---
title: Most Americans Oppose a Local AI Data Center, and Lawmakers Are Shifting the Power Bill to Operators
description: Most Americans oppose a local AI data center, yet lawmakers are shifting grid costs to operators. Egan-Jones on the political risk for investors.
author: Darie Nani (Editor-in-Chief)
date: 2026-10-20T12:20:55.740Z
updated: 2026-10-20T12:20:55.753Z
canonical: https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/political-risk-of-ai-data-center-buildout
image: https://cdn.nanimediahouse.com/pexels-high-voltage-electrical-substation-with-steel-structures-and-18468536.jpg
categories: Artificial Intelligence
content_type: News
region: United States
publication: Sovereign Magazine
schema_type: Article
---

Seven in 10 Americans oppose building an AI data center in their area, [Gallup found](https://news.gallup.com/poll/709772/americans-oppose-data-centers-area.aspx), yet outside Texas, which has frozen new data center permits, lawmakers have answered by shifting grid costs onto operators rather than by blocking construction. California and Florida have passed laws putting those costs on data centers, and in September the House voted 417 to 3 for a bill pushing every state toward the same.

Egan-Jones Ratings, a credit rating agency, argued in a commentary on Monday that investors face higher costs and slower permits rather than a halt. It expects the mainstream of both parties to keep backing an industry whose four largest hyperscalers plan [more than $700 billion of capital spending](https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/ai-capex-oil-gas-compute-futures-2026) this year, and calls it perhaps the fastest industrial buildout in world history.

## More Americans Oppose a Local Data Center Than a Local Nuclear Plant

Gallup's March telephone survey of 1,000 adults found 48% strongly opposed to a data center for artificial intelligence near them. In the same survey, 53% opposed a nuclear energy plant in their area, "far less than the 71% opposed to data center construction," Gallup wrote. Opposition to a local nuclear plant has never topped 63% since Gallup first asked about it in 2001.

[Data Center Watch](https://www.datacenterwatch.org/q2-2026), a research project run by 10a Labs that tracks local opposition, counted "at least 45 projects valued at nearly $68 billion" blocked or delayed in the second quarter, after a similarly high count in the first.

## The House Voted 417 to 3 to Push States to Make Large Data Centers Pay for Their Power

The Ratepayer Protection Act, introduced in June by Rep. Gabe Evans (R-Colo.), would require each state utility regulator to consider adopting a standard under which customers drawing 100 megawatts or more pay the full cost of the generation, transmission or grid upgrades built to serve them, according to the [House Energy and Commerce Committee](https://energycommerce.house.gov/posts/ratepayer-protection-act-advances-from-house-committee-on-energy-and-commerce). States without their own cost rules would have to hold hearings, with the details left to each state, Techlicious reported. Every Republican and all but three Democrats voted for it. One of the three, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), said on X that leaving it to the states would "fail to meaningfully protect our communities" because it only directs states to consider such a standard rather than mandating one.

In the Senate, Ohio Republican Sen. Jon Husted is leading a companion version, and Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) has said moving it before the November midterms would take unanimous consent from every senator, Techlicious reported. Even then, each state would still have to write its own standard, and the bill sets no deadline for that.

Egan-Jones expects Washington to keep answering complaints about power bills without limiting how many data centers get built, and compares the industry with drug makers, which have been unpopular for years yet kept the backing of both parties while leading all other industries in federal lobbying almost every quarter since 2010. As further evidence it cites the $140 million raised for the midterms by the pro-AI super PAC network [Leading the Future](https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/ai-firms-fund-opposing-sides-of-us-regulation-fight), and it expects any push to halt the buildout to come from the populist wings of both parties, not from the mainstream.

## Texas Froze Data Center Permits as California and Florida Shifted Grid Costs to Operators

Texas, which had already [paused new data center grid connections](https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/texas-data-center-interconnection-pause-audit) pending a state review, went further on September 21, when the governor told the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to suspend all data center permits until ERCOT finishes an audit of its interconnection queue, the energy research firm Enerdata reported.

The same day, California Gov. Gavin Newsom [signed](https://www.gov.ca.gov/2026/09/22/national-leaders-and-lawmakers-celebrate-governor-newsoms-signature-on-the-most-comprehensive-data-center-laws-in-the-nation/) what his office calls "the most comprehensive data center laws in the nation," giving communities more say over water, electricity and land use. State Sen. Jerry McNerney (D-Pleasanton) said his SB 1168 "helps ensure that data centers absorb the costs of their energy use and any utility upgrades they require, not ratepayers."

Florida's SB 484 requires utilities to file tariffs designed so that hyperscale AI data centers pay their full costs, keeping those costs off residents' bills. Walt Trierweiler, who heads the state's Office of Public Counsel, called it "the first customer protection statute in the United States that protects customers from subsidizing data center costs." In June, his office said Duke Energy's proposed data center tariff did not comply, leaving the Florida Public Service Commission to decide, [WUSF reported](https://wusf.org/text/economy-business/2026-06-12/how-does-new-law-protect-floridians-from-footing-data-center-electric-bills).

## Egan-Jones Rates the Shift Positive for Utilities and Riskiest for Smaller Developers

Egan-Jones rates the shift as positive for utilities, which are less likely to be left with the bill when a data center project is canceled. For the largest hyperscalers the firm sees a slightly negative effect, since they face higher hookup costs and longer waits and are paying for them partly with debt. It is negative on [Oracle](https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/larry-ellison-oracle-stock-sale-cancelled) and on lenders, and sees smaller data center developers as most at risk.

## FAQ

**Q: Why do people oppose data centers in their town?**
Resource use is the main reason. In Gallup's survey, half of the people who oppose a local data center pointed to excessive use of resources, with 18% each naming water and energy, and 16% mentioned pollution. Majorities of every party group oppose one nearby, though Democrats are more likely than Republicans to be strongly opposed, 56% to 39%.

**Q: Do data centers raise electricity bills?**
They can, when a utility spreads the cost of new plants and power lines across all its customers. Utilities in several states have asked regulators for permission to build generation and transmission for AI data centers and recover the cost from all ratepayers, Techlicious reported. California's and Florida's new laws, and the House bill, aim to put those costs on the data centers instead.

**Q: Does the House bill force data centers to pay for their power?**
No. It requires each state utility regulator to consider a standard making large data centers pay the full cost of the upgrades built for them, but leaves the decision and the details to the states, with no deadline. It cleared the House Energy and Commerce Committee 52-0, and its sponsor, Rep. Gabe Evans (R-Colo.), said AI growth "cannot come at the expense of hardworking families, farmers, seniors, and small businesses."