Data centers have become one of America’s hottest debates. They are sold as essential pieces of infrastructure that create jobs, generate tax revenue, support national security, and keep our cell phones going. Meanwhile, on the ground, host communities are confronting the consequences for their water, health, air quality, utility bills, farmland, public budgets, quality of life, and even their ability to control what gets built in their own towns.
In a storm of conflicting claims and corporate talking points, what does the evidence actually show? Let’s examine 10 of the biggest data center myths, and separate fact from fiction.
Myth #1: America will fall behind if we stop building more data centers.
Fact: The United States is not behind. We already won the AI Data Center Race, by a landslide! As of July 2026, data center directory Cloudscene currently lists 5,427 data centers in the United States, more than ten times the number in any other country and more than the next 14 highest-ranking countries combined. China, routinely cited as the nation that America must outrun, has just 449 in the same dataset. Facility count alone cannot determine future computing needs, but it decisively disproves the claim that America lacks a commanding infrastructure lead.
Myth #2: Developers are required to disclose their environmental and health impacts.
Fact: Federal oversight of data centers is highly fragmented and conditional. There is no single federal rule requiring public disclosure of a data center’s total water and energy use, wastewater, air emissions, cumulative environmental effects, and potential health impacts. In addition, the strategy to build data centers on Brownfield and Superfund sites (toxic waste sites) mean an increase of disturbance of toxins and higher risk of contaminated air and waterways from construction. And because existing programs address specific federal actions or pollution pathways, a locally issued air or wastewater permit is not, by itself, a comprehensive assessment of a facility’s total environmental and human-health effects. For instance, NEPA review only applies to a fraction of data center facilities, and air quality standards only apply to specific pollution sources like turbines and backup generators. The industry’s own figures underscore the disclosure gap: Uptime Institute’s 2025 global survey found that only 47 percent of surveyed operators collected water consumption data.
Myth #3: Closed-loop cooling systems are closed loops.
Fact: “Closed-loop” does not mean zero wastewater. These systems still must be filled, flushed, maintained, and sometimes drained. During construction of Meta’s Cheyenne, Wyoming data center, a contractor discharged 801,475 gallons of wastewater from the cooling system’s fill-and-flush process over three months. City officials found a rare bacteria in the discharge, which Cheyenne’s treatment plants did not have the capacity to remove. The contamination disrupted the city’s water systems, forced the suspension of reclaimed water production, and required several miles of sewer mains to be cleaned. Though the city’s drinking water was not affected in this instance, Cheyenne has since stopped accepting wastewater from data centers.
Myth #4: Data centers are not straining the energy grid or affecting your utility bills.
Fact: Data center demand is already increasing grid costs. In PJM, the nation’s largest regional grid, independent market monitors estimate that data center demand has already imposed at least $23 billion in additional capacity costs on existing customers. Federal officials are only now attempting to close the cost-shifting gap. In June 2026, FERC ordered all six regional grid operators under its jurisdiction to justify or reform their rules for connecting large loads. The White House has also asked technology companies to cover their infrastructure costs, but its Ratepayer Protection Pledge relies on companies voluntarily negotiating new rates. Though some states, like New Jersey, are starting to create legislation to hold corporations accountable, there is still no uniform, enforceable federal requirement guaranteeing that data centers pay every grid cost they create.
Myth #5: “The hum” is only an annoyance.
Fact: Continuous noise is a public health and ecological stressor, not merely a nuisance. While most minor auditory nuisances fall between 10 and 20 decibels, data center noise has been measured at 70 to 80 decibels inside operating facilities and has reached 90 decibels in at least one neighborhood investigation. The World Health Organization links chronic environmental noise to sleep disruption, cardiovascular and metabolic disease, cognitive impairment, mental health effects, and adverse birth outcomes. A nationwide study of nearly 900,000 adults also associated long-term traffic-noise exposure with increased infertility diagnoses in women over 35 and possibly men over 37. Research across wildlife and livestock shows that human-generated noise can alter stress physiology, communication, habitat use, and reproduction. Studies have also documented disrupted insect mating and pollination, with potential consequences for plant reproduction and food production. In New Mexico, researchers found 75 percent fewer piñon pine seedlings near noisy natural gas compressors, likely because the noise drove away seed-dispersing scrub jays. The damage persisted even after the noise stopped. Direct health research on data-center communities remains limited, making precaution and facility-specific monitoring essential.
Myth #6: America has enough farmland to spare.
