Nashville uses eminent domain to block data center near zoo • Hacker News Board

Re: Nashville uses eminent domain to block data center near zoo

#381

Post by trollbridge » Thu, Aug 06, 2026, 1:45 PM UTC

perpetuallunch wrote: post #262

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Have you tried actually listening to what critics have to say? Nimby I wouldn’t dismiss the critics as NIMBY. They are closer to fuck it, nowhere. Some opposition is just anti-AI or misinformed about e.g. water use. But most of them have legitimate complaints about, on one hand, noise and power prices and, on the other hand, the shocking lack of contribution to local employment or taxes from these structures mintin…

I don’t understand why entry of a large consumer of electric in to an area should result in higher residential electricity prices. The new large-consumer can pay for the electricity it uses all by itself. If new generating capacity is required to meet the new, higher, demand, that should be factored in to the supply contract with the new large-consumer. What is the rationale for jacking up residential retail prices?…

Here’s how it works:

- New DCs are going up everywhere and it’s in the media how they use a lot of power and try to negotiate cheaper everything

- People’s utility bills keep going up, particularly the transmission etc components that can’t be avoided by just buying from a different supplier

- Power utilities say they have to increase rates due to increasing demand and regulation that requires them to serve new DCs

- I know multiple people who’ve had their power shut off and can’t afford it on an average salary

So when working stiffs making $25 an hour face a $650 power bill that was $325 three years ago… yeah, they’re going to consider DCs the culprit.

Add on top of that plenty of marketing about how AI will leave you unemployed.

Re: Nashville uses eminent domain to block data center near zoo

#382

Post by hinkley » Thu, Aug 06, 2026, 1:45 PM UTC

altmanaltman wrote: post #180

ericcumbee wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Property Tax revenue, and they are not a drain on services like schools, roads, fire department, police department etc. I'm watching this debate in a town that i am from and where I live. Our choices are pretty much be swallowed up by growth from neighboring cities and become a bed room community or solar farms and data centers. The downside with becoming a bedroom community is you risk creating a negative tax base.…

Yeah if you look at it purely from a municipal profit and loss point of view, datacenters are clearly great in that they ideally would pay higher taxes and have less drain than something like a shopping mall. But in this case you also need to consider other points of view to decide what the right answer is, such as the extreme resource extraction datacenters have, pollution issues, and the opportunity cost of using l…

You’ve forgotten sales taxes and income taxes generated by shopping malls, which is a pretty big oversight. The square meters per employee is much lower for retail than for a data center. They’ve gotten quite good at keeping staffing low.

Re: Nashville uses eminent domain to block data center near zoo

#383

Post by itsrobreally » Thu, Aug 06, 2026, 1:46 PM UTC

throwaway2037 wrote: post #107

If anyone is curious, from the photograph in the article, I have geolocated the existing business park property here: https://maps.app.goo.gl/kYyHuEWcAZkrypWa7 The whole area is (1) office parks (including large parking lots), (2) warehouses/light manuf'ing/"big box" stores, (3) enormous(!) rail yard (freight trains), (4) the Nashville Zoo. I don't have any skin in this fight, but I think it is a missed opportunity.…

Messing with the zoo was a really bad idea - it is extremely popular, has higher attendance than professional sports in our market, and Nashville is full of celebrities who immediately hit their socials to condemn it.

There is lots of land outside the city but then you can't piggyback on infrastructure so it is more expensive. That's my primary objection - if this is so important why not spend the money to put it somewhere it is likely to have less of an impact on your neighbors?

Re: Nashville uses eminent domain to block data center near zoo

#384

Post by trollbridge » Thu, Aug 06, 2026, 1:48 PM UTC

cucumber3732842 wrote: post #324

dividedbyzero wrote: post #292

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is not that subtle, the only somewhat subtle point is that people don't differentiate between the datacenters of yore that were built sort of well and sustainably and the ones built in the current mad gold rush AI construction frenzy. The former aren't very problematic, often pretty good neighbors even, while the latter are nightmare fuel and will purposely not be built to be quiet and safe and stay withi…

>the only somewhat subtle point is that people don't differentiate between the datacenters of yore that were built sort of well and sustainably and the ones built in the current mad gold rush AI construction frenzy So you're saying that all the rules and laws and best practices that HN has cheered for over the years that apply to new construction and new industry and claim to be about sustainability and environmental…

DC builders use political means to evade regulations almost every single time. So the regulations are in effect useless.

I have personally observed this with them getting exceptions to fire codes everyone else has to comply with.

Re: Nashville uses eminent domain to block data center near zoo

#385

Post by _DeadFred_ » Thu, Aug 06, 2026, 1:48 PM UTC

creato wrote: post #273

scheme271 wrote: post #257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn't help that at least one datacenter operator and possibly more promised municipalities in Arizona that they wouldn't use their water and then secretly used millions of gallons. This in the middle of water shortages.

