Data center opposition blocks $130 billion in projects nationwide

Local resistance to data centers has become a national obstacle to the AI buildout. In the first three months of 2026, opponents blocked or delayed at least 75 projects worth about $130 billion, the largest three-month total Data Center Watch has tracked since it began monitoring in 2023.

The backlash has moved well beyond zoning hearings and neighborhood meetings. Data Center Watch said active opposition groups more than doubled, rising from 396 at the end of 2025 to 833 by March 2026, with networks operating in 49 states. More than 300 bills related to data centers were introduced in statehouses in the first six weeks of 2026, a sign that lawmakers were racing to respond to worries about electricity demand, water use, land consumption and the scale of the industry’s expansion.

The political pressure cut across party lines. From January through March, moratorium proposals were introduced in 14 states, and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., introduced a federal version. Maine Gov. Janet Mills vetoed a moratorium bill in April 2026, even as other states moved in the opposite direction. The fight has forced leaders in both parties to recalibrate their approach as data center growth became more tightly tied to AI deployment and the infrastructure needed to support it.

The scale of the pushback was visible in local flashpoints across the country. Data Center Watch’s March briefings highlighted a proposed $3 billion Avaio project in Appomattox County, Virginia, new South Dakota laws requiring large data centers to cover infrastructure costs, a 5-0 denial of Archbald Borough’s Project Scott in Pennsylvania, a one-year moratorium move in Apex, North Carolina, and a repeal effort in Virginia aimed at a data center tax break worth roughly $1.6 billion a year.

The new figures also underscored how fast the resistance has accelerated. Data Center Watch said about $98 billion in projects were blocked or delayed from late March through June 2025, compared with $64 billion between 2023 and late March 2025. The group also said 2025 ended with at least 48 projects worth $156 billion blocked or stalled by local opposition, moratoriums and litigation.

Heatmap Pro separately reported that at least 20 proposed data center projects were canceled in the first quarter of 2026 alone, representing more than $41.7 billion in investment and at least 3.5 gigawatts of electricity demand. The largest was Florida’s Sentinel Grove Technology Park, also known as Project Jarvis, which had been expected to draw up to $13.5 billion and as much as 1 gigawatt of power. Together, the numbers show a once-abstract digital supply chain running headlong into the physical limits and political costs of building on the ground.