Those who oppose data centers will someday regret their short-sighted choices
October 20, 2026
By Gary Abernathy
Not long after the dust settles from the current campaigns, most Americans will shake their heads in disbelief over how data centers were positioned as the villain for the 2026 midterm elections.
As voters in states with hotly contest races can attest, mind-numbing attack ads across multiple platforms have targeted various politicians’ support for data centers as though it was akin to banning pizza or kicking puppies. Most attacks are wildly inaccurate.
For instance, a common accusation is that data centers are raising everyone’s electric bills. Wrong. Developers are increasingly utilizing their own dedicated power plants and contributing to grid upgrades that will help lower costs for all consumers.
Another complaint: Data centers are using too much water. Wrong again. Yes, a lot of water is required to cool data centers, but the largest facilities are increasingly utilizing closed-loop systems and/or reclaimed wastewater, while others are transitioning to more reliance on air cooling technology.
One more: Data centers create relatively few jobs compared to other major industrial developments. The truth: Data centers employ thousands of construction jobs that often last several years, followed by hundreds of permanent new jobs, along with adding to supply chain jobs and expanding related industries.
In fact, a Georgia Tech study found, on average, that within the first three years after a data center opened, local employment, wages and business establishments all increased, and household income and building permits grew by 1.9% and 16.1%, respectively. “All of these gains accumulate gradually, rather than at once,” the study pointed out.
The analysis concluded that data center benefits are most substantial “when there’s a cluster of labor and capital already nearby, such as construction contractors, equipment suppliers, professional services and a skilled workforce.” But rural communities benefit too.
Once more, let’s look at what’s happening in Pike County, an Appalachian community in southeast Ohio, where a data center touted as the world’s largest is under construction. The numbers for this small community are staggering: 35,000 construction jobs through 2032, 2,500 long-term jobs, and $120 million in community investments.
In neighboring Kentucky, Meta just finalized an agreement with Mason County for a massive new data center that includes an initial investment of around $15 billion “with the potential for up to $800 billion invested over the life of the project,” according to WXIX Fox 19.
“Two-thousand construction and trades jobs, guaranteed minimum of 400 high-paying, career-making, and youth-retaining jobs and infrastructure that our citizens do not have to pay for,” according to one local official. When the facility is finished, “payments will be $30 million a year to local government and $12 million a year to schools.” Wow.
By the way, those who dismiss construction jobs as “temporary” are ignoring reality. How permanent is any job? A job that lasts for the next six years – through 2032 in the case of the Pike County development – is longer than most people stay in any one job today. Statistics show that the average employee in the U.S. changes jobs every 4.2 years. Workers aged 35 and under switch jobs even more often, according to the stats. Bring on those “short term” construction jobs!
It is not unreasonable for local residents to have questions about data center developments. Smart developers will make sure to answer them. In Trenton, Ohio, situated about halfway between Cincinnati and Dayton, a pending ballot issue would ban data centers. But Amazon Web Services, which is backing a data center for the area, is aggressively reaching out, including recently holding an open house to educate local residents and separate fact from fiction.
Amazon Economic Development Manager John Werkman was blunt about the new approach, saying, “We were able to build data centers for a long time without anybody kind of knowing or saying anything about it, right? We’re in a different paradigm now. We understand that. Our company’s leadership understands that, which is why we’re changing.” Good.
As suggested here before, rather than run from their support for data centers or cater to current popular sentiment by appearing to suddenly get tough on them with new regulations, candidates and officials who have supported such centers should proudly take credit for them and explain their benefits. Unfortunately, we see very little of that happening in the current campaigns.
Data centers are here to stay, and they will keep expanding their footprint. Everyone who enjoys using Facebook, Amazon, YouTube, Google, Netflix or countless other similar platforms should understand that giant data centers are needed for each one to function, and that even smaller companies and apps rely on shared services from multiple data centers. Our modern society relies on data centers, and the developing AI boom will require more than ever.
We can stick our heads in the sand and let China control our future, or we can determine to be the world leader in technology and innovation. State and local officials should embrace data centers while fighting for the biggest financial benefits possible for their local schools and other organizations – all the while explaining that doing otherwise would be a dereliction of duty.
It won’t be long before short-sighted officials and residents who supported banning data centers will look enviously at neighboring communities and wonder why all the prosperity and growth is happening there.
Gary Abernathy is a longtime newspaper editor, reporter and columnist. He was a contributing columnist for the Washington Post from 2017-2023 and a frequent guest analyst across numerous media platforms. He is a contributing opinion columnist for The Empowerment Alliance, which advocates for realistic approaches to energy consumption and environmental conservation.