Environmental activist Erin Brockovich has a new mission: to increase transparency about data center construction and the impact those data centers have on nearby communities.
Brockovich, famous for his portrayal by Julia Roberts in the film dramatizing the legal case against Pacific Gas & Electric, recently launched a website with a map of data centers across the United States.
The website describes the map, which includes data centers reported by surrounding community members, as a “work in progress.” In a Substack post, Brockovich said that after soliciting reports on data center-related issues in April, he received nearly 4,000 submissions in the first month alone.
“The most common concerns – noise, water usage, rising utility bills – are the one word that keeps appearing in submission after submission. transparency” she wrote.
Brockovich added that he’s not making sweeping claims about data centers or AI, but rather objects to “patterns in our guidance documents: projects announced after permits have already been secured, developers not returning calls, local officials signing NDAs before neighbors know a project is being considered.”
