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#Texans are demanding their local governments push pause on #DataCenters . Can they?

Texans from #WacoTX to #HarlingenTX are raising concerns over how much energy and water data centers are poised to use. Local officials, some enticed by a tax boon, say they have little power to stop the rush.

By Berenice Garcia and Sam Shaw, The Waco Bridge, Feb. 13, 2026

Excerpt: "From #AmarilloTX to Waco, #CollegeStationTX to Harlingen, Texans are raising concerns over the proliferation of data centers — and the tremendous amounts of water and energy they are poised to suck up.

"Seemingly overnight, these sprawling campuses of computer servers meant to store information from websites and power artificial intelligence are popping up all over the state.

Just this month, the largest proposed data center in the U.S. was approved in Pecos County. That follows the start of construction of a $500 billion data center on the outskirts of Abilene and a planned 5,800-acre project in the Texas Panhandle that will include the world’s “largest energy campus,” according to its backers.

Together with more modest proposals near Waco, and just outside of Harlingen, Texas is emerging as a contender to challenge Virginia’s dominance in data centers.

In many of these places, Texans are demanding local elected officials intervene."

#NoWaterForDatacenters #DatacenterResistance #NoWaterForAI #NoEnergyForAI #AISucks #WaterIsLife #USPol #TexasPol #ResistAI #ResistDatacenters

Meanwhile, in #Maine...

As #dataCenters look to rural #NewEngland, Maine considers a moratorium

The bill’s advocates want answers about how data centers will affect energy costs in the region, which already has some of the country’s highest electricity prices.

By: Julia Tilton, The Daily Yonder - February 23, 2026

"Maine legislators are currently considering #LD307, a resolution bill that would establish a data center coordination council to provide input and evaluate policy options for data center development in the state. The bill comes after a series of data center proposals have been met with local pushback.

"Shortly after #WiscassetME voted to pause its data center conversations in November of 2025, residents in #LewistonME, lobbied their city councilors to reject a $300 million #AIDataCenter on December 16, 2025. There, community members organized over a weekend to change city councilors’ minds from supporting the idea when it was first made public on December 11, 2025, to voting unanimously to reject it the following week.

" 'It really speaks to the importance of adequate public participation and notice,
said Dana Colihan, the co-executive director of Slingshot, an environmental health and justice organization in New England. Colihan is based in Maine and helped residents of Wiscasset and Lewiston organize. 'When community members do find out about these projects, they have really serious concerns around the impacts to their local environment and wellbeing.'

"Richard Davis was among the residents in Wiscasset and neighboring #WestportIsland who, in November of 2025, pushed Wiscasset’s town selectboard, which functions like a city council, to pause conversations about developing a $5 billion data center on a town-owned parcel of land along the Back River, which empties into Maine’s #CascoBay.

"Davis, who lives along the Back River about a mile and a half from the proposed development, said little information about the facility’s end user, utility usage, or power source was provided after it was first made public on September 16, 2025.

"This caused him and others to worry about how the site would affect the town’s resources, including the grid. Along with his neighbors, Davis started #ProtectWiscasset, a grassroots campaign opposing the data center."

#MainePol #MaineResists #ResistDatacenters #NoEnergyForAI #AISucks #ResistanceIsFertile

Texans are demanding their local governments push pause on #DataCenters. Can they?

Texans from Waco to Harlingen are raising concerns over how much energy and water data centers are poised to use. Local officials, some enticed by a tax boon, say they have little power to stop the rush.

By Berenice Garcia and Sam Shaw, Feb. 13, 2026

Excerpt: "In many of these places, Texans are demanding local elected officials intervene.

"The small town of Lacy Lakeview north of Waco is partnering with the developer #Infrakey on a proposed $10 billion data center, drawing an organized opposition campaign from rural neighbors around the 520-acre site.

"Since November, the opposition has circulated a petition with some 3,000 signatures, created a Facebook group and website and held regular strategy meetings that have been attended by political leaders such as state Rep. Pat Curry, R-Waco.

"Rena Schroeder, a Republican candidate for Texas Senate District 22, has also made appearances at the meetings, promoting herself as the voice for rural data center opponents.

"Similar grassroots resistance efforts are taking place across the state. "

#ResistDatacenters #Texas #Datacentres #DatacenterMoratorium #NoisePollution #WaterIsLife #NoEnergyForAI

#LewistonME votes down #AI #DataCenter after public outcry

One councilor said the data center proposal for Bates Mill No. 3 yielded ‘by far’ the most public feedback he’s received on a single issue.

“It will house no one, feed no one, provide no beauty, and enrich no one’s lives, only the developer’s pockets. The downtown should be for people, not machines.”
—Jae Zimmermann, Lewiston resident

by Andrew Rice, December 17, 2025

"A plan for placing a $300 million artificial intelligence data center at Lewiston’s Bates Mill complex faced a wave of opposition Tuesday and was unanimously voted down by the City Council.

"Since the proposal to redevelop Bates Mill No. 3 into an 85,000-square-foot data center became public last week, city officials have been flooded with feedback from constituents, with many questioning whether the deal is worth it for Lewiston.

"Before the standing-room-only crowd could even begin public comment Tuesday, councilors said they would vote against the project due to the overwhelming outcry over the weekend and lingering questions about the project.

"The proposal by MillCompute LLC called for developing a 'Tier III' AI data center on two floors of the mill, with the upper two floors becoming 'modern office/innovation space for technology companies' and more.

However, officials have faced questions about the group behind the proposal, a tax deal that’s seen as favorable to the developer, and a storm of concerns over potential utility usage and environmental impacts that mirrors a national debate over the rise of AI data centers."

Archived version:
https://archive.md/US5AR

#MaineResists #MaineResistsAI #AIDatacenters #ArtistsNotAI #ResistAI #ResistDatacenters

#ResistDatacenters

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