A conversation with Janine Yorio on local opposition, household benefits and the business case for sharing AI infrastructure wealth

The economic stakes of America’s data center backlash are no longer theoretical. An October 2026 analysis by Heatmap Pro estimated that at least $260 billion in planned data center investment was canceled in 2026 after sustained local opposition. The research also found roughly $1 trillion in proposed investment facing some form of sustained or meaningful local opposition, with about $130 billion of the cancellations coming in the third quarter alone. Heatmap built the figures from a continuing survey of public officials, regulatory filings and local media, and says they are likely an undercount because only about 60% of projects disclose their planned investment.

The industry’s expanding electricity requirements are adding urgency to those concerns. According to the International Energy Agency, data centers consumed approximately 415 terawatt-hours of electricity worldwide in 2024, with demand projected to more than double to approximately 945 terawatt-hours by 2030. In the United States, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s June 2026 report estimates that data centers could account for 9.5% to 15.3% of national electricity consumption by 2030, with a central estimate of 11.8%. The same report puts data centers at approximately 4.7% of U.S. electricity consumption in 2024.

Although future consumption will depend on equipment deployment, efficiency improvements and other variables, the projections illustrate the scale of the infrastructure challenge confronting utilities, policymakers and communities.

A separate project-level tracker from Programs.com, updated November 4, 2026, lists 69 large U.S. data center projects (generally at least 100 megawatts or $1 billion) that were withdrawn, denied or otherwise abandoned since January 2024. Together they represent at least $165 billion in announced investment. That dollar total covers the 32 projects that disclosed an amount, while the broader count includes projects that did not. The tracker cites local opposition in 33 of the 69 cancellations. It uses a different methodology and reporting period than Heatmap Pro, so the two estimates should not be compared directly. Both datasets document substantial disruption to proposed developments, with local opposition among several contributing factors.

The November 2026 midterm elections brought these tensions directly to voters. According to Ballotpedia’s pre-election analysis, 41 local ballot measures across 10 states addressed data center development, including 28 proposals that would impose restrictions such as construction bans, zoning requirements or moratoriums. The measures demonstrated how decisions about AI infrastructure have moved beyond planning commissions and into electoral politics. Communities are weighing the potential economic value of new facilities against concerns about electricity costs, water consumption, noise and the long-term consequences of industrial development near residential neighborhoods.

The political debate raises a financial question that conventional development agreements do not necessarily resolve: who should receive the economic benefits when technology companies build large-scale infrastructure near existing homes? Tax revenue and public amenities can benefit an entire municipality without delivering direct financial returns to the households closest to a facility. At the same time, payments to individual residents cannot eliminate legitimate environmental concerns or substitute for responsible land-use decisions. Developers increasingly face pressure to demonstrate how their projects will affect surrounding communities and what tangible benefits those communities can expect.

Among those advocating a different approach is Janine Yorio, Founder & CEO of Community Digital Technologies — a technology platform that distributes economic benefits to the people who live near data centers — who argues that residents should have a more direct economic stake in the AI buildout. Her company seeks to organize verified households near data centers and facilitate economic benefits negotiated with developers, an emerging model whose broader effectiveness has yet to be established. In the following interview, Yorio examines the growing resistance to data center development, the limitations of conventional community benefits and the financial arrangements she believes developers should consider as communities demand a greater share of the economic gains.

Q: What do recent election results tell you about public attitudes toward data centers?

JY: The story is not that Americans hate data centers. The story is that everyday Americans are getting a raw deal. Asked to accept that raw deal, people voted no. That is understandable. Data centers have become a symbol of all that is inequitable about the AI economy, in that they make every day Americans feel like they are being left behind. That is why the neighbors have become the biggest risk to data centers. They are angry. They feel they have gotten a raw deal.

Q: How does that opposition change the outlook for developers?

JY: The neighbors have become the biggest risk to data centers. Tuesday proved they have leverage and that they will use it. What comes next for the industry is making the neighbors partners in the AI economy. Developers who want to build in the next five years will have to directly enrich the wallets of the people who live near data centers with things like lower utility bills, an ownership stake or shares of stock in AI companies.

Q: Do you expect the political response to focus on moratoriums and restrictions?

JY: Expect elected officials in both parties to go after data centers, because it is one of the few issues where voters across the spectrum agree. Democrats have been the most vocal, but a growing number of Republicans now support pauses too. A moratorium does not give a single neighbor a dollar. The solution will not come from government. Zoning boards and community benefits agreements were designed to approve shopping malls and high rise apartments, not multi-acre hyperscale data centers.

Q: Why do tax revenues and community projects fail to resolve some neighborhood objections?

