- US government uses ’eminent domain’ to force landowners to sell property to make way for new data center infrastructure
- Power companies approach the government as a last resort to acquire land needed for power transmission projects
- Americans are not happy with the mass expansion of new AI data centers
It’s no secret that there’s a big divide between AI companies that want to expand capacity and the general public that doesn’t want a data center built in their backyard, especially in the US.
Recent polls have put that number at as many as 7 in 10 Americans opposed to data center construction, with environmental concerns and reductions in quality of life cited as the biggest reasons.
But both AI companies and energy companies are reportedly turning to ’eminent domain’ – the government’s ability to seize landowners’ private property without the need for the owner’s consent.
The government seizes private property
Eminent domain has typically been reserved for critical infrastructure projects, including power and transportation, along with government projects and public utilities.
Eminent domain was also famously used to seize land for the construction of the Minuteman nuclear missile deterrent across the United States during the Cold War.
Drawing on a similar patriotic tone expressed during the construction of silos in the 1960s, President Donald Trump has said that the development of AI technologies is essential to the national security and economic security of the United States, and therefore the capacity must be expanded.
Since data centers require huge amounts of electricity to operate, they require dedicated power lines and infrastructure connections. To construct this infrastructure, power companies approach local landowners and offer to buy the land on which the power lines will be built. But if the landowners say no, the power companies can call on the government to use its power over eminent domain.
The Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution requires the government to provide the landowner with “just compensation,” generally based on the fair market value of similar property in the local area.
Data centers accounted for about 10-20% of US electricity consumption in 2024, and that figure has grown significantly since then. Some data centers under construction will use more power than some US cities, such as Meta’s Hyperion campus in Louisiana, which is expected to consume three times the power consumed by the city of New Orleans.
Some states have been more prolific in their use of eminent domain, with Georgia residents forced to sell property for the Georgia Power transmission project — a capacity expansion that will primarily benefit data centers. Other landowners in Maryland have begun posting signs on their property that read, “No eminent domain for corporate gain.”
Opposition to data centers is quickly becoming a people vs. government issue, with many complaining that AI companies are becoming extremely wealthy without providing any benefits to the average working-class American — something Sen. Bernie Sanders hopes to remedy with an AI sovereign wealth fund that would force AI companies to offer up to 50% of their shares to be used to fund projects that benefit Americans.
Via Assets
Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews and opinions in your feeds.
