AI Data Center Boom Sparks Death Threats Against Small-Town Officials
As data centers strain local power grids and land, council members in Michigan, Iowa, and Utah say they're facing death threats — and more than 500 towns have moved to restrict new builds.
What happened: Since early August, officials in Marshall, Michigan, Salix, Iowa, and Box Elder County, Utah, have reported death threats tied to votes on AI data center projects. Marshall's police are investigating a threat that came after the council passed a one-year building moratorium. Salix's mayor says threats began in May, after the town annexed farmland Google is evaluating; the council later voted down its own moratorium under police presence. In Indianapolis, a councilman's home was hit by 13 rounds after he backed a rezoning. NBC News reports officials nationwide are being threatened regardless of how they vote, and researchers tracking social media found threat posts surging since April.
Why it matters: Data centers need enormous, steady electricity, and that demand is landing directly on local grids, rates, and land — turning planning-commission votes into flashpoints. More than 500 towns have now passed some form of restriction. Some councils have responded to the threats by canceling meetings, moving them online, or dropping public comment entirely, which means the communities most affected by new power demand are losing normal channels to weigh in on it.
How it works, plainly: A single large data center can use as much electricity as a small city, so utilities either build new generation and transmission or lean on existing capacity, sometimes raising rates for everyone nearby. That's why fights land at the local level, where zoning and utility hookups get decided. States are responding unevenly: New York and Pennsylvania have moved to restrict or pause development, while Texas ordered an audit and some candidates in Michigan and Wisconsin are campaigning on moratoriums.
The rollout: Federally, the picture is split. President Trump has defended data centers as job and tax-revenue generators for the right locations and pushed a pledge requiring tech companies to cover their own power costs so ratepayers aren't stuck with the bill. Sen. John Fetterman has criticized moratoriums as "doomsdaying" that hands an advantage to China in the AI race, while Sen. Bernie Sanders has pushed for a federal pause until Congress passes AI safeguards.