Congress wants in on the data center backlash

Members of Congress are scrambling to jump on the growing https://www.axios.com/newsletters/axios-ai-plus-1da1b73b-d50e-4a3c-a4ae-d6b35aa1f9fa" target="_blank">anti-data center fervor sweeping through local communities across the country.

Why it matters: Where there is this kind of intense grassroots uproar, there is also political opportunity — and lawmakers know it.

• The latest example is legislation from Rep. Rob Bresnahan (R-Pa.) to restrict companies' ability to sue municipalities for rejecting applications to build data centers.
• The bill — called "the Local Control Protection Act" — would also require developers to file a legally binding "community benefit agreement" or lose out on federal tax incentives, per https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/28228471-bresnahan-data-center-bill-june-2026/" target="_blank">legislative text first shared with Axios.

State of play: Growing public anxiety about the rapid growth of AI is fueling bitter fights at the local level to stop data centers from being built, Axios' https://www.axios.com/newsletters/axios-ai-plus-1da1b73b-d50e-4a3c-a4ae-d6b35aa1f9fa" target="_blank">Madison Mills reported.

• https://news.gallup.com/poll/709772/americans-oppose-data-centers-area.aspx" target="_blank">Objections include alleged environmental damage, high https://www.axios.com/2026/06/05/data-centers-resource-needs-environmental-stakes" target="_blank">energy usage and resultant utility cost increases, and noise, air and water pollution.
• More than 350,000 people signed a petition opposing a proposed data center bordering the Nashville Zoo, according to Axios' https://www.axios.com/local/nashville/2026/06/09/opposition-to-data-center-near-nashville-zoo-grows-as-city-plays-catch-up" target="_blank">Nate Rau.
• In Seattle, local officials have moved to ban new large data centers for a year, Axios' http://axios.com/local/seattle/2026/05/15/seattle-data-center-moratorium-ai-energy" target="_blank">Melissa Santos wrote.

By the numbers: Legislative proposals to restrict data center construction were fairly rare on Capitol Hill before this year.

• Now, Republicans and Democrats alike are flooding the zone.
• In the last three months alone, more than a dozen bills have been introduced to either investigate data centers' impacts or restrict their proliferation in some way.

Between the lines: It's not just toothless bills to commission reports and studies — though there are those too, looking at https://www.congress.gov/119/bills/hr9019/BILLS-119hr9019ih.pdf" target="_blank">resource consumption, https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/4727?hl=%22Data+center%22+%22data+centers%22&s=2&r=1" target="_blank">environmental ramifications and the https://www.congress.gov/119/bills/hr7858/BILLS-119hr7858ih.pdf" target="_blank">effects on communities of color.

• Several proposals aim to protect consumers from https://www.congress.gov/119/bills/hr8241/BILLS-119hr8241ih.pdf" target="_blank">any energy https://www.congress.gov/119/bills/sconres30/BILLS-119sconres30is.pdf" target="_blank">cost spikes that result from data center production.
• Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has https://www.congress.gov/119/bills/s4214/BILLS-119s4214is.pdf" target="_blank">introduced a bill to impose an outright moratorium on new data center construction "until legislation is enacted that safeguards the public from the dangers of artificial intelligence."

What they're saying: "We should never let billion-dollar corporations supersede the voices of those who live in the community," Bresnahan, one of Republicans' most endangered incumbents, said in statement.

• "The people who live here, work here, and raise their families here are the ones who know what's best for our communities."

Reality check: The prospect of any of these bills passing is slim — Congress has notoriously made scant progress in passing any guardrails on AI.

• And as Axios previously reported, AI and AI-adjacent companies are https://www.axios.com/2026/05/29/ai-cryptocurrency-aipac-house-elections-2026" target="_blank">spending big through super PACs in the 2026 midterms to curry favor with sitting lawmakers and get allies elected to Congress.