I don't know what timeframe we are talking about here, but 1 million gallons is how much 33 people in the US use in a year. It's really not that much water.

Why sweep for them? The industry promises/makes commitments with the intention of not keeping them and going through back channels. F em. They are a scumbag/untrustworthy/'we only technically broke the law' industry at this point.

Re: Nashville uses eminent domain to block data center near zoo

#386

Post by trollbridge » Thu, Aug 06, 2026, 1:49 PM UTC

lovich wrote: post #213

locknitpicker wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Opposition to data centers is like 90% hatred of Silicon Valley and its obstinate elites. One they amplified by trying to build these things sneakily. This is utter nonsense, and reeks of a desperate and deep denial. I mean, you might as well rationalize your denial by claiming they don't like you because they don't like you. Have you tried actually listening to what critics have to say? Nimby doesn't just pop up o…

Nah, I back the Abundance movement and have voted for building new housing complexes in my town against groups who claimed it would ruin the character of our town to have a 60 acre plot near an old industrial center turned into neighborhoods. Even so, given no other data I would default to no for any data center. Too many of them are doing the “move fast and break things” model while not paying for any of their exter…

Right. A new DC will just be another brownfield in 20-30 years. We don’t need more of those.

New DCs should be built in Quebec next to hydro plants in places absolutely nobody lives. Or next to nuclear power plants.

Re: Nashville uses eminent domain to block data center near zoo

#387

Post by clark_dent » Thu, Aug 06, 2026, 1:49 PM UTC

tecleandor wrote: post #342

Terr_ wrote: post #279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 1 million gallons is how much 33 people in the US use in a year. For a moment I was worried that this might be an average that includes indirect usage through industry and agriculture, but AFAICT no, it's in line with just residential usage, so good-on-ya for that. > I don't know what timeframe we are talking about here The utility claims it was 30m gallons over 4 months [0], and 90mgal/yr would be like ~3k individ…

I've been checking stats and comparing it with here (Spain) and I never thought the difference of residential water usage was so different. Average use of water per capita in Spain is about 47m3 a year, so a third of the USA. And that number is quite consistent around the EU, except for Greece and Cyprus, where it's about double or even a bit more.

A whole lot of Americans water their lawns consistently for months on end.

Keep in mind that a lot of Americans outside of urban areas also get their water from their own private wells, making water use effectively moot.

Re: Nashville uses eminent domain to block data center near zoo

#388

Post by WarmWash » Thu, Aug 06, 2026, 1:51 PM UTC

da_chicken wrote: post #154

tptacek wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the opposite of the truth. For instance: https://www.wglt.org/local-news/2026-08-04/dekalb-and-aurora...

No, it's exactly the truth: https://www.ncsl.org/fiscal/subsidizing-servers-how-states-a... The legislatures are betting that the data centers stick around or bring in jobs. They won't. They think something that expensive must require a ton of jobs to maintain. It doesn't. They need low taxes, cheap land, cheap water, and cheap power.

A state and a municipality are different things.

Re: Nashville uses eminent domain to block data center near zoo

#389

Post by _DeadFred_ » Thu, Aug 06, 2026, 1:52 PM UTC

namdnay wrote: post #225

tommica wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't that enough to rethink the construction - it takes a while to build a data center, and I would not be happy that I have to suffer with shitty water because a data center is being built for years.

What I mean is that it’s got nothing to do with data centers. Saying “data centers pollute water” is misleading, in these situations 1) we’re talking about people pulling unfiltered untreated well water 2) any building would have had exactly the same effect.

1. So basically the majority of rural people, so you are saying rural Americans should fight against every AI datacenter built in their area if they want to keep access to drinking water. OK.

2. The existing homeowners were there first. Their community has a commitment to ensure that the largest expense they will ever have, their home, is fit for purpose and not impacted by those that come after. If I move next to an airport, can I just have the airport shutdown? No. But a datacenter can just make homes un-inhabitable because 'that's just how it goes'? BS.

Re: Nashville uses eminent domain to block data center near zoo

#390

Post by _DeadFred_ » Thu, Aug 06, 2026, 1:54 PM UTC

creato wrote: post #273

scheme271 wrote: post #257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn't help that at least one datacenter operator and possibly more promised municipalities in Arizona that they wouldn't use their water and then secretly used millions of gallons. This in the middle of water shortages.

I don't know what timeframe we are talking about here, but 1 million gallons is how much 33 people in the US use in a year. It's really not that much water.

Did they commit that they were only going to use 1 million gallons? I got the impression they committed to not using the communities water?