Pennsylvania Data Center Fight Shows Bipartisan Backlash Against AI
A proposed $165 million data center in rural Pennsylvania has united residents across party lines against the AI infrastructure boom, as similar projects face growing opposition nationwide.
A proposed $165 million data center in rural Pennsylvania has become a flashpoint in a growing bipartisan backlash against the AI infrastructure boom, uniting residents across class and party lines in opposition to the project.
NorthPoint Development sent letters to residents of Hazle Township over the summer offering each of the township's 4,500 residents a potential $10,000 payment in exchange for permission to build a 1,300-acre data center. The project, dubbed Project Hazelnut, would represent a major investment in the area at the foot of the Poconos.
At the same time, about 30 properties in nearby Sugarloaf Township faced eminent domain threats from the local utilities company over a proposed high-voltage power line that would run through homes and power the data center. Locals formed the group Alliance to Stop the Line and filed 20 formal protests against the utilities company over health and property-cost risks associated with the power line. Others filed right-to-know requests demanding transparency about the end user of Project Hazelnut, which emails revealed to be Amazon.
An Amazon spokesperson said the company is «evaluating multiple sites across the Commonwealth» but does not have a definitive agreement in place with NorthPoint.
What has struck some locals is the demographics of those opposing the data center. Annie Vinatieri, a Sugarloaf Township protester, observed that opponents include a combination of working, middle, and upper classes, mostly white, but definitely nonpartisan, including many who are new to environmental protests.
«It's invigorating, in the sense that you're meeting people who might not be like-minded on a lot of things, but it feels for so many people like this a righteous cause,» she said. «We can maybe disagree on the political finer points of things, but we can find this very real camaraderie in the midst of everything.»
The opposition in Pennsylvania reflects a broader national trend. About 70% of Americans oppose data center construction in their local areas, according to a Gallup poll, including 75% of Democrats and 63% of Republicans. The backlash is beginning to have material impacts on the tempo of the AI boom. At least 75 data center projects worth more than $130 billion total were delayed or cancelled in the first three months of this year, according to a Data Center Watch report published in June. Active opposition groups grew from 396 to 833 over the same period.
One significant reason behind the bipartisan dissent is how tech companies have marketed data centers to the American people, according to Tatishe Nteta, a professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and director of UMass Poll.
«There has been little to no clear communication of the benefits, economic or otherwise, that are associated with data centers for everyday Americans,» he said. «And there has been extremely clear communication regarding the costs, whether those be environmental in terms of increased use of energy…but also the cost that's associated more largely with artificial intelligence on the economic well-being of Americans.»
The universality of data center opposition has allowed Democrats to make it a wedge issue, Nteta said. But AI infrastructure and AI more broadly have also struck chords with ideologies held by both Republicans and Democrats, just in different flavors, according to Ben Green, assistant professor of public policy at the University of Michigan's Ford School.
For example, environmental concerns around data center buildouts are bipartisan. The difference is that Democrats use words like «climate change» to define the issue, but Republicans focus more on the protection of land.
«Democrats and Republicans might talk about that differently, but massive corporations coming in and forcing a community to deal with some type of project and not really giving a community any voice and operating in secrecy—no one's really a fan of that,» Green said.
Pennsylvania has established itself as a nexus of data center backlash. The commonwealth is home to only 174 data centers out of about 4,767 total projects in the U.S., but its position as a purple state with a governor widely expected to run for president in 2028 makes it a unique case study in the national conversation around data center opposition.
Gov. Josh Shapiro announced Project Hazelnut in November 2024 immediately following an executive order fast-tracking permitting for AI infrastructure. In July 2025, he announced a $20 billion investment from Amazon for data center buildout in the commonwealth, the largest capital investment in Pennsylvania's history. But following public pushback over data center projects in Hazle Township, the political dynamics have shifted.
The fight in Hazleton carries particular symbolism. About 20 years ago, the city passed the controversial Illegal Immigration Relief Act, which withheld permits from businesses employing undocumented immigrants and fined landlords who rented to them. The law galvanized a base of white, working-class supporters during a time of deindustrialization and demographic change. Now, the same area is at the center of a different kind of uprising—one that crosses political lines and challenges the rapid expansion of AI infrastructure.
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