Overview
- Rep. Byron Donalds filed federal legislation this week that would require data centers to obtain all electricity and water from private sources rather than public utilities, a step he framed as protecting ratepayers.
- Democratic Florida frontrunner David Jolly publicly called for a statewide moratorium on new data centers to allow officials time to craft rules to protect water, the power grid, and communities.
- Local bans, moratoria and coordinated protests have delayed dozens of projects worth roughly $130 billion, forcing developers to factor community consent and extra costs into site plans.
- National polls show opposition to local data centers has surged to large majorities, with recent surveys from Gallup, Reuters/Ipsos and Politico/Public First reporting steep declines in local support.
- The shift is already changing industry practice as some firms pledge to fund new power projects, drop nondisclosure agreements and redesign cooling systems, and it is shaping 2026 campaigns and state-level rulemaking.