Abilene Is Not the First
Abilene is the newest chapter in a story already playing out across the country. Other communities that took the data center deal first are now living with the long term consequences. Some are fighting back. Their experience is our warning.
About 200 data centers occupy 30 million square feet in this DC suburb. Residential bills are projected by Dominion Energy to rise from $142.77 today to $315.25 by 2039, primarily because of data center demand.
Loudoun's data centers used over 1 billion gallons of water in 2023. Carbon emissions are up over 50 percent attributed to data centers. 8,910 generators have been approved across Virginia. There has not been a single day in 14 years without data center construction.
Source: Sierra Club Virginia, Piedmont Environmental CouncilElon Musk's xAI Colossus supercomputer sits next to Boxtown, a historically Black neighborhood. The Southern Environmental Law Center documented that the facility operated dozens of methane gas turbines for months without air pollution permits.
Permits exist for only 10 turbines but the facility has been running as many as 35. Harvard School of Public Health analysis of the proposed Colossus 2 expansion estimated tens of millions in annual health damages, with the heaviest burden falling on residents with high asthma rates and low household incomes.
Source: NRDC, Harvard SPH, SELCIn September 2025, hundreds of residents packed the College Station city council meeting to oppose a proposed data center land sale. The council ultimately voted the project down.
This is the proof of concept that organized community pressure works in Texas. When residents show up in large numbers, councils respond. When they do not, deals like Abilene's get approved unanimously at near empty meetings.
Source: Texas MonthlyResidents of San Marcos are currently fighting three separate data center proposals within three miles of each other. The cumulative impact on water, power, noise, and traffic in a college town of similar size to Abilene has galvanized organized opposition.
Multiple Texas localities are now refusing to roll over. The pattern is consistent. Residents win when they organize early and lose when the project is signed before they hear about it.
Source: Texas Monthly, local reportingThe proposed Balico Tech Campus would build a 3,500 megawatt fracked gas power plant to feed two new data centers. That is nearly three times the size of any existing gas plant in Virginia. It will tap directly into the Mountain Valley Pipeline.
This is the future Texas is being set up for. Off grid, behind the meter gas plants serving data centers that avoid grid rules and air quality oversight. Multiple Stargate sites in the southwest are already following this model.
Source: Sierra Club VirginiaData Center Watch has documented $64 billion in proposed data center projects nationwide that have been blocked or delayed by organized local opposition. The resistance is bipartisan and growing.
Communities are winning when they show up early, file public records requests, attend zoning hearings, and refuse to be the empty room at the city council meeting. The model is repeatable.
Source: Data Center WatchThe Trade