EST State Sen. Rosemary Brown announced her support Tuesday for a moratorium on the data center industry and unveiled a legislative package that would restrict data centers to industrial zones.
This is the same PA Senator Rosemary Brown who had told us to accept data centers because she claimed you’re guilty if you use online shopping, even though Eric Schmidt obviously makes it clear, these data centers are for OpenAI, Microsoft, and other generative AI slop. Rosemary Brown has apparently seen the light of the overwhelming opposition to data centers.
My letter to reps:
Hi, I want a 5 year data center moratorium. Thank you.
Please feel free to copy or repurpose for your own letters to reps.
--> Write all the reps at every level, to get all of them in line. There’s a 3 year data center moratorium proposed in Pennsylvania, but why lowball going in? Demand more, because a 2 year moratorium is the paltry compromise.
We need to start talking about the bonkers stuff driving the AI bubble and the push for monstrosity data centers.
The AGI god stuff, and weird speculation should disqualify all support for this bonkers industry, and that’s if the corruption didn’t already disqualify most of these plans.
Image shows postcard addressed to PA state Rep Bridget Kosierowski in Scranton Pennsylvania. February 25, 2026. Dear Bridget Kosierowski. Tech tycoons have lots of money but also very foolish ideas, also crazy ideas, & some of their ideas sound blasphemous. They want to make AI god, they call it “the singularity” & that’s why they think they need these huge data centers. They are not well people and should not get tax money or government help for their whackadoo ideas that are harmful. Chloe Humbert Scranton PA.
A few references to rising electric bills tied to data centers:
The full WVIA program on data centers with the interview with Bill Gaughan: WVIA Keystone Edition Data Centers: Deal or Dilemma? Season 2026 Episode 2 | 54m 59s Aired: 02/15/26 and on Youtube: Data Centers: Deal or Dilemma? - Keystone Edition on WVIA - FULL EPISODE WVIA Premiered Feb 16, 2026
Here’s a clip file of the whole Eric Schmidt statement: https://chloehumbert.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/eric-schmidt-clip.mp4
Here’s a clip file of the whole WVIA Bill Gaughan interview: https://chloehumbert.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/2026-wviagaughanfull321.mp4
Dem Lackawanna County Commissioner Bill Gaughan: “The opposition to data centers is overwhelming.”
This is Democratic Lackawanna County Commissioner Bill Gaughan saying that hearing from hundreds of constituents opposed to data centers is what brought him to a town meeting to stand with residents.