Bipartisan Backlash: Why Little Rock Is Fighting Two Massive Data Centres

Key points

• Proposed hyperscale data centres, warehouse-sized buildings packed with computer servers that run AI services, are facing organised opposition in cities across the United States.
• Critics in Little Rock, Arkansas, say the projects threaten Black-owned rural land and use excessive amounts of water and electricity.
• The backlash is bipartisan: residents on the far left and the far right oppose the projects for different but overlapping reasons.
• Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott Jr describes the unusual coalition as "the far left and the far right ran into each other and had a hug."

Data centres do not look like much from the outside. Big, low, windowless buildings on a lot of land. Inside, though, thousands of specialised computer chips run around the clock, crunching calculations that make AI tools like ChatGPT work. They drink electricity and water by the bucketload, and right now somebody wants to build two of them near Little Rock, Arkansas.

Locals are not happy.

What are people actually worried about?

The concerns split into two camps: the environment and the land. Data centres demand enormous amounts of electricity to run and water to cool their servers, and critics fear that load will strain local infrastructure and drive up bills for ordinary residents.

The land argument cuts deeper. Opponents have called the projects "real redlining," a reference to the historic practice of blocking Black communities from economic opportunity, applied here to the seizure of rural, Black-owned land for industrial use. That framing has landed hard in a city with a well-documented history of racial inequality.

As reported by The Guardian, the opposition crosses political lines in a way that rarely happens anymore. Mayor Frank Scott Jr put it plainly: "I would say it's kind of the far left and the far right ran into each other and had a hug. But they come at it from different perspectives."

Environmentalists worry about carbon footprints and water tables. Conservatives worry about outside corporations swallowing local land. Both are saying no.

Is Little Rock an isolated case?

Far from it. We reported on 6 August 2026 that a unanimous vote in Hernando County, Florida to halt new data centre construction was one sign of a spreading, bipartisan anger at the buildings powering the AI boom, and Little Rock fits the same pattern.

Every time someone uses an AI image generator, sends a message to a chatbot, or runs a voice assistant, a data centre somewhere does the heavy lifting. Keeping up with demand means finding land fast, and rural areas with cheaper prices and looser planning rules have become prime targets. For residents in those areas, the deals can arrive quickly and feel like they were made without them in the room.

What happens next?

No single regulator oversees data centre approvals across the US; planning decisions happen at state and local level. That means the outcome in Little Rock, and in dozens of similar fights, will depend on local politics and who turns up to council meetings.

If you live near a proposed data centre, your local planning authority is the first place to look. Public consultation periods are usually short, and comments submitted during them carry real legal weight. That is the practical lever people have, and right now in Little Rock they are pulling it hard.

Common questions

Why do data centres use so much water?

Servers generate intense heat and need constant cooling. Many large facilities pump water through cooling systems the way a car uses a radiator, and in a hot climate that can mean millions of litres a year.

Does this affect my electricity bill?

Possibly. A large data centre plugging into a regional power grid can push up local demand, which puts upward pressure on prices, though the effect varies by area and utility provider.