Three people left an Oracle data center meeting in handcuffs. From New Mexico to Kentucky to the nation's largest power grid, the fight over America's AI buildout is boiling over — while a $100 billion mega-campus rises on a Cold War uranium site.
📣 **COMMUNITY** — A Doña Ana County, New Mexico meeting on Project Jupiter, the Oracle-backed data center campus, erupted into confrontation between protesters, security, and sheriff's deputies. Three people were arrested and booked without bond. The project claims ~$80M in tax revenue and nearly 700 employees — but its crucial air permit is still pending an October hearing. (Source: KVIA / Strisker)
⚖️ **LEGAL** — An Arkansas judge dismissed the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette's lawsuit seeking Google's confidential Entergy rate contract for its $4B West Memphis data center, ruling the fight belongs before the Public Service Commission — which is withholding the records as trade secrets and has stopped answering the paper's questions. (Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)
📣 **COMMUNITY** — Harrison County, Kentucky held a standing-room-only forum where every hand in the room went up against data centers — though no project is even proposed. A county survey found 80% of 1,500 respondents opposed. The fiscal court votes on a preemptive moratorium August 11. (Source: WKYT)
⚡ **POWER** — PJM Interconnection, America's largest grid serving 65 million people, warned data centers may face involuntary power cuts as soon as mid-2027 to prevent blackouts, and is launching an emergency capacity auction. A single fallen line near D.C. dropped 3+ GW of data center load nearly simultaneously. (Source: Bloomberg / TechCrunch)
💧 **WATER** — Laredo, Texas's council meeting ended at its 11 p.m. cutoff with many of the 64 residents signed up to speak about data centers still waiting. The city is in a stage 3 drought, and the Rio Grande is its only water source. (Source: KGNS)
📜 **POLICY** — Pulaski County, Arkansas rejected a 12-month data ce
