A Community Rejected the Build of a US$100 Billion Data Center

[harryopal1]

I went to the remote asbestos mining town of Wittenoom in Western Australia about 55 years ago. The town is now drelict and there is a ban on anyone living there. At the time I went there they were using the soft dust tailings from the mine in the local school playground so that it would be soft if children fell over. I recall TV advertisements from those days when it was being spruiked as a great material for the DIY handyman and it had a clip of a fellow sawing an asbestos board and you could see the dust floating as the saw cut through the material. Melbourne trains used to have asbestos for insulation. As panels rusted, the carriages went to workshops where workmen pulled off the panels in clouds of asbestos dust. James Hardie, the biggest company dealing with the product fought tooth and nail against compensation for workers with mesotheliomona. When courts ruled that compensation had to be paid, the company set up an inadequate fund and moved the company off shore to try and avoid further penalties.

 

[Balifrog]

Does the French navy still use asbestos in its ships?

Prohibited since 1997. Global ban for use or import of asbestos in France.

 

[marcus]

... PJM Interconnection, the operator of the largest U.S. electric grid serving 13 states and Washington, D.C., is facing rising pressure as power-hungry data centers push electricity demand beyond the pace of new supply...

With PJM power prices rising 76% in the first quarter due to strong data-center demand, investors may view the widening supply imbalance as an important factor for the utility, power-generation and grid-infrastructure sectors (https://www.gurufocus.com/news/8959...billion-as-data-centers-drive-63-billion-cost - Jul 2026)

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Thailand Plans Higher Power Tariffs for Data Center Owners (Bloomberg , Jul 2026)

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New York became the first U.S. state on Tuesday to halt construction of large new data centers, imposing a one-year moratorium as concerns grow that the facilities driving the artificial-intelligence boom are raising power costs, straining water ‌supplies and burdening local communities... (https://www.reuters.com/world/new-york-becomes-first-state-impose-data-center-moratorium-2026-07-14/)

From https://www.techradar.com/pro/virgi...eds-of-millions-of-dollars-for-everyday-users

Virginia (US State) cracks down on electricity firms hiking prices for AI data centers — move could save ‘hundreds of millions of dollars’ for everyday users​

By Efosa Udinmwen , Aug 2026