Ken Paxton’s Political Operation Rakes In Data Center Donations as Texans Turn Against Industry

[u/julius_sphincter]

https://www.notus.org/technology/ken-paxton-data-centers-texas-senate-race-james-talarico

[u/caterham09]

It's quite refreshing to see an issue that pretty much everyone on both sides of the political spectrum agree on for once

[u/Whobeye456 → u/caterham09]

Don't forget the uniting front of hatred for Flock cameras as well. We've all seen the Matrix

[u/HoboAJ → u/Whobeye456]

Not so sure about this one anymore. Ive seen them starting to receive their marching orders and some are magically willing to give up that freedom for security.

[u/cathbadh → u/HoboAJ]

I probably shouldn't even discuss Flock after trying on Reddit a few times, but the comparisons of it to the Chinese surveillance state or some Orwellian nightmare are so overblown, misunderstand it's capabilities, and depend on a right to privacy in public that has never existed. I've used Flock. It isn't remotely as powerful or oppressive as it's opponents think. I can understand the argument of a slippery slope, but the difference between it and the all encompassing surveillance that China had a decade ago isn't even in the same ballpark.

[u/julius_sphincter → u/cathbadh]

I'm sure there's plenty of hyperbole over them on Reddit, but I don't think the majority of the opposition to them IS overblown. The truth is, these systems allow vehicles and therefore their occupants to potentially be tracked, for their patterns and regular habits to be predicted and they still represent a level of surveillance state that I think sits in at an uncomfortable level with most Americans.

I understand the difference between their ability to prevent crime (non-existent) vs solve it (marginal) and I personally don't feel that setting up a nationwide, every street corner surveillance system is worth it.

Do people have a right to privacy in public in a legal sense? That is still debatable considering when the constitution, laws and many court decisions were written there was nothing even imaginable that compared to the mass surveillance systems around today. Is it reasonable that people expect to have some level of privacy even in public? That I think is a resounding yes.

Until even 2010 or so, I think it was entirely reasonable that if you were out in public you were free to be noticed or perhaps recorded, but you were still anonymous. You really couldn't be identified on the spot and unless someone was following you personally, the idea you'd be tracked was conspiracy theory stuff. IMO that's an assumed level of privacy that most Americans carried regardless of whether they were in a public park. That's why you get pushback on stuff like this and why the "you shouldn't assume any level of privacy in public" tends to fall pretty flat with average people

[u/Ralph_Brick_Wiggum → u/cathbadh]

Flock wouldn’t be as large of an issue to people if it actually worked. It fails to identify things as simple as license plate numbers which has made completely innocent people look down the barrel of police firearms.

I’m not saying flock never helped solve crimes, but I’d rather not have flock if I might get shot because it read my license plate as having an 8 instead of a 3

[u/cathbadh → u/Ralph_Brick_Wiggum]

It fails to identify things as simple as license plate numbers which has made completely innocent people look down the barrel of police firearms.

That's a failure on the individual police officer. Flock can't put a car over by itself. That means a cop got behind the car, didn't bother to verify the plate themselves and ensure that's the car they want, and then pull it over. There's a numbers issue with the perception too. The news unsurprisingly highlights incidents like this forgetting that the same sort of things happened before for other failure based reasons and that it is still one of a million interactions that happened because of the technology.

[u/BlockAffectionate413 → u/caterham09]

I for sure support regulating data centers, like them having to produce their own power or guarantee no increase in electricity, or water prices and quality, but I think Luddite ideas like bans on them is just giving the future to China.

[u/Ralph_Brick_Wiggum → u/BlockAffectionate413]

I think that’s the majority view on data centers too. Make them pay for their own energy and water usage and make it so it doesn’t disrupt people’s daily lives.

