Michigan voters just walked into a booth and buried a hyperscale data center by nearly nine to one — and now they want the whole board recalled. From a North Carolina county that waved developers in over a packed room, to floating data centers off the Texas coast and a $100 billion campus rising on a Cold War nuclear site, here's where America's AI buildout is colliding with the people living next door.
**COMMUNITY** — Augusta Township, Michigan voters overturned the rezoning of 500+ acres of farmland near Milan on Aug 4. Unofficial results: 2,314 (89.5%) opposed vs. just 269 in favor, killing a hyperscale project eyed by New York-based Thor Equities. Residents are now filing to recall all seven township trustees. (Source: WEMU / Planet Detroit / Sun Times News)
⚖️ **LEGAL** — Stokes County, North Carolina commissioners voted 3–2 to reject a six-month moratorium and approve text amendments opening the county to data centers — despite every public commenter opposing it and overflow crowds spilling onto the sidewalk. Project Delta near Walnut Cove looms; its January rezoning was voided in April over a defective public-notice lawsuit. (Source: WFDD / WFMY News 2 / Southern Coalition)
🌊 **AI / TECH** — Samsung Heavy Industries signed an engineering contract with Texas developer Mousterian to build the first moored floating data centers in the U.S. — purpose-built 50 MW units sited beside power plants. Flagship "Project Zeus" envisions a 500 MW hybrid floating-and-land campus near Houston, targeted to go live in H1 2028. (Source: The Register / PR Newswire / DCD)
⚡ **POWER** — On PJM, the nation's largest grid, operators warn they may temporarily cut power to data centers to prevent cascading blackouts. NERC issued a rare Level 3 alert after blocks of 1,000+ MW dropped offline in seconds. U.S. data center demand nearly doubled from 23 GW (2023) to 42 GW today; FERC gave operators ~60 days to file new rules. (Source: TechCrunch / NERC / Data Center Knowledge)
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