JY: People have figured out that tax revenue is not the same as money in their pocket. Loudoun County, Virginia collected about $895 million in real and personal property taxes from data centers in 2025, and the county has cut its residential property tax rate for roughly a decade. In Richland Parish, Louisiana, a local sales tax that jumped during construction of Meta’s data center helped fund teacher bonuses of more than $50,000 this year. Those are two of the best outcomes in the country, and neither one is a payment to the family across the street from the building. Voters have noticed.

Q: What kinds of direct benefits would you like to see?

JY: The data centers that get built in the years ahead will be the ones that put the AI economy directly into their neighbors’ wallets with economic benefits like a lower utility bill, a recurring payment stream and shares of stock or ownership in the project. For starters, why doesn’t everyone who lives near a data center get a free ChatGPT and Claude subscription? And free Amazon Prime? Perks like those would be small next to the more than $800 billion the largest technology companies are expected to spend this year on data centers and AI.

Q: Are technology companies beginning to recognize the demand for a different arrangement?

JY: Even the companies know things have gone too far, and are admitting they need to share the wealth. Anthropic committed 5% of its shares to a public benefit fund, subject to stockholder approval. That fund is aimed at the public broadly, not at data center neighbors. Amazon committed more than $1 billion over five years to the communities that host its data centers. Obviously that is not enough, but it is a sign of things to come.

Q: Are data centers responsible for rising household electricity bills?

JY: The honest answer is: it depends on where you live. In the PJM grid region, which serves more than 65 million people across the Midwest and mid-Atlantic, data centers have pushed up capacity costs, and households in places like Ohio and western Maryland are paying more. Across most of the rest of the country, data centers are not the main reason your bill went up, though researchers warn that today’s much larger facilities could change that. One thing that households near data centers can do is to figure out if they are eligible to receive economic benefits from nearby data centers by joining Community Digital where they can check their eligibility. Benefits can include various different things ranging from cash payments to utility bill rebates and credits.

Q: What is the practical role of Community Digital Technologies in these negotiations?

JY: America needs a new model for this new era, and there is one. Someone has to get economic benefits directly to the neighbors. Community Digital Technologies is the technology platform that distributes them.

The proposal raises practical questions that developers and residents will have to settle project by project. Who qualifies as a neighbor? How are benefits valued, funded and administered? What happens when some households oppose construction even after an offer? Community Digital says it verifies identities and addresses, organizes nearby households and administers benefits if an agreement is reached. The company describes itself as early stage, says its process is a plan that may change, and says no benefits or payments are guaranteed.

A payment or ownership offer cannot substitute for environmental review, grid planning or public oversight. It can, however, change the economic terms residents are asked to consider. The industry’s next test may be whether it can produce enforceable, transparent agreements that people living closest to these facilities actually consider worthwhile.

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Entrepreneur Leadership Network member Merilee Kern, MBA, is a highly regarded brand strategist and analyst who reports on cultural shifts, trends, and notable industry leaders across both B2C and B2B sectors. Her work covers a broad range of categories, including field experts, thought leaders, brands, products, services, destinations, and events. As Founder, Executive Editor, and Producer of The Luxe List International News Syndicate, Merilee is a respected marketplace voice whose work reaches millions worldwide through broadcast TV (including her own shows and numerous others on which she appears) as well as a variety of print and online publications. Connect with her at www.TheLuxeList.com / Instagram www.Instagram.com/MerileeKern / Twitter www.Twitter.com/MerileeKern / Facebook www.Facebook.com/MerileeKernOfficial / LinkedIN www.LinkedIn.com/in/MerileeKern.

Sources

• https://heatmap.news/daily/260-billion-data-center-opposition
• https://programs.com/resources/data-center-project-tracker/
• https://www.iea.org/reports/energy-and-ai/executive-summary
• https://datacenters.lbl.gov/publications/united-states-data-center-energy-2025
• https://news.ballotpedia.org/2026/11/03/voters-in-ten-states-will-vote-on-data-center-related-ballot-measures-november-3/
• https://www.loudoun.gov/6409/Tax-Revenues-County-Budget
• https://www.loudoun.gov/6408/Data-Centers-The-Loudoun-Story
• https://about.fb.com/news/2026/07/teachers-local-businesses-win-as-meta-expands-louisiana-data-center/
• https://www.opb.org/article/2026/10/02/amazon-to-invest-dollar1b-into-data-center-communities-amid-backlash-against-data-center-rollouts/
• https://www.anthropic.com/news/public-benefit-fund
• https://www.factcheck.org/2026/10/data-centers-and-electricity-prices-its-not-as-simple-as-voters-may-think/

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