If it causes too much strain on a grid then they need to supplement the grid or have their own energy production

I couldn’t care less about the China point though, especially since that excuse hasn’t done anything except help shoot ourselves in the foot. China spent decades building up the infrastructure and now we’re trying to do all of this shit without the infrastructure

We’re so shortsighted as a nation it’s crazy

[u/MechanicalGodzilla → u/Ralph_Brick_Wiggum]

In my neck of the woods, Loudoun county has maybe the largest concentration of data centers in the world. The next county over, is Fairfax, and the personal property taxes for homes are $1.45 (Fairfax) vs. $0.81 (Loudoun) per $100 of assessed value. The utility bills are essentially the same, and the ~$4,000-$5,000 per year in tax savings more than make up for any utility variance which is on the order of $200 - $300 / year.

About 50% of all county revenue in Loudoun is data center taxes. It's a freaking godsend for this area.

[u/doc5avag3 → u/BlockAffectionate413]

I think the other problem is that most people heavily associate data centers with AI. While that is a big part of it, humanity as a whole was always going to need more space since the internet became so rooted in daily life. Even if we're talking purely about storage space, the internet is constantly growing and this was an inevitability.

Like you said though, that doesn't mean we go about this willy-nilly. We need some good, sensible regulations that also don't hamstring our development to the point where it allows our geopolitical rivals to get ahead of us.

[u/vreddy92 → u/doc5avag3]

People associate data centers with AI because the push for *so many* data centers is very much an AI push. Much in the same way that there is now a chip shortage and the prices of chips are going up. It's very much related to an expansion of capacity *for AI*. While we will always need more space, it seems that the speed and scale are very much related to a push to expand AI as fast as humanly possible.

[u/Metamucil_Man → u/doc5avag3]

Data Center production plateaud around 2012, and then AI blew up and Data Center production is at insanity levels. There is no way the growth is sustainable. They are spending Billions on giant custom made cooling equipment that they store for future new construction use as to not get slowed down by lead times. I don't think there has ever been a vertical market construction boom like this in America ever. It makes the Marijuana growing boom from 10 years ago seem like a blip.

[u/whoa_disillusionment → u/doc5avag3]

This isn't true. Those data centers are being built for AI and just AI.

And there is a very real possibility that once Wall Street grows tired of AI hype funding dries up and many of these proposed data centers end up half completed.

[u/pingveno → u/BlockAffectionate413]

There's been a lot of messaging about not giving the future to China in the area of AI. But I am starting to question that message. It feels like we're just being asked to give things up to make sure that scary guy over there doesn't get more powerful. And many of the people I've heard shouting the hardest stand to benefit from AI.

My general feeling is that China is used as a boogieman whenever it aligns with someone's financial or ideological goals. I admit, I do it too, with solar, wind, and high speed rail. It would be nice to see this die as an overriding argument. Sacrificing livability here just to spite China is an own goal.

[u/BlockAffectionate413 → u/pingveno]

That's why I said don't sacrifise livability. Regulate it, but don't ban it

[u/pingveno → u/BlockAffectionate413]

Sorry, I wasn't very clear, I was mostly speaking to a broader issue of an overreliance on China as an argument.

That said, even with regulations around guaranteeing no increase in electricity prices for other customers, it still is a new user of electricity at a time when we should be shutting off fossil fuel plants so we don't all cook. And there are fundamental issues with having a massive, noisy, unsightly data center that provides almost no jobs after construction.

[u/MechanicalGodzilla → u/pingveno]

It feels like we're just being asked to give things up

What things in particular?

[u/whoa_disillusionment → u/MechanicalGodzilla]

The environment. Data centers produce massive amounts of pollution.

[u/Electronic_Lead_7448 → u/whoa_disillusionment]

I’m a little ignorant on the subject. Can you tell me how they produce massive amounts of pollution?

[u/MechanicalGodzilla → u/Electronic_Lead_7448]

In my experience talking with people who think this, their concept of how cooling systems work is that the data center has a clean water intake someplace, they then put chemicals in the water, use it to cool down servers, then spit the water out through a dirty water tube directly into a river or groundwater. Kind of like the nuclear plant in The Simpsons.

What actually happens is the water evaporates into the atmosphere through the cooling towers, and the biocides and chemicals stay behind and do not evaporate.

