FSTV presents The Class Room | DataCenters
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6 seconds
Hi and welcome to The Classroom, an investigative series from Free Speech [music] TV and More Perfect Union. I'm13 seconds
Mark
Winston Griffith. In The Classroom, reporters from More Perfect Union
examine the [music] corporate forces shaping today's economy to better22 seconds
understand
why it's so damn hard for regular folks to catch a break. With the
recent news about artificial intelligence, [music] you may have heard30 seconds
that data centers that power AI require enormous amounts of electricity and water. In this episode [music] of The37 seconds
Classroom,
producer Dan Lieberman talks to the neighbors of some of these monster
facilities and reveals the impact of these data centers on the46 seconds
physical and social well-being of surrounding communities. Let's join Dan now in Georgia to hear what he's learned.56 seconds
This is my cold water pressure in the kitchen.1 minute, 3 seconds
This is where I fill up water for storage. Those are the things we have to fill up to flush the toilets.1 minute, 9 seconds
So, you can see the sediment from the data center.1 minute, 13 seconds
Wow. And that's just from the water coming out of your faucet. Yeah. And this is what's in all pipes.1 minute, 20 seconds
Just the well itself is probably 20,000.1 minute, 23 seconds
And
that's not counting any of the all the replacement of the fixtures and
faucets and toilets and the lines that come underneath the house. It's1 minute, 32 seconds
overwhelming because you you really feel like you are up against this huge wall that you can't penetrate.1 minute, 43 seconds
There's nothing that that you can do and they don't care.1 minute, 49 seconds
I'm here in Mansfield, Georgia, driving by Meta's new 2 million square foot data center facility. Facilities like this1 minute, 56 seconds
are being used to power things like chat GBT and other AI tools that are becoming integrated into our daily life.2 minutes, 4 seconds
Data centers going to be a very hot item. This entire supercomput is built to power [music] groth.2 minutes, 10 seconds
We see data centers as the most exciting asset class. Meta is building a 2 gawatt plus data center that is so large it2 minutes, 17 seconds
would cover a significant part of Manhattan. But data centers come with big costs.2 minutes, 24 seconds
From
light and noise pollution to the environmental impacts [music] to the
potential rising costs of energy bills, these facilities put
extraordinary2 minutes, 33 seconds
demand on the power grid and require [music] entirely new infrastructure.2 minutes, 42 seconds
Oh my god. They should be responsible for that, not us.2 minutes, 46 seconds
Search the internet for [music] profits that Meta has made, Amazon, Microsoft.2 minutes, 51 seconds
They can afford to pay for their own generation. We came to Georgia to ask two questions.2 minutes, 56 seconds
What's the true cost of the AI revolution? And who should be paying for it?3 minutes, 4 seconds
Your house is here and the data center is right there. It's less than 400 yards.3 minutes, 11 seconds
Beverly
and Jeff Morris bought their home an hour's drive from downtown Atlanta
in 2016, but their roots in the community run much deeper.3 minutes, 19 seconds
Being in the country has always just been my peace [music] and my therapy.3 minutes, 24 seconds
When we found this place, we decided that this was it. It [music] was perfect.3 minutes, 29 seconds
I
was actually raised probably 5 miles from here. Felt like coming
[music] home. The data center that's now the Morris's nextdoor neighbor
happens to be3 minutes, 37 seconds
owned
by Meta, the company you know for Facebook and [music] Instagram, but
has also been breaking into artificial intelligence. They started
construction3 minutes, 45 seconds
on this data center campus in [music] 2018.3 minutes, 49 seconds
Definitely
changed everything. They destroyed the environment, [music] taken down
all the trees across the road. Beautiful pines and beautiful forest.3 minutes, 57 seconds
The
light pollution is We don't have to have a nightlight in the house. You
can walk around the house at night, see everything. It's that pride.4 minutes, 8 seconds
This is a video of the dust from Facebook where the construction was.4 minutes, 12 seconds
What it looks like right now out my front door. The wind blowing in all of this stuff4 minutes, 19 seconds
from across the construction across the road.4 minutes, 22 seconds
This is all from Yeah. I was standing on my front porch.4 minutes, 28 seconds
I think eventually that affected our wellwater. We're on a whale here and we started having issues with our well in4 minutes, 36 seconds
2018.
