Pirate's Cove

I’m rather agnostic on the issue of data centers, but, really, the US is going to build them or China will have them all. And, certainly, there is some opposition amongst Republicans. But, among Democrats, there seems to be some serious hatred

Inside the far-left’s anti-data center push and what experts say is driving it: ‘Playbook we’ve seen before’

As the development of data centers continues to grow into one of the top hot button political issues in the United States, some experts are sounding the alarm on the various left-wing groups and climate activists who are pouring money and resources into data center opposition campaigns.

“It’s a playbook we’ve seen before,” Larry Behrens, communications director at Power The Future, told Fox News Digital in an interview.

“I think Americans saw this with the Dakota Access Pipeline. They see this with oil or natural gas production within the United States. This seemingly grassroots organization pops up, but yet they’re all wearing the same T-shirts. They’re all singing the same playbook, and they’re only carrying the same signs, and so when we see that, we see that that’s not really a grassroots organization that money is coming from somewhere, and in this case, against data centers.”

Several left-wing organizations backing data center opposition have benefited from major progressive funding networks, including Public Citizen, which has listed George Soros’ Open Society Foundations among foundations whose “generous support” makes its work possible, and the Sierra Club, which received $3.6 million from Arabella Advisors’ Sixteen Thirty Fund between 2014 and 2022.

This explanation goes on for a bit, where even wacko anti-war groups like Code Pink (which disappeared during the Obama and Biden years) are involved, where the groups pushing ICE hatred and “No Kings” (weird, because the “king” is allowing them to protest) are backing data center hatred. Even as they all use vast amounts of data, making the data centers necessary.

The main driver of left-wing groups opposing data centers, in addition to ideological disdain toward President Donald Trump, who has been a staunch supporter of American AI dominance, is the opposition to fossil fuels, Behrens says.

“It’s the same thing that they’ve always opposed, any real progress they’re going to be against, anything that strengthens America, they’re gonna be against, and when it comes to data centers, the reason they’re against them is absolutely clear because it represents American jobs, and it has to be supported by American energy,” Behrens explained.

“And those are two things that the environmental left just absolutely cannot stand. And they’re gonna use delay or distracting tactics. They’re gonna use tactics like saying it’s about the water, it’s about land use. But lo and behold, when it comes time to grow cannabis, they’re more than happy with the water use. When it comes time to plaster solar fields across farmland, they don’t care about land use. When it comes time to put their solar fields across an endangered species area, they don’t care about that endangered species. It’s never what they say it’s about, it’s always against progress and production for American energy and American workers really.”

Is that the case, or, just that these are simply fellow travelers, because most on the Left are nutballs

In a recent Fox News Digital op-ed, Consumers’ Research Executive Director Will Hild made the case that data center developers ignoring the concerns of the consumers’ has been a problem that could cost the United States victory in the AI race.

“Climate radicals who spent decades trying to kill fracking, pipelines, and American energy dominance have found their next target,” Hild told Fox News Digital. “They are hijacking legitimate consumer concerns to fuel a massive disinformation campaign aimed at frightening Americans into shutting down the technology infrastructure. The same activist machine that fought American oil and gas is now mobilizing against modern data centers, because its answer to American innovation is always to stop building begins.”

It is true that the cultists do like taking over every issue.