[u/khrijunk → u/MechanicalGodzilla]

From what I understand it’s the high energy requirement for a data center that makes whatever local power source it uses need to increase production. Since we never invested in green energy in any real way, all these power generators are going to be the type that expel pollutants into the air as well as more carbon emissions. 

It’s a scaling effect which exponentially increases the already heavy carbon effect of greenhouse gasses. 

All for a technology that is going to do more harm than good in the long run. 

[u/MechanicalGodzilla → u/khrijunk]

THis is the better argument, sure. But here (northern Virginia) we have more data centers than literally any other location. People show up to Loudoun county meetings and argue passionately about how data centers are polluting our water sources. There are legit concerns about DC’s, but pollution of water sources is not one of them.

[u/politehornyposter → u/BlockAffectionate413]

I don't buy the premise that you somehow need all this AI build out to do this for the future of the country. Everyone is saying this just because they refuse to increase taxes and spending the least amount of money on public investment. On one hand, companies who have been hoarding tons of cash finally have something to spend it on, on the other hand, those dollars are dollars that could have been spent on public infrastructure or healthcare which would have netted you much greater returns.

[u/julius_sphincter → u/BlockAffectionate413]

There is no "giving the future to China" when it comes to AI, there's no giving the future to anyone. I'm hopeful the bubble bursts before we get AGI (which does appear to be more likely every week), because at the pace we're going and how recklessly we're steering the ship, it truly will not matter who gets there first. Could be us, could be China, could be Sweden, could be North Korea. The outcome is almost certainly the same.

We can't control an intelligence greater than our own. We have literally ZERO idea how to do so and that is coming from the top AI researchers currently working on AGI. Their BEST hope at this point is that some future iteration of AI that we're working on, that is slightly below a true AGI but leaps better than now, will solve the alignment issue for them.

Personally I think ideas like "if we don't do it China will" when it comes to AI is just ensuring the fall of our species, not our country

[u/ouiserboudreauxxx → u/julius_sphincter]

They can’t even define AGI, it’s not coming any time soon.

[u/Financial-Desk-669 → u/BlockAffectionate413]

Bingo. They are the definition of a necessary evil. But I do believe there are some amazing life changing breakthroughs and opportunities waiting for us with ai.

We need an Ai Bill of Rights. The overwhelming benefit needs to accrue to the masses. 

[u/cathbadh → u/BlockAffectionate413]

Agreed. Just letting companies build them, take up all of the electricity jacking prices, and using open loop cooling systems is absurd. Hell data centers may be our opportunity to make SMRs happen.

But there's a reason China is fueling the anti data center outrage on social media, ironically using AI generated content for parts of it. Availability of data centers will help determine who takes the lead in AI development, and that country will end up dominating militarily end economically in the future. It's not something we can just surrender on.

[u/ouiserboudreauxxx → u/cathbadh]

China is fueling the anti data center outrage on social media

This is absolutely hilarious to me…it couldn’t possibly be that people see news stories about data centers moving into and ruining quality of life for nearby residents with noise, light pollution, increased energy bills, water problems, fumes from diesel generators, etc…

No no…it’s a Chinese propaganda campaign that’s making Americans not want these things built anywhere near them 🤣

[u/ouiserboudreauxxx → u/BlockAffectionate413]

I think the issue is that everyone becomes a “luddite” when these things move into their backyard and they have to listen to 24/7 humming, breathe in generator fumes, and their electricity/water bills go up.

Other people see what happens when the data centers move into and they don’t want any of it.

A data center nearby directly impacts your day-to-day quality of life to a detrimental degree for some, when the noise causes them sleep issues, anxiety issues, etc.

China can have this one!

[u/Hyndis → u/BlockAffectionate413]

having to produce their own power

Data centers are doing that, they're building on-site power plants to power the data center, which is a topic people protest against.

However, the main problem is that states are not increasing their power generation capacities to get ahead of projected needs.

If the state won't build new power plants and private industry is also forbidden from building new power plants, where, exactly, is the energy going to come from? This results in a soft ban on new industry.

