Monterey Park, California residents voted June 2 to permanently ban data center construction, passing a referendum 10,321 to 1,362. The vote followed a January 21 city council meeting where 95 residents requested to speak against a proposed 50-megawatt AI data center planned by Australian company HMC just 500 feet from residential areas. Residents cited concerns over electricity and water consumption, noise and air pollution from 24 diesel backup generators, and lack of transparency from the developer, who repeatedly failed to hold promised community meetings. The referendum makes Monterey Park the first U.S. city to enact a permanent data center ban through direct voter approval, reflecting broader national resistance as over 90 local governments have adopted or considered similar restrictions amid AI infrastructure expansion.
HMC Data Center Project Triggers Community Opposition in Monterey Park
Australian company HMC purchased land in Monterey Park for approximately $39 million to build an AI data center with peak electricity demand of 50 megawatts—roughly three times the city's total electricity consumption. The project site is located less than 500 feet (approximately 152 meters) from the nearest residential area. Mayor Elizabeth Yang told The Paper (www.thepaper.cn) the project was initially marketed as a traditional data processing center, and residents only learned it was a high-energy AI data center after it entered the public agenda.
Yang said the city removed the project from the agenda after seeing public opposition and requested the developer hold multiple community meetings to address concerns. The developer promised to arrange meetings in November, December, and by the end of January but "did nothing, held no meetings," Yang stated. She added she has never seen any formal statement from the developer or held a formal meeting with them, and "all the information I know is what the public can find online."
At the January 21 city council meeting that extended past 1 AM, residents raised three primary concerns: the data center would consume large amounts of electricity and water, driving up local utility costs; 24 large diesel backup generators could bring long-term noise and air pollution; and the project lacked transparency with residents and city government receiving no direct responses from the developer. One resident played a recording of data center operational noise, describing it as "not ordinary noise" but "continuous vibration that penetrates people's bones." Others questioned why such facilities are more easily sited in working-class and minority communities rather than affluent areas.
Yang described the January 21 meeting as having "the highest attendance, broadest public participation, and most intense emotions" she has witnessed as mayor. She said residents were "very engaged, very angry, and very determined," with many explicitly telling council members they would vote to recall them in upcoming elections if the project was approved. The city council unanimously passed a temporary moratorium following the meeting.
HMC withdrew the project in March, but residents demanded a more binding prohibition and placed the question of a permanent citywide data center ban before all voters. The June 2 referendum passed with 88.34% approval, formally amending the city's general plan to prohibit data center construction throughout municipal boundaries. Yang explained residents insisted on the vote because a city council-passed temporary moratorium could be overturned by a future council, whereas changing a permanent ban would require another referendum, which is "much more difficult." She emphasized residents are not opposed to AI itself but do not want data centers built in their neighborhoods, as they are concerned about who will bear the long-term costs of noise, pollution, water and electricity pressure, and community risks.
Data Center Resistance Spreads Across 90+ U.S. Localities
California has the second-highest data center density in the United States after Virginia. Data Center Map shows approximately 287 data centers are currently under construction or in planning stages in the state, with 71 in Los Angeles alone. However, California is not the hottest region for the new wave of AI-driven data center construction due to high electricity prices, high land costs, and stricter regulations.
Over 90 local governments across the United States have enacted or are considering restrictions on data center construction. According to Politico, at least four other towns will hold similar voter referendums. A Gallup poll shows 70% of Americans oppose building AI data centers in their regions. On June 4, the New York State Assembly approved a one-year moratorium on constructing artificial intelligence facilities. If the governor signs, New York could become the first state to ban large-scale data centers.
In Utah, a drought-prone state, an ultra-large-scale data center project has faced sustained public opposition. The project initially planned for 9 gigawatts of installed capacity (if operated year-round, annual electricity consumption would be approximately 78.8 billion kilowatt-hours, double Utah's current total consumption), covering an area equivalent to two Manhattans, adjacent to the Great Salt Lake, the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere. A statewide poll showed 53% of Utah residents oppose the project, with 41% strongly opposed and only 11% strongly supportive.
In Alabama, a large data center park called the "Red Dirt Project" covering over 3 million square feet has encountered resistance. Local residents are concerned that developers plan to build state-of-the-art, highly energy- and water-intensive data center parks nearby while some households cannot guarantee normal toilet flushing water. In Festus, Missouri, a $6 billion AI data center project triggered severe political backlash. After the project was approved, local voters quickly organized protests, all city council members who supported the project lost their seats in subsequent elections, and residents sued the city government for "procedural violations and closed-door decision-making."
