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We hear almost constantly about the downsides of data centers, but there are those encouraging Americans to look into the benefits that they can offer to the communities that wind up playing host to them.
In a recent op-ed for Fox News, Chris Johnson with the American Energy Leadership Institute pointed out that in a number of communities—namely, towns like Ellendale, North Dakota—small, struggling municipalities are getting a much-needed boost from the data centers.
One such example is Richland Parish, Louisiana, which saw massive investment from Meta. “Places like this in Louisiana, where a data center comes in from Meta, and then each of the teachers there gets an individual $50,000 bonus,” he said. He pointed out that nothing other than the investment from Meta in the community changed.
Johnson went on to point out that there are plenty of benefits to the job market on top of that. He pointed out that: “All the construction jobs, the facilities and industries that are providing the facilities for these developments—all of these are high-paying jobs.”
Of course, that hasn’t led to an overnight surge in support for data centers. As a recent U of H poll shows, concerns remain high, and voters want the data centers to pay their own way. Johnson says that’s something data centers appear to be largely on board with. According to him: “Now they’re going even a step further and saying, ‘We’ll pay even more than our fair share for this electricity, so that we can ensure that the benefits are felt by the ratepayers, and not the cost.’”