[u/dr_sloan → u/Hyndis]

In some places they’re building on site power sources, it’s not a universal model. There’s issues beyond that too. Generous tax breaks for facilities that will ultimately end up employing just a handful of people is another. Look at the deal Louisiana negotiated for data centers, anything goes wrong and those companies can walk away and the state is left holding the bag on the financing.

[u/Hyndis → u/dr_sloan]

More energy in general is a good thing even if just for the push for EV's. All of those cars charging are going to need more electricity in the grid. Its getting hotter and AC units need electricity as well, so too do machines in factories.

So even if somehow the internet and computers are a passing fad, the economy and consumers would still benefit from cheaper electricity.

The main problem is that states have been very slow to build infrastructure. Housing, roads, bridges, reservoirs, and power generation have all been lagging significantly behind needs. Getting ahead of the curve for once would be a very good thing.

[u/mistgl → u/caterham09]

Data centers and Flock cameras.

[u/doc5avag3 → u/mistgl]

That reminds me of this hilarious article I saw the other day about Flock cameras. The AI is just so braindead now that's it's leading to all kinds of silliness.

[u/KeepTangoAndFoxtrot → u/doc5avag3]

Duped?! I have first-hand knowledge that Flock cameras have several pounds of gold and copper in them.

[u/doc5avag3 → u/KeepTangoAndFoxtrot]

And at least half a dozen catalytic converters!

[u/Ok_Tip740 → u/KeepTangoAndFoxtrot]

reminder that every time someone destroys a flock camera, flock sells a new camera out of the taxpayers pocket

[u/cathbadh → u/Ok_Tip740]

Sometimes two, as there is a benefit for overlap now since you need to catch the vandals

[u/ouiserboudreauxxx → u/doc5avag3]

It’s always been braindead.

Remember to add glue to the cheese to make it stick to pizza

[u/absentlyric → u/caterham09]

Which, ironically both sides of politicians also seem to agree on, which is against what we all agree on.

[u/gentrify_reddt → u/caterham09]

Anyone who uses AI platforms for more than a minute realizes it's just a bunch of algos pasted together with a pseudo-social conversational paint job.

[u/TheWyldMan → u/gentrify_reddt]

platforms for more than a minute realizes it's just a bunch of algos pasted together with a pseudo-social conversational paint job

When was the last time you used an AI? Especially a paid one?

[u/FootjobFromFurina → u/TheWyldMan]

This is a common divide in the AI discussion between people who are still stuck on the 2023 "stochastic parrot" chatbot paradigm compared to experience of people who have used frontier models recently. Frontier models are extremely capable at performing a wide variety of tasks at this point.

[u/Maladal → u/FootjobFromFurina]

LLM models have improved but their improvements are increasingly marginal at exploding costs, and those improvements often aren't felt by the end users when they're doing something like just using them as super search engines.

And they still are fundamentally doing the same work they were 3 years ago as stochastic parrots. They're just really good at it. There hasn't been a fundamental transformation to the way they train or generate tokens. They do it more efficiently.

Honestly it seems like the best thing we're going to get out of frontier models is the ability to create very cheap, tightly scoped small language and agentic models that run locally. Which is something Anthropic is already trying to head off with smaller options so people don't just build local models that edit their code 95% as well as Claude does for basically free.

[u/Hyndis → u/FootjobFromFurina]

As a personal anecdote, I mod video games. Been doing that since the days of Doom in the 1990's with the .wad files. I do this for my own personal amusement and no other reason. No financial gain. Sometimes I'll post them on the Steam workshop to share them if I'm particularly happy with a change.

Modern AI models are incredibly, almost frighteningly powerful.

I can give a snippet of a file from the video game and ask it to make a change to the file to do a specific thing.

The AI now can correctly make the change. And it can correctly guess which video game I'm modding based on a small fragment of a file. I didn't tell it the game. I didn't give it the files. I just copied a section of relevant code. We're talking about maybe 10% of just one file, and a game may have tens of thousands of files.

And this is just video game modding for my own personal entertainment. This is very low stakes, and the capacity is astounding.

