Not long ago, we had a case of money in an envelope in books among us, with reports of moving influences in favor of building a data center thrown into the mix.
This comes in connection with an issue that has been uniting Republicans and Democrats, in local communities, from states of one political tendency and another. And that will be decisive in the elections midterm approaching, in the USA.
Hundreds of local communities have vetoed the construction of new data centers in their region. Several governors and candidates support a moratorium, while the regulatory framework does not ensure that the potential benefits will be shared with the populations.
What are these citizenship movements perceiving, as well as certain North American politicians – despite Trump’s efforts to torpedo them -, to which Portuguese politicians and citizens are not yet sensitive?
First, a philosophical question. These data centers are maintained by the world’s largest technology companies, in the hands of a handful (literally) of owners. All winnings go to this handful. They want data centers, getting bigger and bigger, to train their AI models to replace human beings.
Second, the promises of employment did not materialize. Along with some jobs for electricians and security guards, these data centers have not contributed to qualifying local jobs or generating them in large quantities.
Third, these centers are consumers of resources (electricity and water) at the level of a new medium-sized city. They are direct and indirect polluters of the air and landscape. To be supplied, they require the construction of new energy production plants, whose investments will be paid for through taxes and higher prices for consumers.
They aim to destroy jobs, replaced by AI. They don’t pay taxes. They benefit from tax exemptions and subsidized prices for the energy and water they consume. They generate little local employment, destroy public resources (air, water and landscape) and involve new plants (fossil fuel or nuclear) that ensure energy without interruptions. They generate very little added value in a local economy, whose resources (and tax money) would be better used in another, more efficient way.
We are not talking about providing more and better energy to local residents and businesses. Either lower prices or more stable supplies. Quite the opposite.
In Portugal, for now, the debate remains absent.
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