I have to replace the hot water heater. I've replaced two washing
machines and a dishwasher because of the sediment that's coming in.4 minutes, 45 seconds
A
lot of what the Morrises are facing is from the polluting effects of
this massive construction. But that's only one part of the story. There
are serious4 minutes, 53 seconds
costs
to communities once data centers are operational, too. To explain that,
we have to back up for a second. I wouldn't blame you if you were
asking5 minutes, 1 second
yourself, "What [music] the heck is a data center?" Anyway, their origins date back to early clunky supercomputers or5 minutes, 8 seconds
mainframes
in the 1950s and60s. And then in the '9s, with the birth of the
internet, the modern data center was born [music] as a way for internet5 minutes, 15 seconds
providers
to connect businesses and the world to the web. In the 2010s, data
centers became larger as they became [music] critical to new cloud
storage5 minutes, 24 seconds
to
the cloud. With the cloud, we share a sync photo that allows us to all
work on the same documents. Everything from your pet photos to entire
workplaces to files5 minutes, 32 seconds
for
video streaming like this video you're watching right now. We're in the
cloud. Today, we are in [music] the midst of a tectonic shift in
processing5 minutes, 41 seconds
needs as large as the birth of the internet. Artificial intelligence,5 minutes, 44 seconds
[music]5 minutes, 45 seconds
a transformational moment for data center demand.5 minutes, 49 seconds
But
the thing is, AI [music] processing demands are much larger. One report
showed that a Google search using a chat GBT- like [music] AI feature
used 305 minutes, 58 seconds
times as much power as a normal Google search. In the next 3 years, data center use of electricity is expected to double6 minutes, 6 seconds
or even triple. And the state of Georgia has the fastest data center growth in the entire country.6 minutes, 11 seconds
The
two biggest reasons data centers come to Georgia are that electricity
rates for industrials, which is the class that they're in, are 42% below
the6 minutes, 20 seconds
national
average. And the second biggest one, our data center tax breaks. They
received over $180 million in tax breaks last year.6 minutes, 29 seconds
The week we were in Georgia, a showdown was happening at the state capital over two bills tied to data centers.6 minutes, 35 seconds
Senator Huffler had proposed two different bills. And one of them was SB34, which was the data centers bill to6 minutes, 42 seconds
move the burden of the operational costs of data centers from rateayers to the data centers themselves. And what is SP94?6 minutes, 51 seconds
That is the Consumer Utility Council, a legal advocate for rateayers and small businesses.6 minutes, 58 seconds
Bills
like these are the result of mounting residential anger and the work of
dedicated advocates across the state like Diana Deetsz who lives 50
miles7 minutes, 6 seconds
away from the capital [music] in Faget County.7 minutes, 8 seconds
This is a huge industrial project plucked in a residential area. This was7 minutes, 14 seconds
the original plan, 122 acres, and then the development authority got involved.7 minutes, 21 seconds
In 2022, officials in Faget County voted to annex and reszone an additional 412 acres for a data center campus.7 minutes, 30 seconds
Fagetville's city council voted 5 to zero in favor of the development despite [music] passionate opposition from some7 minutes, 37 seconds
local residents. The site was then purchased by QTS, which is owned by Blackstone, for $153.8 million.7 minutes, 45 seconds
These speculators, investors [music] are secretly buying up land right next to homeowners. And [music] it7 minutes, 54 seconds
was all done so that when we all went to the four public hearings between the county and the city, [music] it was a8 minutes, 3 seconds
done deal. This is the one that's currently under construction. And this is where Gan and Joe are.8 minutes, 11 seconds
Gan and Joe Marshall live on the edge of Fagetville in Faget County on an 8 acre property.8 minutes, 16 seconds
This driveway is almost the line for Fyet County versus Fagetville where QTS's um property is located.8 minutes, 26 seconds
We have absolutely no say in anything that happens over here. Despite their vocal opposition to the project, living8 minutes, 34 seconds
next to construction on all sides of their home has become their daily reality for the last 2 [music] years.8 minutes, 40 seconds
They do nightly pores over here and in the back park at the other building. The lights are shining and there is noise 28 minutes, 48 seconds
3:00 in the morning, 4:00 in the morning. So, they don't stop. Oh, yeah. Sure.8 minutes, 53 seconds
We
went to visit Nikki Vanderlice who heads up the Faget County Economic