UN Report Forecasts 945 Terawatt-Hours Annual Data Center Electricity Use by 2030
A June 5 report from the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health states that by 2030, global data center electricity consumption could rise to 945 terawatt-hours, approaching 3% of global total electricity consumption and exceeding Japan's current annual electricity use. Global AI data centers will consume approximately 9.3 trillion liters of water annually, equivalent to the basic living water needs of 1.3 billion people for one year.
Report authors Kaveh Madani and Myriam Azemel told The Paper these figures primarily cover data center-level electricity use and related carbon, water, and land footprints, including AI model training and inference deployment stages. They noted AI infrastructure could generate up to 2.5 million tons of electronic waste annually by 2030, roughly equivalent to discarding 250 Eiffel Towers each year.
Wu Jianzhong, co-director of the UK Energy Research Centre and dean of the School of Engineering at Cardiff University, told The Paper that "currently about 730 million people worldwide live within the 5 to 10 kilometer impact range around data centers, and at the current development rate, this could soon exceed 1 billion. This number far exceeds public imagination." He noted that in the UK, over 100 data center projects have applied to connect to the gas network for natural gas power generation because the electrical grid can no longer accommodate such rapid new load additions.
Wu explained that data centers not only consume electricity and water but also generate low-frequency noise from numerous auxiliary fans and cooling equipment, which is "very oppressive" for long-term exposure. He said assessment of data centers should not stop at traditional environmental impact evaluations but should establish a comprehensive framework including technical assessment, environmental assessment, and epidemiological assessment, evaluating both the plan itself and impacts on air, noise, water resources, and thermal environment, while tracking changes in residents' health and well-being before and after project construction.
Researchers Call for Comprehensive Health and Environmental Assessment Frameworks
Wu Jianzhong stated that approximately 1.2 million data centers currently exist globally, including over 4,000 in the United States and over 500 in the UK, according to World Economic Forum and International Energy Agency reports. He noted that even in countries like the UK that typically emphasize public participation, approval authority is often elevated to the central government once large-scale data centers are involved, with energy ministers directly making decisions. As large data centers, especially AI data centers, are upgraded to "critical infrastructure" in Europe and the United States, the voice of ordinary residents and local councils is being rapidly compressed.
"Once a project is built first, surrounding residents often lack the ability to move away and can only bear the consequences long-term, so protective measures must be front-loaded rather than remedied after construction," Wu said. He believes current external discussions about data centers remain too focused on technology and industry itself, lacking systematic research on "what impact it will actually have on people." Issues such as health, air quality, noise, psychological state, and overall well-being still have great uncertainty, which precisely means an evaluation system needs to be established.
Researchers call for technology companies and data center operators to disclose more granular data, including energy consumption for AI model training, deployment, and task-level inference, as well as facility-level electricity consumption, carbon intensity, water withdrawal and consumption, cooling technology, geographic location, local water stress levels, hardware replacement cycles, and electronic waste recycling pathways. They emphasize that data centers are only one node in AI's vast material system, with upstream connections to semiconductor manufacturing, advanced packaging, cooling equipment, power transmission facilities, and critical mineral extraction.
Wu emphasized that data centers are not without benefits—if waste heat can be effectively recovered, surrounding communities can use it for heating. Some Nordic countries have connected data centers to district heating networks to provide thermal energy to residents. "The problem is that these potential benefits and external costs currently lack unified standards. Capital cares whether projects can be implemented, governments care about growth and performance, technical personnel care whether systems can run, but few systematically ask: how to ensure the health, well-being, and long-term quality of life of surrounding residents," he added. "This is not to forcibly brake technology, but because no matter how urgent, people cannot be excluded from the development logic."
FAQ
What did Monterey Park residents vote on June 2?
Monterey Park, California residents voted on June 2 to permanently ban data center construction citywide through a referendum. The measure passed with 10,321 votes in favor and 1,362 against, representing 88.34% approval. The vote makes Monterey Park the first U.S. city to enact a permanent data center ban through direct voter approval.
Why did Monterey Park residents oppose the HMC data center project?
Residents opposed the project planned by Australian company HMC for three primary reasons: the 50-megawatt data center would consume large amounts of electricity and water, potentially driving up local utility costs; 24 diesel backup generators could bring long-term noise and air pollution; and the developer repeatedly failed to hold promised community meetings, creating lack of transparency. The project site was located less than 500 feet from residential areas.
How many U.S. localities have restricted data center construction?
Over 90 local governments across the United States have enacted or are considering restrictions on data center construction. A Gallup poll shows 70% of Americans oppose building AI data centers in their regions. On June 4, the New York State Assembly approved a one-year moratorium on artificial intelligence facility construction, and at least four other towns will hold similar voter referendums according to Politico.
