Monday, 20 July 2026

Seven in 10 Americans oppose building AI data centers in their communities, citing higher utility bills, pollution, noise and the loss of green space, according to polling reported by The Conversation Energy.

The country already hosts more than 3,000 data centers, with another 1,500 in development, according to a Pew Research Center analysis cited by The Conversation Energy. In 2024, those facilities accounted for more than 4% of total U.S. electricity use.

The power lines and infrastructure needed to serve that load can bring land seizure into play. Under the takings clause of the Fifth Amendment, the government may take private land without consent if the seizure is for public use and the owner receives just compensation, The Conversation Energy reported.

The reach of public use expanded in the 2005 Kelo v. City of New London decision, in which the U.S. Supreme Court held that economic development qualified, allowing New London, Connecticut, to seize homes for private development around a Pfizer facility. The backlash that followed pushed 45 states to enact eminent domain reform laws.

State courts have set their own limits. The supreme courts of Michigan, Ohio and Oklahoma have prohibited seizing private property to hand it to another private party purely for economic development, according to The Conversation Energy.

Courts have also policed whether a seizure serves local users. In 1984, the Mississippi Supreme Court rejected a power company's condemnation action because the transmission line would have run from Mississippi into Louisiana without benefiting any Mississippi customers, The Conversation Energy reported.