Development Authority, a non-governmental agency that played a9 minutes, 1 second
central role in the marketing of the land for data center development.9 minutes, 5 seconds
For residents [music] who live alongside these data centers, life has become very difficult. [music] What do you say to them?9 minutes, 13 seconds
Well,
I I say to them that there's a couple of things. One, we were very
transparent. The development authority was very open about attracting a
data9 minutes, 22 seconds
center and there wasn't any resistance until it came to their property specifically.9 minutes, 26 seconds
Vanderlice says data centers are good for the community even if some don't see the benefits yet.9 minutes, 32 seconds
In 2021 that property paid $36,000 in property taxes total.9 minutes, 39 seconds
In 2024 on raw land it paid $1.13 million in property taxes. that9 minutes, 45 seconds
contributed $760,000 to our local board of education. I'm apologetic that they're being impacted, but I also see9 minutes, 53 seconds
the
benefits of what the companies are doing and how they're how they're
improving our economy. And so there's the balance that when you have,
you10 minutes
know, 200 out of 120,000 people that you have to balance what's what's the highest and best use for the whole of10 minutes, 8 seconds
the community. It's just the height of selfishness to imagine that one county's benefit to the huge detriment of 15810 minutes, 16 seconds
other counties in Georgia that now have to pay higher electric bills is okay.10 minutes, 20 seconds
It's not okay. It drives inequity. It's very immoral, too.10 minutes, 24 seconds
That's
Patty Durant. And as you can tell, she does not agree with Nikki
Vanderlice. Patty is a longtime consumer advocate and expert on energy
policy10 minutes, 33 seconds
who's been raising the alarm about rising costs of electricity related to data centers. Are data centers going to10 minutes, 39 seconds
drive up energy costs for residents across the state?10 minutes, 44 seconds
On
May 1st, Georgia Power residential rate payers experienced a 24% rate
increase. Just since 2023, Georgia Power has raised rates six times.10 minutes, 56 seconds
And
related to those rate hikes, remember those two bills we mentioned
earlier? We were with Patty as she was watching a live feed of the
Senate11 minutes, 4 seconds
floor. Today is crossover day, which means any bill that does not get through one side of the House or the Senate to11 minutes, 11 seconds
[music] the other side is dead for the year. And right now, Senate Bill 34 is not on that list.11 minutes, 16 seconds
By later that evening, both bills had failed to get a vote. As disappointed and angry as Patty was, she wasn't too surprised.11 minutes, 24 seconds
Georgia
legislators are getting soaked with money from Georgia powers. Was that
a conflict of interest? Absolutely. It is clearly corrupting.11 minutes, 32 seconds
[music]
This is the highest paid utility CEOs in the country. Why is the
poorest region in the country paying the most to our CEOs?11 minutes, 42 seconds
$23 million, $33 million.11 minutes, 44 seconds
It's ridiculous how much money they make.11 minutes, 47 seconds
Our
time in Georgia is crucial to understanding what's happening all across
the country because the growth of data centers is not slowing down
anytime11 minutes, 55 seconds
soon. And tech billionaires have already been complaining about the amount of red tape involved in powering this growth.12 minutes, 2 seconds
getting energy permitted is like a very heavily regulated government function.12 minutes, 8 seconds
And
if you're talking about building large new power plants or large
buildouts, that is just a heavily regulated thing. The regulatory body
in12 minutes, 17 seconds
question
is the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, also known as FK, an
independent and historically nonpartisan agency that regulates12 minutes, 25 seconds
interstate
transmission of electricity, natural gas, and oil. But just last month,
President Trump signed an executive order placing FK under White12 minutes, 34 seconds
House control. And he's been boasting about his ability to fasttrack [music] new projects.12 minutes, 39 seconds
We're
going to give very rapid approvals in the United States. Like with the
AI plans under emergency declaration, I can get the approvals done
myself without having to go through years of waiting.12 minutes, 50 seconds
With
this alliance between the federal government, Silicon Valley, and
utility monopolies, who's looking out for regular Americans like the
Morrises?12 minutes, 58 seconds
During the peak season, our electric bill was maybe 250. Yeah. Yeah. And now it's probably 400.13 minutes, 6 seconds
Your electricity bill has doubled. Wow. It's been a struggle.13 minutes, 11 seconds
