The people living next door to what Microsoft calls the world's most powerful AI data center are taking the company to court. From a Wisconsin class action over round-the-clock noise, to a Kentucky lawsuit that hinges on a tiny 1902 cemetery, to emails revealing who really scripted a governor's veto — the fight over America's data center boom is getting personal. Here's what's reshaping the U.S. data center landscape right now.
🚨 **COMMUNITY** — Three Sturtevant, Wisconsin residents filed a class-action lawsuit against Microsoft on July 1 over noise, construction dust, and light pollution from its $7.3 billion Fairwater data center — the facility CEO Satya Nadella called "the world's most powerful AI data center." The class covers 1,000+ homes within 1.5 miles. (Source: Tom's Hardware)
⚖️ **LEGAL** — A new lawsuit in Barren Circuit Court says Cave City, Kentucky illegally annexed 245 acres tied to a gigawatt-scale data center campus, because the owners of the 0.09-acre Shaw Cemetery — a separate parcel since 1902 — never consented in writing. Developer Kentucky Industrial Alliance is separately suing over the city's 12-month moratorium, with a hearing set for July 20. (Source: Bowling Green Daily News)
🏛️ **POLICY** — Emails obtained by the Bangor Daily News show Tony McDonald of the Boulos Co. coordinated with officials in Jay, Maine to give Gov. Janet Mills "cover" for vetoing a first-in-the-nation statewide data center moratorium — drafting exemption language and soliciting support letters. The override failed; the Jay project collapsed anyway when Sentinel walked away in June. (Source: Bangor Daily News)
🏗️ **NEW BUILD** — Cheyenne-area officials are weighing a temporary worker camp for up to 5,500 people to house the crews building Laramie County's data center wave — 10 facilities operating and 14 more coming, driven by Microsoft and Meta. At full size, the camp would outnumber 84 of Wyoming's municipalities. (Source: Wall Street Journal / Moneywise)
⚡ **POWER** — A heat dome pushed PJM, the nation's largest grid operator, to forecast 166,000+ MW of demand — above the all-time record set in 2006. Two DOE emergency orders let PJM push data centers onto backup power and waive plant pollution limits, as wholesale prices spiked from under $40 to over $1,600/MWh. (Source: Utility Dive / Maryland Matters)
🏛️ **POLICY** — Virginia's first-in-the-nation data center electricity tax took effect July 1: $0.011 per kilowatt-hour on utility-supplied and self-generated power, projected to raise ~$600 million a year through mid-2028. (Source: Data Center Knowledge / Williams Mullen)
🚨 **COMMUNITY** — Developer Karis Critical withdrew its Plum Farms data center rezoning petition five days before the Hoffman Estates, Illinois village board vote, after hundreds of residents from three towns packed hearings and the plan commission voted 4-2 against it. (Source: Chicago Tribune)
💰 **INVESTMENT** — Data center operator Switch kicked off a private funding
