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

 

[marcus]

... data centers being blocked (in USA) by local groups and politicians have a combined value of$200 billion (according Gizmodo). The Information says 500 data centers have been delayed this year ... data center investments could reach $10 trillion in the next 3 years ...

Apollo recently told CNBC regarding credit default swaps, "Corporate debt issued by the giant cloud computing players powering the AI boom is getting riskier."

There are two risks. One is that AI will not create explosive revenue growth. That means some data center capacity will go unused and not create revenue to pay for the infrastructure. The other is delays for data centers already designed and partially paid for ...
(https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/ai/articles/oracle-collapse-200-billion-data-131607272.html)

 

[pantaiema]

... data centers being blocked (in USA) by local groups and politicians have a combined value of$200 billion (according Gizmodo). The Information says 500 data centers have been delayed this year ... data center investments could reach $10 trillion in the next 3 years ...

Apollo recently told CNBC regarding credit default swaps, "Corporate debt issued by the giant cloud computing players powering the AI boom is getting riskier."

There are two risks. One is that AI will not create explosive revenue growth. That means some data center capacity will go unused and not create revenue to pay for the infrastructure. The other is delays for data centers already designed and partially paid for ...
(https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/ai/articles/oracle-collapse-200-billion-data-131607272.html)

Unlike risk-free assets such as treasury bonds, gilts, saving account guaranteed by the government scheme; The equity investments will always carry risks that must be carefully examined. In the AI data centre sector, for example, the most prominent threats are political and regulatory, including activist disruptions, zoning restrictions, or sudden shifts in government policy. Sensible investors will always price these factors into their risk vs reward evaluation. Also prudent investor recognise that this 'gravy train' will not continue indefinitely. Like in economy there is a period of boom and bust. Analysts such as from Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, expect this gravy train will last until at least 2027/2028 before it starts to decelerate.

https://www.briefs.co/news/goldman-says-hyperscaler-ai-spend-could-jump-to-1-2-trillion/

Morgan Stanley Says AI Data Centers Face a 38-Gigawatt Power Gap. These Industrial Stocks Fill It. | The Motley Fool

AI's biggest bottleneck could be an industrial opportunity.

www.fool.com

Also there is a strong counterargument to the article written by the financial journalist Douglas A. McIntyre above. Many data centre projects currently under construction have already secured full regulatory approval. If authorities attempt to halt these permitted projects, they expose themselves to significant financial liability. It is important to note that the cases being discussed are in developed nations, not emerging markets like Indonesia were legal outcomes could be highly unpredictable. In developed legal systems, if a government attempts to retroactively cancel a project and the matter goes to court, they are highly likely to be ordered to compensate the company for lost revenue.

Also remember that this financial risk is heavily mitigated by massive Remaining Performance Obligations (RPOs), such as purchase commitment backlogs. In the AI data centre and cloud infrastructure space, these RPO represent legally binding, multi-year financial agreements made by clients to secure future capacity, power, and hardware.