[HN Gopher] Georgia leads push to ban datacenters used to power ...
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Georgia leads push to ban datacenters used to power America's AI
boom
Author : toomuchtodo
Score : 40 points
Date : 2026-01-26 16:29 UTC (6 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.theguardian.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.theguardian.com)
| direwolf20 wrote:
| It's federally illegal to regulate AI in any way
| bigbadfeline wrote:
| The aren't regulating AI but datacenters and energy. The fact
| that AI happens to depend on these is accidental.
| duskwuff wrote:
| According to what? A proposed moratorium on state AI regulation
| was overwhelmingly rejected back in July 2025:
|
| https://www.commerce.senate.gov/2025/7/senate-strikes-ai-mor...
| TitaRusell wrote:
| It depends entirely on whatever god emperor Trump feels like
| on any given day. The GOP is in control and they do what the
| great leader demands.
| dyauspitr wrote:
| Why ban data centers. The push should be to build out more
| electricity generation capability.
| erxam wrote:
| Data centers are scarcely more than four walls, AC and a shit
| ton of equipment inside. By the time you finish building one
| power plant, 700 data centers have already popped up.
| dyauspitr wrote:
| Okay then that's the new normal. Build out more generation.
| Do what China is doing with literally 100% redundancy from
| the baseload. Data centers are also not decentralized like
| you're saying, the vast majority of these are large
| facilities that take significant time and resources to build.
|
| Around 50 were built last year and between 80-100 are under
| construction right now, not 700 overnight. With about 6 GW
| consumption or about 24 GW of solar if you consider 25%
| operation time. The US installs about 30 GW of solar per year
| currently so you can offset that pretty easily with just one
| year of just solar power buildout. We need to step up our
| game- China is building out 300 GW of solar every year.
| erxam wrote:
| 700 was an exaggeration for dramatic effect, but 50 built
| in one year is still an astounding number.
|
| > Do what China is doing
|
| The massive build-up they have is mostly renewables.
| Surely, you see the problems with that, right? Georgia is a
| red state, so it's political suicide to even hint at
| proposing that. Don't even mention nuclear, Vogtle took
| three thousand years to get somewhere.
|
| There's also the very important question of what benefit it
| will bring to the people living (and voting) nearby. A
| datacenter isn't exactly a massive job centre. I very much
| doubt they pay any significant taxes. The utilities
| companies get a fat paycheck and that's about it.
| philipkglass wrote:
| _The massive build-up they have is mostly renewables.
| Surely, you see the problems with that, right? Georgia is
| a red state, so it 's political suicide to even hint at
| proposing that._
|
| Large scale solar power generation has more than doubled
| in Georgia since 2020:
|
| https://www.eia.gov/electricity/data/browser/#/topic/0?ag
| g=1...
|
| Georgia is ranked 7th in the US for solar power capacity:
|
| https://seia.org/solar-state-by-state/
|
| Texas is number 2, behind only California. Solar power is
| popular in sunny states even if they're "red," though the
| most heated political rhetoric doesn't reflect that.
| erxam wrote:
| Huh, I didn't realize how far the build up had gone.
|
| Your second link is interesting, though, because it shows
| solar in Georgia took a nosedive in 2025. I've got a
| feeling that that year's data is much more representative
| of what it will look like in the next two or three
| decades than any historical trend might be.
| shagie wrote:
| One of the issues that comes up is that the "we're building a
| data center..." and then power in the area scales up to meet
| the anticipated demand.
|
| And then the data centers scale back how much they need or
| decide to not build there and now the local ratepayers are on
| the hook for the increased capacity that the utilities built
| out.
|
| The data center would be much more welcome (there are still
| issues) if they were to make sure that the locals aren't going
| to pay for unneeded power capacity.
| stevenwoo wrote:
| For others who don't know, this is detailed in this podcast.
| A change in the way new power generation is funded is
| starting to happen so the datacenters are more responsible
| for the costs of the added power plants so they cannot just
| pull out willy nilly, but in lieu of that, existing customers
| have had to pay for the power plants in spite of not
| benefiting in the slightest
| https://www.npr.org/2025/12/19/nx-s1-5649814/ai-data-
| center-...
| a456463 wrote:
| Sounds like you have never lived next to a datacenter where one
| was shoved in to your infra and jacking up your electricity
| cost and polluting your air and water.
|
| What if some one put a running car with the exhaust pointed
| into your living area without your knowledge and with nothing
| you can do about it? That's what these datacenters are.
|
| Might as well deal with that as the new normal and get along
| with the show.
| dyauspitr wrote:
| What exhaust exactly is coming out of servers and GPUs?
| kasane_teto wrote:
| The power plants and gas turbines next to the data center.
| estimator7292 wrote:
| The jet engines producing power in the parking lot
| westurner wrote:
| Instead of banning datacenters, maybe:
|
| Must be Zero Water (you can fill up like a pool and then have
| normal water use)
|
| May have purple pipe water for community reuse
|
| Must be Zero Emissions
|
| Maximum decibels at property boundary
|
| Must be zoned datacenter/industrial
|
| Maximum kWh/acre, kWh/m^2 and/or bring your own energy with
| approval
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(page generated 2026-01-26 23:02 UTC)