Fact: Farmland is not “spare” land. According to the USDA Census of Agriculture, the amount of U.S. land in farms declined by 20.1 million acres between 2017 and 2022. Meanwhile, the next wave of data-center development is shifting into rural America. A Pew Research Center analysis of more than 1,500 facilities classified as under construction, planned, or land banked found that 67 percent are located in rural areas. Only 13 percent of currently operating data centers are rural. Pew did not determine how many of those rural sites are farmland, but the geographic shift places industrial development and its enormous utility demands in communities whose land and resources sustain American food production.
Myth #7: Data centers create enough jobs to justify their cost and scale.
Fact: Data centers create jobs, but the facts show that most arrive during construction and disappear when the build is complete. Virginia’s nonpartisan legislative oversight agency found that building a single data center typically takes 12 to 18 months and supports a sizable construction workforce. Once operational, however, a typical 250,000 sq. ft. facility employs only about 50 full-time workers, roughly half of whom may be contractors. A separate investigation of major data centers found that even the largest generally employed fewer than 150 permanent workers, with some employing as few as 25. This imbalance becomes even harder to justify when subsidies are considered. Good Jobs First found that across 11 major subsidized data center deals, taxpayers gave up an average of $1.95 million for every permanent job the facility created. Data center employees can be well paid, but positions are remarkably few compared with the enormous scale of these facilities and the public subsidies used to attract them.
Myth #8: Data centers are tax revenue gold mines.
Fact: Data centers may generate tax revenue, particularly during construction, but that is only half the ledger. A June 2026 analysis found that at least four U.S. states now forgo more than $1 billion annually through data center tax incentives. Even the latest disclosed figures are incomplete at best: 14 of the 37 states offering data center sales-and-use-tax exemptions do not publicly disclose their revenue losses. Local property tax abatements are even less transparent. Data centers can pay some taxes while still costing the public billions through revenue surrendered in subsidy deals.
Myth #9: If your town votes down a data center, you are safe.
Fact: A local “no” is not always the last word. When zoning decisions or moratoriums block data centers, developers are increasingly turning to litigation to challenge local authority and force their projects forward. For instance, in Saline Township, Michigan, the board voted 4-1 to deny Related Digital’s rezoning request. The developer and landowners sued, alleging exclusionary zoning, and a consent judgment ultimately allowed the project to proceed despite the vote. The federal government is also now entering litigation on the data center industry’s behalf. In June 2026, the DOJ intervened in the NAACP’s lawsuit over 27 unpermitted gas turbines powering a Mississippi data center, and asked the court to dismiss the case. Though the dismissal is still pending, the DOJ has argued that federal enforcement discretion overrides the citizen suit and that restricting xAI’s power supply would threaten national security because its Grok system supports military operations.
Myth #10: The benefits from a data center stay in the community.
Fact: Some tax revenue and construction spending may remain local, but the profits belong to the facility’s owners and investors. The host community supplies the land, water, electricity, infrastructure, and often substantial tax breaks. Virginia’s nonpartisan JLARC found that most economic benefits occur during construction, not ongoing operation. The World Resources Institute warns that communities can also be left paying for water systems, substations, transmission lines, roads, and emergency services long after a facility downsizes or leaves. Without a binding community benefits agreement, local resources are guaranteed. Local benefits are not.
Calls To Action
Knowing the facts is only the beginning. Decisions being made right now, from Congress to your local planning board, will determine what happens next, and communities cannot afford to sit this one out.
Here are some ways you can help:
- Demand federal protections now. Demand that Congress expand the Federal Data Center Enhancement Act before it expires in September, so minimum standards can be clearly and thoroughly defined, and extended to privately owned facilities.
- Show up to your local meetings. The strongest tools available right now lie in the hands of local municipalities. Ask your council members, planning board, and zoning officials to adopt clear data center definitions accompanied by a clear ban on new and expanding facilities.
- Contact your elected officials. Urge your House and Senate members to support the Sanders–Ocasio-Cortez AI Data Center Moratorium Act, which would suspend new and expanding AI data centers until strong national safeguards are in place to protect communities, utility customers, workers, and the environment.
- Sign and share this petition. Urge President Trump to reject expanded coal use as the answer to data center demand and require transparency, local review, and strong safeguards for children, farmers, health, land, and water.
- Join our Data Center Research Team! If you enjoy research and want to help, email info@momacrossamerica.com with the subject line “Data Center Research Team.”