Georgia is quickly becoming a case study in what happens when state and local leadership put corporate interests over the health and well-being of its own constituents.
Across the state, a battle is taking shape between our communities and speculative infrastructure that’s left residents increasingly frustrated.
Georgia has one of the highest concentrations of data centers in the country, and their growth shows no sign of slowing. This expansion comes at a particularly dangerous moment.
We recently faced a severe drought, with the Georgia Environmental Protection Division declaring a Level 1 drought response as some of the most destructive wildfires in state history burned.
At a time when water resources are already under strain, they are being further stressed by data centers, which consume millions of gallons of water and vast amounts of electricity each day.
Understand the environmental impact and harms
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
More than 944,000 Georgia children are already breathing unhealthy air, according to the American Lung Association. Expanding one of the most energy-intensive industries in the country risks making these conditions even worse.
Georgia Power has projected the need for an additional 10,000 megawatts (MW) of capacity — enough to power roughly four million homes. Meeting that demand will guarantee years of higher emissions and environmental strain, with the costs ultimately falling on residents.
A independent study by EmPower Analytics Group LLC on Virginia underscores the stakes: A single 135 MW data center in Loudoun County was estimated to generate up to $99 million annually in health-related damages, driven by premature deaths, respiratory illnesses like asthma and cardiovascular disease. Georgia is now pursuing data center expansion on a far larger scale, raising serious concerns about the cumulative public health impact.
Gov. Brian Kemp may have declared a state of emergency to ensure our safety from wildfires, but the long-term strain posed by this resource-intensive industry raises equally urgent questions.
Georgia should also consider declaring a state of emergency on new data center permitting until the full environmental and public health impacts are better understood. Given the scale of potential consequences, the case for such an order is strong.
Despite widespread public concern, the state’s response has been marked by inaction and deference to corporate interests. more by deference to industry than by caution. Thousands of residents have called for basic safeguards like statewide bans, consumer protections, and other common-sense guardrails that would give communities a say in how and where these projects are built. Those calls have gone largely unanswered.
Lawmakers are favoring the industry over citizens
Credit: (Ben Gray for the AJC)
Credit: (Ben Gray for the AJC)
During the Georgia General Assembly’s 2026 regular legislative session, lawmakers introduced 20 bills addressing data center development, but not a single one made it to the governor’s desk. Instead, state leaders continued providing incentives for developers, handing out an estimated $2.5 billion in tax breaks for data center projects in 2026 alone.
(Editor’s note: In 2026, the state Senate passed a repeal of the incentives through Senate Bill 410, but the House did not approve it).
These subsidies come with no guarantee of meaningful economic return. After the South was labeled by the Southern Environmental Law Center as “ground zero” for data center expansion, Georgia finds itself in a familiar position: with little oversight and even less accountability.
This is not responsible governance. Development should never come at the expense of public health, environmental stability, and community trust. Leadership requires the ability to set limits when communities are at risk. Right now, that responsibility is being ignored.
Ignoring constituents carries consequences. In Independence, Missouri, voters removed every city council incumbent who supported a $6 billion data center project despite major opposition. The outcome was clear: when leaders fail to listen, voters hold them accountable.
What’s happening in Georgia is not inevitable. It reflects deliberate choices about whose voices are heard. At present, those choices favor industry over citizens. That can change, but only if elected leaders are willing to act.
Georgia needs a more measured path forward. That begins with leadership that listens to constituents and prioritizes their well-being first. It includes a pause on data center and electricity grid expansion until we can better understand their full range of unintended consequences — insights that can be gained through environmental impact studies, rigorous analyses of water consumption and access to clean, reliable drinking water and comprehensive human health assessments.
Above all, it requires renewed attention to Georgia’s most precious resources: its children. They will bear the consequences of today’s decisions in the form of air quality, noise and overall health.
Do they need more industrial strain from artificial intelligence (AI), more pollution and more risk added to an already fragile system? State leaders must decide whether they are willing to protect their future — or trade it away.
Cyndie Roberson, MSN, a retired registered nurse and community advocate, is a member of the Georgia Data Center Community Coalition and a board member of the National Coalition Against Cryptomining.
Send letters to the editor of 250 words or fewer with your name, city or town and contact information to letters@ajc.com.
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