_WHAT’S HAPPENING_
Artificial intelligence data centers are cropping up all over rural America amid the escalating AI arms race between the US and China.
These massive facilities, which train and run AI models like ChatGPT and Grok, consume extraordinary amounts of electricity — some requiring as much power as entire cities. But the rapid expansion has triggered a backlash on multiple fronts: Maine became the first state to pass a moratorium on large data center approvals, and opposition groups are mobilizing across two dozen states.
Many of these facilities are being built in rural areas, where residents are raising concerns about rising energy bills and environmental impacts.
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