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Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios
Northern Virginia is increasingly becoming a hot spot for AI data center action, and its impact on marginalized communities is coming into focus.
Why it matters: From zoning battles to electricity bill upticks, the state is a test bed for how AI could impact other parts of the country.
What we're watching: In Prince William County, African American cemeteries were damaged by the construction of a new data center.
- And in Loudoun County, a proposal to build a data center in conjunction with affordable housing faced opposition after the board of supervisors said the data center did not match the types of buildings the area was meant for.
Dana Wiggins of the Virginia Poverty Law Center helps run a helpline for people who are struggling to pay their energy bills.
- Lower-income people may be subsidizing the data center industry without directly benefiting from it, as they may be paying higher energy costs to support the data centers' energy needs, she told Axios.
- "For people who are in a more rural area and have less access to broadband, they may be paying for data centers without necessarily benefiting from them," Wiggins said. "Lower income rate payers are more heavily energy burdened as it is, and so it just exacerbates that problem."
Deshundra Jefferson, chair of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors, who attributes her election to the backlash against data centers, said she's seeing more and more data center applications, some near homes and schools.
- "They're driving up the price of land and it's hard for anyone else to compete with them. ... We're concerned that AI is going to push the price of land even higher," Jefferson told Axios.
Our thought bubble: AI data center infrastructure is impacting all sorts of communities — affluent and low-income — and elected officials are grappling with how to reap the benefits while mitigating the harm.
- As Congress moves slowly, local action is likely to heat up.
