Nearly 160 data center projects across the United States have been paused or canceled since 2024, as residents in red, blue and swing states push back against an industry they say strains power grids and water supplies, POLITICO's Surge newsletter reported Tuesday. The fight has reached the ballot. With midterm elections a month away, data centers have become a political issue in 2026.
451 Research, part of S&P Global Energy, counts 157 projects that have been paused, severely delayed or canceled. Analyst Dan Thompson said the industry's "social license to operate" had emerged as a central risk over the last eight to 10 months. He estimated roughly two-thirds of the projects S&P Global tracks face some kind of delay, citing community pushback and pending legislation. "It's across the country that we're seeing this," Thompson said on a webinar last week.
Who Pays for the Boom
Opposition doesn't follow a single political map. It has surfaced in conservative Texas, liberal New York and swing-state Pennsylvania, all of which enacted measures in recent months to curb the data center boom. The Senate's permitting reform bill would require data centers to pay for grid upgrades.
Whether these facilities push up household bills depends on how their power contracts are structured and how much local grid work they require, said Tony Lenoir, associate director at 451 Research. "It's a revolution within a revolution, if you will, and that is one of the core tensions we are dealing with today," he said. A recent Utah State University poll found that opposition grew the closer a hypothetical data center sat to a respondent's home. Other opponents object to artificial intelligence and its developers, no matter where the buildings go.
The Industry Looks for an Easier Door
The slowdown hasn't dented the industry's growth projections. 451 Research expects power demand from U.S. computing hubs to triple by 2030, rising from 50 gigawatts last year to 154 GW. That figure reflects projects in mid-to-late development. Stefanie Williams, an associate director at the firm, said delayed projects typically haven't finished permitting and face local resistance to rezoning.
Some developers are shopping for friendlier jurisdictions. In Iowa, Google first planned a $1 billion data center in Linn County. After the county adopted data center regulations, the company asked a neighboring community to annex its site, seeking more lenient rules. Developers also face five-year waits for equipment such as transformers and turbines. Williams said the open question is whether political leaders follow through on pledges to limit construction after the midterms. "It could be a question of watching what happens in the coming year," she said.
Climate Warnings Pile Up
The same newsletter tracked a string of reports suggesting the clean-energy transition is stalling where public oversight is weakest. The International Renewable Energy Agency said data centers are "particularly significant" to the outlook for power demand because they can "grow faster than power-system infrastructure." Its report calls for faster renewables-based electrification and says efficiency, grid expansion and flexibility matter as much as renewable deployment. It estimates the transition would need about $10.3 trillion a year and could lower electricity prices by as much as 15% by 2050.
Climate Action Tracker said Canada's policies will now cut climate pollution by less than half of what they would have before Prime Minister Mark Carney took office, pointing to the removal of the consumer carbon tax and continued expansion of oil and gas. Bill Hare, CEO of Climate Analytics, called it "Carney climate carnage." The tracker called the Trump administration's rollback "the most aggressive, comprehensive and consequential rollback" it had ever analyzed.
A London School of Economics report found half of 36 major banks, including Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank, had weakened transparency efforts. Only three have committed to ending financing for new oil and gas projects. "Banks remain at an early stage in enabling the transition to a low-carbon economy. Indeed, there are signs of stalling," the report said.
In Texas, Corpus Christi has drifted toward a water-supply crisis. Eight years ago, companies agreed to pay for a desalination plant in return for the city's promise not to pressure them to cut water use. The plant hasn't materialized, and the city has entered a drought.
Why This Matters: The data center fight tests who sets the terms for a technology that draws on shared resources. Residents are using local zoning, state law and the ballot box to demand companies cover grid-upgrade costs instead of passing them to ratepayers. The Corpus Christi story shows what happens when a city trades away leverage for promises that never arrive: households face drought while industry keeps its water. Meanwhile, climate reports show voluntary corporate pledges eroding, with banks weakening targets and governments rolling back policies. Whether lawmakers follow through after November will decide if public oversight shapes this buildout or arrives too late.