The push continues to add more data centers across rural America, and farm organizations are concerned. The topic came up during the recent National Farmers Union annual convention in New Orleans, Louisiana. Wisconsin Farmers Union President Darrin Von Ruden talked about the debate over data centers advancing into rural America.
“We spent a lot of time on AI tech centers and really trying to figure out some language, number one, because of how fast they’re coming on board, and looking at what’s going on, a couple of states wanted to see that they needed to provide their own power. And after quite a bit of discussion, you know, looking at how that could impact other states. The thought was that they would make every consumer’s electric bill go up. But in reality, if they have their own system and get off the grid, that could actually cause more price spikes for the average consumer, because the electric companies’ utilities are really wanting to see that power going through their lines, and all of a sudden, it isn’t. Water is a big issue for AI tech centers, too.”
While the data centers may not use as much water as in the past, it’s still a legitimate concern in rural America.
“It sounds like they’re starting to be able to get away with not having quite as much water as certain ones, but here in the Upper Midwest, anyway, the amount of water that we have is probably why we’re looking at more being sited here. We just want to make sure that we have clean water coming out the backside of those things if they’re going to be sited around the state of Wisconsin or the Upper Midwest, here.”
The Farmers Union would also like discussions about building data centers kept out in front of the public.
“Then the last issue on data centers is for public officials to not sign non-disclosure agreements, or NDA’s as they’re called, a lot, and if it’s in the public’s interest, either good or bad, the public should know about it. And for instance, in Duluth, Minnesota, last year, there was an NDA signed between the city council there and the builder of an AI tech center, and it really left the general public out in the middle of nowhere, because they couldn’t get information out of their elected officials. And if you’re elected by the general public, you should be responsible to them.”