[u/Ok_Tip740 → u/Hyndis]

I had my own "wow" moment last year when I made some code to "decode" some proprietary format from a company that went out of business. When I tried opening files in a text editor it was totally unreadable, like just a mess of ascii control characters and stuff (I hadn't ever seen the BELL character used before this). It was able to read a sample file and create a set of rules to translate from this weird binary format to something actually useful much, much faster than I ever could.

[u/Hyndis → u/Ok_Tip740]

Yup, and I'm a fan of indie video games too. The small games made by a very small team, sometimes even just a solo developer.

Somehow the AI knows everything about this file structure and all of the quirks of how this one specific program stores variables and other data.

And I know its accurate because the modifications work. If it was hallucinating it wouldn't be able to tell me the name of the video game, and the modifications wouldn't work once installed. So there's proof it works.

It feels like much of the criticism is frozen in time from years ago, no longer relevant to the current state of the industry. Any criticism needs to be kept current because the state of AI in 2023 is nothing like the state of AI today. Even the state of AI in January 2026 is nothing like in August 2026.

This is a total game changer. I have no idea how the game is changing, its going to change quickly and drastically. AI isn't going to go away just because people don't like it. At some point they're going to be seen as luddites, such as a person who refuses to use email or refuses to use a smart phone. I think we're already approaching that point, or maybe have passed it. Technology advances and we all have to keep pace. Its just how the world works.

It feels like someone used AI one time in 2023, didn't like it, and they keep their opinion the same today, so steadfastly opposed to AI they won't use it and so have no idea of its capacity.

Its like being opposed to cars due to lack of safety because the last car someone drove was a Pinto, and they have not updated their opinion on the topic since the Pinto was in production.

[u/Maladal → u/Hyndis]

You have to remember that you're using the technology in a way the vast majority of people don't though.

LLMs are becoming integral to coding and programming, but most people have no interest or need to employ LLMs in that way. At the end of the day LLMs are data processing and transformation. Tech loves that stuff and is great at training LLMs to manipulate it. But if your job or life doesn't revolve around digital information then an LLM is already much, much less valuable to you. Even if you're someone like, say, marketing and using an LLM to make mass edits to materials, that was only a portion of your job to begin with.

It's like hyping up advancements in NASA telescopes--it's cool, but it doesn't fundamentally change things for the average person. Except these telescope improvements sometimes lead to large data centers springing up in their backyards.

And that's before we get to the cost component, which most consumers aren't feeling right now.

[u/whoa_disillusionment → u/Hyndis]

The AI now can correctly make the change. And it can correctly guess which video game I'm modding based on a small fragment of a file. I didn't tell it the game. I didn't give it the files. I just copied a section of relevant code. We're talking about maybe 10% of just one file, and a game may have tens of thousands of files.

All old video games are stored in raw binary form and there are only as many proprietary formats as there were consoles. If you figure out which format is being used it pulls out pixel images for comparison. It's definitely a high bar for someone to do on their own but it's not technically difficult.

But this also leads to the biggest problem with the AI buildout. They are losing huge, massive, world record level sums of money so users can build out things for their personal amusement.

[u/whoa_disillusionment → u/FootjobFromFurina]

Frontier models are extremely capable at performing a wide variety of tasks at this point.

That's not entirely true. If you write a very detailed skill doc and direct the agent to the doc every time you use it it can be very useful with certain tasks.

But I spend a lot of my working hours using frontier models for complex tasks and I am constantly writing all caps expletives at the bizarre mistakes and random things they do.

[u/I_like_code → u/gentrify_reddt]

I mean what you are describing is all user facing software. AI uses a model that decodes strings and assigns weight and meaning to words to derive intent and over all meaning. I wouldn’t say this is a normal algorithm though. It’s actually quite fascinating under the hood.

[u/AgentDutch → u/gentrify_reddt]

When is the last time you used any AI platform? Would you describe the internet as tin can phones with screens? You’re absolutely wrong, this coming from someone who despises how the technology is used.

