'Like a cancer': How data centres became a key issue at midterms

Less than 50 kilometers away from Washington, D.C., lies Ashburn, Virginia. It's got the largest concentration of data centers in the world with over 200 units, and nearly 70% of global internet traffic passes by here. From every direction you will see transmission lines, cranes, data center. Data Center Alley is your future because this industry metastasizes like a cancer. Alina Schlossberg has lived here for 25 years and is now completely surrounded by these giant structures, which produce a massive amount of noise pollution. And that's what you hear 24-7. And that's only one building running. And so these kids, who are supposed to be playing on this field, listen to this noise. They have to be prepared to go offline and lose power at any moment. And in Virginia, that's becoming more and more frequent because the grid is stressed. When the power goes out, data centers activate their diesel fuel generators. They emit these these very small particulates, and they will get into your lungs and into your bloodstream. Their staying online is more important than human lives, and our elected leaders have just, they've abandoned us. A sense of abandonment that's not limited to Virginia, in recent years, citizens have been airing their grievances in city halls across the U.S. We do not want a data center in this. With tensions on the rise, opposition to data centers has become a rare cross-partisan issue in the U.S., affecting people on both sides of the political spectrum. In conservative Ohio, many Republican voters are starting to reconsider their political loyalties. Like this former Trump voter who has seen 50 data centers spring up around his backyard. Donald Trump is welcome to come out here and talk to me because here's one thing I got to ask them. Would you want them to build one across the street from your house? And we can go from that point. And if they don't care, they lose, so be it. But they better wake up because these people around here, they don't want to vote for them. They're scared. They're scared of data centers. Scared also of economic consequences. In Ohio, the cost of electricity is calculated by county, and data centers are driving up prices for everybody, even those who go on holiday. $401 for January of this year. So explain to me how $401 for an electric bill when nobody's living here. My electric bill never went up until the data centers was built here. We don't need them. Despite growing voter resentment, Donald Trump has so far stuck to his guns and continued to defend the interests of tech companies. The only reason that communities throughout the USA should not want data centers is if they want to end up being backwards and poor. In Manchester, Ohio, the president's choice of words has ruffled some feathers. Tech company Amazon is now planning to build several new data centers nearby, and many of those who voted for Trump in 2024 are up in arms. I'd rather be backwards and poor than rich and evil. It's as simple as that. I thought he was going to change our country, and now, looking back, it makes me disgusted with myself. We're being used as this other. This extremist and this poor group that really don't even matter, basically. Have you been betrayed? Oh, yeah. For the first time, these former Republicans opted for the other side and encouraged others to do the same. To protect our land so we can't just have any type of industry or person come in and just build whatever they want. According to the latest figures, over 130 million Americans currently live 8 kilometers away or less from a data center.