'This isn't right': impact of AI data centers on residents and their utility bills

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: now to an abc news investigation half of all the new demand for electricity over the next five years in the u.s is expected to come from data centers they are the backbone of ai technology in partnership with our stations across the country our elizabeth schulze shows us how they're dividing communities bringing the promise of new jobs but fears [00:00:18] Speaker 2: of higher utility bills this was the sound at laura evans home in suburban chicago last spring when backup generators kicked in at the data center 1 000 feet from her backyard and it never goes away never goes away laura tells us the data center emits a low hum 24 7 and it's not just the noise taking a toll she says in the last year her average electricity bill has spiked 23 percent how do you budget when it's changing that much yeah you can't the electric company warned prices could rise even more they need more power at the data centers saying one reason why is increased electricity [00:00:57] Speaker 3: use from data centers and artificial intelligence the energy demand from these facilities affects our ability to meet clean energy goals have a livable planet and also just pair of bills abc news and our [00:01:12] Speaker 2: owned and affiliated stations spoke with communities across the country grappling with the rapid buildup of data centers to support the ai boom an analysis from our data team found there are more than 3 000 data centers in the u.s about 1200 more are now under construction or soon to be built if you're watching [00:01:31] Speaker 4: a show or if you're using ai ultimately a lot of the computation happening there or at least the storage [00:01:36] Speaker 2: for that thing is in a data center somewhere and our analysis finds a majority of the country's large data centers are or will be in cities towns or developed suburbs you need a really well developed very [00:01:48] Speaker 4: consistent grid they need to be extremely reliable in the energy that they use because if a data center suddenly goes out if it completely loses power all the tens of thousands of people who are interacting with it are suddenly going to be very mad when these data centers go offline gear apps can go [00:02:04] Speaker 5: down almost right away exactly so this is pretty much as close as we're going to get to where this data center is popping up it's just a massive construction site hard to comprehend the scale of [00:02:18] Speaker 2: this a two-hour drive north of laura's home we visited the site of what will be one of the biggest data centers in the u.s in the small town of port washington wisconsin a 15 billion dollar project backed by open ai and oracle that's part of the white house's stargate initiative announced on president trump's second day in office the campus sits on a plot of farmland bigger than 500 football fields and will eventually use about the same amount of electricity needed to keep the lights on in all the homes in philadelphia they'd be putting power lines that are taller than apparently the statue of liberty tom utek has lived on this land for 40 years he's an artist who draws inspiration from its natural beauty last year he got a letter from his utility company saying it plans to build a massive power line for the data center right across his property i had no choice [00:03:14] Speaker 6: and basically they're saying that if you don't agree we'll take it by eminent domain they'll just take over your land yeah and we'll fight it to the end he showed us where the power line would go wiping out dozens of trees he planted there's no way this environment around this neighborhood could ever be the same if it's cut in half again by these giant things expect attendees will act in a civil manner [00:03:40] Speaker 2: at all times at a town hall this month we saw how the data center is dividing the community we need clarity [00:03:47] Speaker 7: and we need it now because we are not going to pay double the amount of our utility bills do you [00:03:54] Speaker 6: understand that these are good paying union jobs that are part of a once in a generation investment in [00:03:59] Speaker 2: port washington mayor ted nightsky defends the project these are huge companies that are kind of [00:04:04] Speaker 8: the face of ai right now open ai oracle are you convinced that they will be willing to invest in this [00:04:10] Speaker 9: community they've been awesome i mean they have been they have met every expectation we've given them [00:04:18] Speaker 2: he says the data center will create 4 000 temporary construction jobs and bring in much needed tax [00:04:23] Speaker 9: revenue my greatest fear was that i would wake up one day in our downtown would be a ghost town again and as a dad who raised my kids here and was born and raised here i wanted this to be a better place [00:04:34] Speaker 2: but some residents still aren't buying it this is an abuse of power the mayor even facing an attempt to recall him from office that ultimately failed this video shows one opponent who chanted recall at a city meeting last december she's handcuffed and physically removed from the meeting by police it was incredibly [00:04:56] Speaker 8: shocking i never imagined anything like that ever happening there was a pretty heated moment a couple months ago at one of the council meetings what are you doing how do you react to the backlash from the [00:05:09] Speaker 9: video how do i react to it i can play you the voicemails of the threats i receive from all over the country to my family's safety i can play you the voicemails of the threats to our police department from all over the [00:05:20] Speaker 2: country in statements to abc news the tech companies behind the wisconsin project pointed to economic benefits for the region open ai said in wisconsin and across all our u.s stargate sites we are committed to paying our own way on energy so that our operations do not increase local electricity prices oracle added it will invest in wind solar and batteries which means more reliable affordable energy will be available to local families and businesses and tom you tech's utility company tells us the route it has chosen for the power line offers a lower cost to rate payers and maximizes the use of existing corridors why should people who don't live in this area might not ever come to this part of wisconsin care about what's happening [00:06:08] Speaker 6: they should care because uh it's their backyard next back in laura evans backyard in aurora illinois local [00:06:16] Speaker 2: officials made the decision to put a 180 day pause on building new data centers we basically put a pause [00:06:23] Speaker 10: to make sure that if these data centers want to come in that they can be good neighbors going forward and try to really address some of the concerns that our citizens have the city's pause on new data centers [00:06:33] Speaker 2: which ends next month was a way to buy time for local officials like allison lindbergh to put new regulations in place is the conversation around how to regulate data centers happening fast enough [00:06:46] Speaker 10: they're popping up right now i i definitely think that the regulations need to be happening faster the fact that we as this smallish city are the ones that are leading in this is is frankly pretty surprising considering the magnitude of the impact of these data centers in a statement to abc news the data center [00:07:07] Speaker 2: just behind laura's home apologized to neighbors and said it is committed to supporting policies that accelerate new power supply and grid technologies to improve reliability and moderate costs over time and it installed temporary noise barriers while permanent engineered solutions were being designed and fabricated some proponents of this technology say this is the future what do you say to that build it somewhere else and just make sure it's done right because this isn't right