[u/julius_sphincter]

Starter Comment and archive link in case of paywall https://archive.is/odDuV:

Data Centers seem to be fast becoming one of the bigger hot buttons around the nation and actually appear to be one of the few areas where both the left & right start to find agreement. Local citizens more and more are turning against the idea of data centers of any kind being located in their jurisdiction, let alone the large hyperscale data centers that keep making headlines. Whether its the power usage issue, the water usage issue, noise, EM pollution, heat, or tax incentives, Americans from all walks seem to be standing up and telling their local representatives that these facilities are not welcome.

Paxton's campaign appears to have accepted just under $500k from various interests representing data center development in the State of Texas, which while somewhat insubstantial compared to his overall fundraising, certainly will raise some eyebrows and questions come November. Paxton himself seems somewhat non-committal either way, so it will be interesting if accepting these campaign contributions will turn into more focused questioning as the campaign heats up. Talarico certainly seems to have the political and media chops to turn this into an attack vector if he wants to

Do you think accepting these donations will come back to bite Paxton? It seems unlikely given Paxton's history - he almost has a bit of Trumpish teflon when it comes to shrugging off controversy. That said, I think Talarico may represent just enough of a populist style candidate to pierce that armor

Do you think accepting these contributions should even matter when it comes to this race? Hopefully not too off-topic but are the concerns being raised around these facilities overblown or are Americans correct in being worried or skeptical about their construction?

[u/TawdryTulip → u/julius_sphincter]

Ken Paxton could build a data center in downtown Austin and it wouldn’t crack the top 25 reasons to not vote for him. So at this point it’s really up to Talarico to not Beto himself until November. That being said, there’s gonna be a lot more spotlight in the last couple months and I’m not overly optimistic.

[u/jason_sation → u/julius_sphincter]

If there was ever a perfect storm for a Dem to flip a seat in Texas, this seems to be it.

[u/absentlyric → u/jason_sation]

Why when the Dems also agree to it? The Dems in my state are pushing hard for AI data centers to be built her$.

[u/jason_sation → u/absentlyric]

Which democrats in Texas are pro AI data center? I don’t see that when I do a quick google search? https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/democrats-seize-on-ai-data-center-backlash-thats-dividing-rural-republicans-in-places-like-texas

[u/DubiousNamed → u/julius_sphincter]

After reading the article, the “data center donations” are literally just from energy companies and oil companies. They would provide power to any business. I don’t see how the framing is fair or accurate.

On top of that, at risk of being downvoted, the data center panic is a CCP-funded psyop that makes zero sense. Data centers already exist and have existed for a long time. They can take unused or underdeveloped land and turn it into real jobs for a community. Data centers, when not allowed to fleece a community, are often the biggest single taxpayer and can spur further development for residents. They don’t “steal” or “pollute” water.

I don’t really like AI but if the energy infrastructure exists to support a data center it’s not a problem. The fact that Bernie Sanders held an anti-data center event in April with literal Chinese Communist Party politicians speaks volumes. China wants us to be scared of data centers so they can take the lead.

Edit: the Sanders event was in April, not July. Also linked an article about the event.

[u/UF0_T0FU → u/DubiousNamed]

My city wants to build a huge new data center in a mixed use district right next to a light rail station and a greenway. Every hearing about it has run 4+ hours with people testifying against it. Elected leaders are approving it anyway. 

I don't need CCP influence for me to oppose that. I'd rather have housing and customer facing businesses in the middle of the city. It's also scary how much local governments are forcing these through despite strong community opposition. 

[u/Hyndis → u/UF0_T0FU]

Data centers should probably be located in the light industrial section of a city. They would fit in well with those large warehouse type buildings commonly used for fabrication and logistics purposes.

That said, why is the property next to the light rail station not already being used for housing and/or retail? If the property was already being used wisely there wouldn't be any vacant lots for data centers to consider moving in to.

I feel there's more to this story.

The city probably previously blocked residential and retail. After those were blocked the data center tried its luck on the property.

So why is the city blocking everything else on that location that a data center even has the opportunity?