Every
month it's a struggle. Jeff would like to retire, but he keeps working
because we have to pay our bills. Do you think that people should have
to pay more because of data centers?13 minutes, 22 seconds
No,
absolutely not. They should pay for that difference. It's hard enough
for a regular person to pay their electric bill as it is. I don't think
that's right at all.13 minutes, 32 seconds
We
reached out to the big tech companies, including Meta and QTS, asking
for an interview and a tour of their facilities, but both declined to
participate in the story.13 minutes, 42 seconds
Duran
says despite the bill's failure, the fight will go on. A number of
other states have similar bills up for debate right now.13 minutes, 50 seconds
The
reason I think other states should pass it, whether we do or not, is
that data centers could possibly come to their state next. There needs
to be13 minutes, 58 seconds
legislation to protect them because by all accounts, data center growth is going to be very fast.14 minutes, 6 seconds
So, I'm here with Chai Dingari, the director of More Perfect unions, the classroom series. Thanks for being with us, Chai.14 minutes, 13 seconds
Thank you so much for having me.14 minutes, 16 seconds
Chai, it's it's bad enough that data centers are environmental resource hogs, but the fact that we as taxpayers and14 minutes, 23 seconds
residents
carry the cost of this corporate pillillage of our communities, it
feels like it should be well feels like it should be against the law. Do
you have any update on this report?14 minutes, 35 seconds
Yeah,
this uh this story was quite eye opening for me too. And as you said
that the impact is that working-class people are paying higher costs for
electricity.14 minutes, 45 seconds
There's
also harms as as we saw in this video about from construction of data
centers. So I have a couple updates. Um our video actually went viral on
Twitter14 minutes, 54 seconds
and
YouTube as this seems to be an issue that a lot of people are outraged
about as data centers are popping up in communities all across the
country. Um15 minutes, 2 seconds
after our video went viral, Meta the company actually saw our video. Um, they reached out and sent representatives to15 minutes, 10 seconds
the
home of Beverly Morris, the woman who we interviewed in the beginning
of the video, who lives 400 yards from a meta data center in Mansfield,
Georgia.15 minutes, 20 seconds
Um,
now they sent representatives to her home um and and expressed that
they wanted to be a good neighbor. She claims that they actually had
never reached out15 minutes, 29 seconds
to her before this until our video. Um, she's been living there for seven years.15 minutes, 33 seconds
Uh
when we spoke to Meta, they told us that they still believe that they
weren't responsible for the issues that she was facing with her water.
Um but15 minutes, 40 seconds
they
gave us a statement saying that being good neighbors is a top priority
for Meta in all communities where we operate. They take community
feedback15 minutes, 48 seconds
seriously,
they say, and they continue to work to address concerns raised by local
residents, but so far Beverly isn't convinced that they're going to
actually help her and in her situation.15 minutes, 59 seconds
Um,
as for the cost that working-class people are paying, the bills that we
covered in the video in Georgia did fail, as we showed in the video,
but16 minutes, 8 seconds
other states are proposing legislation as well. Oregon actually just passed a a bill called the Power Act, which will16 minutes, 15 seconds
require
data centers in that state to pay a higher rate for the massive amount
of electricity they use instead of passing on the burden to customers
and16 minutes, 23 seconds
working-class
people that live in the state. Um, so we're continuing to report on
this issue as data centers pop up all over the country and we're hoping
to16 minutes, 31 seconds
track this uh over the next few years as the AI revolution uh continues and companies not only Meta but Google,16 minutes, 39 seconds
OpenAI, Apple, Microsoft continue to build data centers and are are lobbying to, you know, um get their way and pay16 minutes, 47 seconds
as little as possible uh while they reap all the rewards of the this technology.16 minutes, 54 seconds
Wow.
That's actually a little bit of good news considering everything else
that's going on in the world. So, so thanks [music] you. Thank you for
that,17 minutes
Chai.
And and thank you for your impact activist journalism. Clearly, it's
it's making [music] a difference. And thanks to everyone here for
attending class.17 minutes, 11 seconds
More classroom lessons are coming soon to Free Speech TV. In the meantime, stay curious and stay active.
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