데이터 센터에 대한 지역 zoning 금지 조치는 신규 시설이 점차 농촌 지역을 타겟팅하고 있음에도 불구하고 여전히 대도시 지역에 집중되어 있다.

Building data centers faces broad opposition across the political spectrum, yet bans on new development remain largely a metropolitan phenomenon. Although more existing facilities are located in metro areas, two-thirds of all new projects are slated for rural communities.

The rural data center boom coincides with growing backlash. Earlier this year, my colleague Sarah Melotte and I mapped rural opposition to these facilities. In June, we identified 129 Facebook-based groups opposing data center development in rural areas, compared to 345 in metropolitan areas. At that time, rural groups accounted for roughly 27% of all opposition groups on Facebook, spanning 43 states. Our analysis drew on data from the Data Center Opposition Report, a coalition of organizations and academics tracking resistance to these facilities.

Since June, the coalition has continued tracking newly formed groups. As of August, researchers had identified 580 local opposition groups active on Facebook, representing more than 640,000 members nationwide.

It remains too early to determine how consistently local opposition translates into policy, particularly in rural areas where development is only beginning to accelerate. The higher concentration of bans in metropolitan areas may simply reflect the historical trajectory of data center expansion.

Metropolitan areas have long hosted cloud-service data centers. However, the AI-driven campuses under construction today demand significantly more land, energy, and water than their 2000s and 2010s predecessors. As development moves into rural regions, communities frequently encounter distinct organizing challenges, exacerbated by news deserts and a frequent lack of project transparency.

Nationally, opposition to data centers is rapidly hardening into a midterm election issue ahead of November. This sentiment has spurred politicians across the aisle to demand stricter regulations, with some calling for outright moratoriums.

Local Data Center Bans

Local governments are proposing a range of data center policies, from 90-day pauses to permanent bans. Of nearly 700 measures reviewed, 25% target rural areas as of August 2026. The Daily Yonder applies a county-level definition of rural based on guidance from the Office of Management and Budget.

Data on local regulations was sourced from the FracTracker Alliance, an organization that provides the public with interactive tools to track oil, gas, petrochemical, and data center development nationwide.

Many of these policies are already law. As of August 2026, 84% of tracked local regulations have been enacted, including 151 in rural areas across 34 states. These measures encompass outright bans, zoning revisions, moratoriums, and other protective ordinances designed to limit data center expansion.

Advocates for local bans argue these measures buy communities critical time to develop stricter regulatory frameworks.

In rural Wiscasset, Maine, newly elected town officials have placed a 180-day data center moratorium on the November ballot. The proposal follows the public disclosure in September 2025 of plans—now abandoned—for a $5 billion facility on town-owned land. In May, The Daily Yonder reported, based on extensive public records, that discussions over the project last fall ultimately jeopardized nearly $250,000 in federal funding the town had secured for affordable housing.

If voters approve the measure in November, the town can establish permanent regulatory guardrails. “During that 180 days, they are required to be working on language that will address whatever issue it is, whether it’s a Walmart or a data center,” said Richard Davis, a local resident and co-founder of the Protect Wiscasset community group. “We’re hoping that during that time, the select board will come up with something that really restricts data centers in the town of Wiscasset.”

Data Center Politics

The push for data center regulation extends beyond municipal boundaries. Across the South, where nearly half of the nation’s planned data center construction is located, clean energy advocates are urging an 18-month pause to establish economic, health, and environmental safeguards.

Stephen Smith, executive director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE), an advocacy group operating throughout the region, criticized data center developers and their Big Tech backers for accelerating project approvals, frequently without local transparency.

“Move fast and break things is 180 degrees opposite of the way a lot of people think in the South,” Smith said. “There is a need to recognize the communal, cultural impact of this.”

When asked if Southern governors and legislators are prepared to regulate the industry, Smith replied, “We’re about to find out,” warning that politicians who ignore constituent concerns could face electoral consequences.

On August 28, U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock (D-GA) called for a statewide moratorium while visiting the site of OpenAI’s proposed 3.2-gigawatt facility in Effingham County, part of the Savannah metropolitan area. “Data center developers across the country are not operating in partnership with communities, and that’s why everyday citizens on both sides of the aisle are rightly and equally concerned about this,” Warnock said at the site.

Earlier in August, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro (D) signed an executive order restricting data center projects, following New York Governor Kathy Hochul (D), who became the first governor in the nation to impose a statewide moratorium in July. The action marked a reversal from Shapiro’s previous support of the industry. Meanwhile, Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R)—previously a strong proponent of data center development—issued a directive last month halting grid approvals for new facilities.

This directive followed Abbott’s earlier summer call to ban construction in rural Texas neighborhoods. Both Texas and Pennsylvania have experienced substantial data center growth, with Big Tech firms targeting increasingly large sites. According to The Texas Tribune, Texas alone has at least 248 proposed facilities, most slated for rural areas. Companies are circumventing Abbott’s restrictions by building off-grid facilities and power plants, such as Amazon’s 7.65-gigawatt natural gas project in rural Pecos County. With the midterms approaching, Big Tech-backed super PACs have already spent nearly $9 million across the state as of early September to advance their interests, according to Reuters.

Beyond Texas, the political landscape remains fluid. On August 31, President Donald Trump characterized data centers as “the Golden Goose,” writing on Truth Social that communities rejecting them would “end up being backwards and poor.” Meanwhile, other pro-AI advocacy groups and super PACs plan to invest millions in battleground states before November to support candidates favorable to data center development.