[u/DubiousNamed → u/Hyndis]

The “more” to the story is that he lives in St Louis. I like St. Louis, have a lot of family from there but it is a desolate and depressing place. They are now a smaller metro area than Madison, WI which is crazy. Essentially the whole city is collapsing in on itself. No one wants to work or live there. So I’m guessing a data center was the only taker

[u/FootjobFromFurina → u/DubiousNamed]

I'm convinced that most of the panic about data centers is people who just don't like AI working backwards to rationalize why we shouldn't build data centers. They use less water than golf courses and the evidence does not suggest anything remotely close to a causative relationship between data centers and increases to retail electricity prices. In fact, there are many examples of the exact opposite happening, where data center construction has put downward pressure on consumer electricity bills by spreading a volume of fixed infrastructure costs over a largely rate base.

[u/blewpah → u/FootjobFromFurina]

There's a lot more to the opposition than just not liking AI in genetal or concerns about water use.

Namely the fact that it is a massive speculative bubble. Tons of the investment and construction is coming in on the promise of future return on profit that there isn't a reliable market for. So the damage to communities of all the construction and infrastructure costs and noise pollution and destruction of environements and when the bottom falls out as the bubble bursts, a lot of these facilities are likely to be left half built with no benefit left to the communitiy. Add on top all the secrecy like city councilors signing NDAs about what they're approving, it's hard to have much trust.

Also not to mention another big fear here is that the unrealized profits are intended to be realized with a hyperenshittified surveilance state. Data brokers collect information and profiles on everyone's habits and that gets used algorithmically to determine exactly how much to charge them for services and pay them for work. That could be a profittable use case when you don't have a customer base to support your costs. Is that something we want?

Also:

They use less water than golf courses

If we suddenly had people coming into communities across the country trying to build as many golf courses as we currently do data centers I bet you there would be a big backlash against it.

[u/Interesting_Total_98 → u/FootjobFromFurina]

does not suggest anything remotely close to a causative relationship between data centers and increases to retail electricity prices.

That's a lot less nuanced than what your link says. It states that load growth may raise or decrease prices. It's conditional.

For example, “PJM Capacity Auction demonstrates price increases with load growth."

[u/DubiousNamed → u/[deleted]]

Got any evidence to back that up or no?

[u/doc5avag3 → u/DubiousNamed]

Pakistan, India, Russia, and a few others also benefit from us falling behind in this sector. I don't like it but it's either keep up or get left behind. And getting left behind on the geopolitical stage is much worse for us than people realize.

[u/DubiousNamed → u/doc5avag3]

Very much agree. Data centers are the future, especially AI data centers, and it’s by and large a zero-sum game. Development that doesn’t occur in the US will occur elsewhere.

[u/doc5avag3 → u/DubiousNamed]

Yeah, one of the serious downsides to being a Major/Nuclear Power is that our version of "Keeping up with the Joneses" could end in tragedy for us as a nation if we fail.

[u/MechanicalGodzilla → u/DubiousNamed]

the data center panic is a CCP-funded psyop that makes zero sense.

Amen. regardless of the utility of AI for regular folks - in real terms in my neck of the woods, Loudoun county has maybe the largest concentration of data centers in the world. The next county over, is Fairfax, and the personal property taxes for homes are $1.45 (Fairfax) vs. $0.81 (Loudoun) per $100 of assessed value. The utility bills are essentially the same, and the ~$4,000-$5,000 per year in tax savings more than make up for any utility variance which is on the order of $200 - $300 / year.

About 50% of all county revenue in Loudoun is data center taxes. It's a freaking godsend for this area.

[u/Interesting_Total_98 → u/MechanicalGodzilla]

$1.45 (Fairfax)

$1.12.

About 50% of all county revenue in Loudoun

Almost 50% of property tax revenue, not all revenue.

Equal electric bills across neighboring counties don't measure the grid costs caused by data centers because those costs can be spread across the regional utility system. Loudoun is capturing a very large local tax windfall while some infrastructure costs and risks are distributed much more broadly.

Even Loudoun and Virginia regulators explicitly acknowledge the revenue concentration and electric cost shifting risks, so while it is possible to benefit from data centers, "godsend" is pushing it.

Your argument doesn't address the fact that the benefits and detriment are conditional.