Erin Brockovich Has a New Fight — and It's With Big Tech
Erin Brockovich built her reputation going up against a powerful corporation hiding the environmental damage it was causing to a local community. Decades later, she's found a strikingly similar fight — but this time, the industry is tech, and the secretive facilities in question are data centers.
Brockovich has turned her attention to the booming data center industry, calling out what she sees as a troubling lack of transparency about how these massive facilities affect surrounding communities. From water consumption to energy use to noise pollution, she argues that residents living near data centers are often kept in the dark about what's happening right next door.
What's the Problem With Data Centers?
Data centers — the giant warehouse-like buildings that power everything from cloud storage to AI systems — have exploded in number over the past decade. Driven by demand from streaming services, social media platforms, and increasingly, artificial intelligence, companies like Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and Meta have been building these facilities at a feverish pace across North America and beyond.
But critics say this growth has come with a cost that isn't being shared openly with the public. Data centers consume enormous amounts of electricity, often relying on fossil-fuel-heavy power grids. They also use staggering quantities of water for cooling — millions of gallons per day in some cases — which can strain local water supplies, particularly in drought-prone regions.
Brockovich argues that companies are not being forthcoming about these figures and that communities often don't learn the full picture until after facilities are built and operating.
Fighting Secrecy With Sunlight
Brockovich's new campaign pushes for greater transparency and community consultation before data centers are approved and built. Her argument mirrors the core of her original environmental crusade: that ordinary people have a right to know what industrial operations near their homes are doing to their air, water, and land.
She's calling on lawmakers to require detailed environmental disclosures from data center operators and to give local communities meaningful input into siting decisions — something that critics say is largely absent from current regulatory frameworks in the United States.
The campaign has landed at a politically charged moment. Governments around the world are racing to attract data center investment as a signal of economic and technological ambition, often offering generous tax incentives. That enthusiasm can make regulators reluctant to impose conditions that might slow development.
Why This Matters Beyond the US
The data center industry is a global one, and the transparency concerns Brockovich raises apply well beyond American borders. In Canada, Ireland, the Netherlands, and beyond, communities have raised similar questions about water use, energy sourcing, and the adequacy of public consultation processes.
As AI continues to drive explosive demand for computing power, the pressure on local environments and infrastructure is only expected to grow. Brockovich's intervention puts a recognizable, trusted face on a set of concerns that technical experts and environmental groups have been raising for years — potentially amplifying the call for stronger oversight.
Whether her campaign translates into concrete regulatory change remains to be seen. But if her track record is any indication, she's not one to back down from a fight.
Source: TechCrunch
