SACRAMENTO – Gov. Gavin Newsom opposed legislation that would require proposed data centers to provide estimates of their water use over the past year, saying he was “reluctant to enforce strong reporting requirements” without understanding the impact on businesses and consumers.
Opposition to the big tech sites and their massive drain on water, energy and land has grown across the region and nation since then. In just a few months, Newsom finds himself in political trouble again.
Several bills to regulate the facilities and increase public visibility of their impacts are underway in the California Legislature, which could create a dilemma for the governor who has long been associated with the technology industry but also paints himself as an advocate of environmental and social justice.
“I think the governor is in a fragile position,” said Megan Mullin, a professor of public policy at UCLA. “Tech has been supporting him for a long time, but at the same time there's this growing national outcry against data centers.”
Data centers have been around for decades but are expanding rapidly due to the rise of artificial intelligence around the world. The new facilities built to enable AI are much larger than their original counterparts and require more water and energy.
Institutions also have an impact on fuel emissions, according to Cornell University researchers estimate last year that AI growth could add 24 to 44 million tons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere annually by 2030. a range of health conditionsincluding asthma, various cancers and birth defects.
Environmental Protection Agency Director Lee Zeldin announced last week that the Trump administration will not set national environmental requirements or recommendations for the data center industry, leaving it up to state lawmakers to determine the best policies.
Thad Kousser, a political science professor at UC San Diego, said the country may be looking to the Golden State for guidance.
“California's laws will create a national model,” he said. “We're the home of Silicon Valley and we're a great region – how we manage data centers will set the tone.”
The political climate surrounding data centers has changed since Newsom's veto in October, said Dan Schnur, a political science professor who teaches at UC Berkeley and USC.
“Nobody should think they're going to act the same way,” Schnur said. “Newsom is an incredibly experienced politician so he knows very well that voters are more upset or more concerned about data centers than they were last year.”
A Gallup poll has been released last month found 7 out of 10 Americans oppose building data centers in their area.
Utilities can create thousands of jobs for construction workers and generate significant revenue for local governments through sales and property taxes. Artificial intelligence is in power and – at least temporarily – boosts the stock market, which leads more tax dollars in California.
But residents who live near the hyperscale facilities have expressed outrage over a number of issues, including health implicationsspiking resource debtsalways noiseto fall water pressure and worry about the possibility losing their land by using a prominent domain. Meanwhile, public meetings about data centers are increasingly controversial, with the police to bind the farmer in oklahoma, three women in Wisconsin with a man in California.
Earlier this month, Monterey Park residents voted overwhelmingly to ban data centers, making the San Gabriel Valley city the first in the nation to do so by public vote.
“Six months ago, politicians from both parties were falling all over themselves to bring data centers to their states,” Schnur said. “Since there has been a social backlash, they are also working hard distance themselves from these projects. “
As Newsom eyes a presidential bid in 2028, he may be reluctant to portray himself as a defender of an increasingly unpopular industry.
But Schnur said the governor may also be concerned about upsetting one of his biggest supporters.
“The tech community is an important part of Newsom's donors, so he has to keep fundraising in mind when making these decisions,” Schnur said.
A spokeswoman for the governor's office declined to comment on the data centers or pending legislation.
Newsom, during an interview at the Center for American Progress conference in May, said the concern that data centers could raise electricity costs for Californians is “a legitimate issue,” but not a big one.
“The tech genie will not go back into the bottle,” Newsom said. “Simply saying you shouldn't or can't build a data center won't slow down this technology. It will, it will. It's the nature of technology. So we have to manage it and not make the same mistakes we made with social media.”
Among the measures in the Legislature are two bills from Sen. Steve Padilla (D-San Diego). Data for SB886 would create a business tax to cover the cost of grid development related to the data center. Data for SB887 will prevent data centers from receiving ministerial exemptions from California Environmental Quality Actknown as CEQA.
Neither bill received Republican support, but both cleared the Senate and were recently referred to the House Appropriations and Energy Committee.
Padilla represents Imperial County, a farming community near the Mexican border there 950,000 programs–square–foot data center they faced stiff resistance from the citizens. The county disagrees with the proposal in CEQA, which requires projects to undergo extensive environmental reviews before they can be approved.
The city of Imperial sued the county earlier this year, saying the project should not have received an exemption.. The San Diego Chapter of the Sierra Club joined the lawsuit last month. The county's board of supervisors last week approved a 45-day moratorium on all new data centers to allow the county to evaluate the proposed data center development.
Two other data center-related bills recently passed the Assembly, each with the support of several Republicans. Now they await action from the Senate.
AB 2619 from Assembly Member Diane Papan (D-San Mateo) would require data center owners to provide an estimate under penalty of lying about expected water use and wells before applying for a business license. AB 1577 from Assemblywoman Rebecca Bauer-Kahan (D-Orinda) would require data center owners to submit monthly information to the state commission on water and fuel usage.
Ben Green, an assistant professor of public policy at the University of Michigan who studies how data centers affect communities, said the reporting requirements are “empty” legislation, making it all the more remarkable that Newsom voted for a similar measure last year.
In comparison, a few states have more restrictive debt burdens — New York most recently he sent the law on the governor's desk that will enact a one-year moratorium.
“It seems like there was a lot of recruiting pressure he was getting,” Green said. “The tech industry doesn't want to have limitations.”
Green said data centers could be a hot topic in the upcoming election, as Americans on both sides of the aisle are expressing valid concerns.
“There is no easy plan to get the public on board with data centers because their criticisms are based on reality,” he said. “This is not just some kind of NIMBY-ism or pearl-clutching.”
