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US residents angry at datacenters ‘being shoved down our throats’ are recalling officials
(www.theguardian.com)
When companies try to build new ones, industry analysts say they frequently do so clandestinely without revealing which tech firm would use the facilities. Researchers found that among 31 Virginia localities with existing, approved or proposed datacenters, 80% had non-disclosure agreements with the companies behind the projects, the Virginia Mercury reports
There's an old adage from the 1980s:
California passes new laws regulating the pollutant output of motor vehicles in order to protect the Los Angeles valley. (The smog there routinely posed a dangerous health risk, and probably still does. Cars have since been required to pass smog checks.)
The automotive industry of Japan responded by hiring 30,000 scientists to develop less pollutant cars.
The automotive industry of the United States responded by hiring 30,000 lawyers to contest the new regulation.
(It's a simplification, but the gist of it is based on fact. Eventually the US automotive industry would switch over to Non-Passenger Work Vehicles, id est, SUVs which were not regulated by the California laws. In 2026, 90% of active personal vehicles in the US qualify as NPWVs.)