The Next Manufactured Panic: Why Data Centers Aren't the Enemy

 

In my lifetime, the establishment has always demanded that we live in terror of the next manufactured catastrophe. First, it was the terror of nuclear war. Then it was nuclear energy. Then global cooling, then foreign terrorism, then global warming, then COVID, then carbon dioxide. And now, right on schedule, the newest boogeyman has arrived: data centers.

Is there a pattern here? Whenever human enterprise expands, fear is weaponized to halt production, strangle self-determination, and impose top-down control.

Technology has elevated the quality and extended the reach of human life.

Yes, data centers are resource-intensive. But so is every great undertaking in human history. Mills, foundries, railroads, and power plants all required tremendous energy. Productive civilizations do not fear consuming power; they build the capacity to generate it.

They cry about water consumption, ignoring the engineering reality right in front of them. Modern data centers can be built with closed-loop cooling systems that recycle their water rather than consuming millions of gallons daily. Many already operate this way. In Memphis, xAI's Colossus facilities utilizes less water than the leaky faucets and running toilets across Memphis area combined.

For decades, regulatory bureaucrats at the EPA and pseudo-environmentalists have systematically choked off our most reliable energy sources. They strangled the American nuclear industry in its cradle. Had we built out reliable nuclear power over the last forty years, our nation would today enjoy between 100 and 200 gigawatts of slack capacity on the grid. The problem is not that our machines require electricity; the problem is that our managerial class stopped building the infrastructure to provide it.

Right here in our region, Memphis Light, Gas and Water already quietly powers sixteen data centers, ranging from small facilities under a single megawatt up to major installations drawing 150 megawatts. These operations integrate into existing power lines and infrastructure every single week without bringing down the sky.

If an enterprise wants to invest in Fayette County, whether a modest local operation or a substantial facility utilizing existing TVA transmission lines, we should view it with practical sense rather than blind hysteria.

It comes down to basic principles: property rights, economic vitality, and courage over fear. If a man owns land, why shouldn't he have the liberty to develop it productively when it harms no one? We must reject the endless cycle of manufactured panic. It is time to champion industry, unleash our energy potential, defend local property rights, and let productive enterprise build the future.