Making Daily Headlines · Page 4
Maryland Neighbors Give a $5 Billion Data Center a Local Veto
· New York time
A Maryland woman who had been evicted after a pay cut became a leader of a community effort that blocked a proposed $5 billion data center. Her campaign is part of a wider pattern: thousands of people across the United States have become involved in opposing data centers. The facilities are a prominent part of the infrastructure behind the growth of digital services and artificial intelligence. They are also large physical projects that must be placed somewhere, making decisions about development a local matter as well as a corporate one. In Maryland, the community effort stopped a vast proposal, demonstrating that a large price tag does not settle the argument over whether a project should proceed. The activist's path into the campaign was unexpected, beginning after a personal financial setback rather than a career in technology or development. That is an awkward fact for anyone who imagines infrastructure debates as conversations only among executives and specialists. A company can put billions beside a project name, but the number does not make the neighbors disappear. They still get to organize, ask questions and make their views known. In this case, the proposed center met a local group with enough resolve to stop it. The biggest figure in the presentation was not the only number that counted.
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