MANY MINDEDAmerican towns are voting data centres out, 190 since June
A Heatmap Pro review of public records counts more than 530 local laws restricting or banning data centres across the United States, held by over 500 counties and municipalities. The tally includes only the severest measures — outright permit bans, unmeetable noise limits, setbacks that leave nowhere to build. The overwhelming majority passed this year, and nearly 190 of them since June 1.
They are working. More than 50 data centres have been cancelled this year after local opposition, more than double the 2025 total, with eight falling in July alone. Roughly 200 projects are being contested right now through lawsuits, hearings, protests and ad campaigns. Of about 430 projects challenged over five years, roughly 40% eventually died; a project challenged today runs closer to a 50% chance — the same odds a contested wind or solar farm faces. Rates vary sharply by state: 71% of contested Michigan projects are cancelled, 56% in Indiana, about 17% in Texas. Amazon, Microsoft and Google have each withdrawn a large proposal after sustained pushback.
Compute is the substrate under cheap machine intelligence, and this is a siting constraint on it rather than a technical one. Fewer viable sites means longer queues and higher prices for the input everyone assumes is heading toward zero. A JPMorgan note warned that 60% of capacity slated to open in 2027 had not begun construction as of early June.
Many of these ordinances are written to expire within a year. That is worth watching rather than believing: restrictions on wind and solar were also introduced as temporary and have been renewed since. Polling cited in the review finds about six in ten Americans would back a moratorium at some level of government.
Source: Heatmap