The political battle over data centers has a feature unfamiliar to present-day policymaking: The opponents are not divided along partisan lines. Instead, the conflict is between local communities and Big Tech developers, with elected officials caught in the middle.

Politicians — from both parties — who have greenlit these projects without enough guardrails have found their careers finished. Officials who once courted data centers for their economic potential are facing pushback from residents and businesses who’ve been blindsided by the strain on the power grid and water supply, the impact of noise pollution and the potential damage to property values.

Virginia pioneered a sales-and-use tax exemption for data center equipment in 2008. Since then, dozens of states have offered similar fin

See Full Page