Pushback against vast data centres

Communities in U.S. rally to repel Big Tech planning bids

- by KAY RUBACEK

WE are told daily that America is hopelessly divided. That every issue is red versus blue, left versus right, and that there is no longer common ground.

But last month in Franklin Township, Indiana, something happened that doesn't fit that story, and it may hold a lesson far bigger than one planning dispute.

Google had planned to rezone nearly 500 acres for a massive hyper scale data-centre campus that representatives said would consume a million gallons of water a day, place heavy loads on electricity infrastructure, disrupt quiet neighbourhoods with noise and lighting, and receive generous tax breaks while providing minimal permanent local jobs. It looked inevitable. Corporate lawyers had filed the paperwork, local officials had the vote on the calendar, and residents were already bracing for the outcome.

But in the weeks leading up to that vote, Franklin Township neighbours began to organise. Neighbours of all backgrounds – farmers, homeowners, parents, retirees – organised across political lines. They put up yard signs, and launched a Facebook group that quickly drew hundreds of members and launched a resident petition that gathered 7,600+ signatures.

They wrote to and called their council representatives, and word spread through churches, schools, and community meetings. By the time of the final hearing, the chamber was packed wall-to-wall with residents, standing shoulder to shoulder in opposition. They had packed City Hall so tightly that the chamber was standing-room only.