People are up against forces that have all the money in the world
Erin Brockovich, the activist who once turned a contaminated California town into a landmark legal victory, now finds herself mapping a new kind of industrial sprawl: AI datacentres rising silently across drought-stricken America, consuming water at the scale of small cities and approved through processes that largely exclude the public. More than seven thousand people have brought their concerns to her door, and in their collective alarm she recognises a familiar shape — the shape of harm that moves faster than accountability. Her campaign is not against technology itself, but against the quiet erasure of community voice in decisions that will reshape the land and water for generations.
- Over 7,000 people have flooded Brockovich's inbox with reports of datacentres appearing in their communities without warning, public consultation, or environmental review.
- The scale of disruption is staggering: water bills in some towns have leapt from $22 to $350 a month, wildlife is vanishing, and the largest facilities drain 5 million gallons of water daily in regions already parched by drought.
- Developers are outmaneuvering local resistance with nondisclosure agreements, zoning overrides, and lawsuits exceeding $100 million — Hill County, Texas attempted a moratorium and was sued into retreat.
- Seventy-nine US municipalities have issued moratoriums, and opposition has spread internationally to Australia, India, Scotland, and Ireland, suggesting the fight is becoming a global reckoning with unchecked infrastructure expansion.
- Brockovich is pushing for case-by-case environmental impact assessments and community moratoriums, drawing on decades of experience turning dispersed, frightened individuals into legally formidable coalitions.
Erin Brockovich woke one morning to thirty emails from the same town, all asking about the same thing. It was the moment she understood something large was happening. People were writing because of who she is — the woman who helped Hinkley, California residents win a $333 million settlement against Pacific Gas and Electric for contaminated groundwater, the largest payout of its kind at the time. Now they were writing about datacentres.
In April, she posted a request on her website asking anyone worried about a facility near their home to reach out. Within weeks, thousands had replied. By late June, 7,005 people had submitted reports, and her map showed 33 datacentres already running, 68 under construction, 41 proposed. In May, Utah approved a single facility twice the size of Manhattan. "This feels like Hinkley on steroids," she said.
Brockovich is careful to separate the technology from the problem. The genie, she says, is already out of the bottle. What troubles her is that these vast structures are rising across the country with almost no public knowledge, no environmental review, and no community input. Two-thirds of planned facilities sit in drought-stricken regions. The largest consume 5 million gallons of water daily — the equivalent of 50,000 people's usage. Water bills in affected towns have jumped from $22 to $350 a month. Wildlife disappears. Birds go silent.
Developers sign nondisclosure agreements with local officials, zoning laws are quietly rewritten, and when communities attempt moratoriums, they face lawsuits of $100 million or more. Hill County, Texas tried to pause construction and was sued into backing down. Seventy-nine US municipalities have issued moratoriums, but many are fighting for their survival in court.
Brockovich grew up in the Midwest, shaped by a father who built pipelines and told her water would one day be worth more than gold, and a mother who was a journalist. That inheritance — engineering instinct and relentless curiosity — is what she brings to every fight. She learned in Hinkley that corporations can dismiss a handful of angry people but struggle against a hundred acting together. She has since fought hexavalent chromium contamination and PFAS chemicals near military bases, each time building cases from the ground up.
The campaign has spread beyond the United States. She has heard from people in Australia, India, Scotland, and Ireland, where Dublin already has a moratorium and datacentres were consuming a fifth of the country's electricity by 2023. The political climate in Washington is difficult — a president committed to AI expansion and dismissive of environmental concerns — but Brockovich knows administrations change, and with them, enforcement. She is in her legacy phase now, she says, smiling. She has six grandchildren. She is getting too old for this. But she will not walk away until it is over.
Erin Brockovich woke one morning to find thirty emails from people in the same town, all asking about the same thing. That was the moment she understood something large was happening. The emails came because of who she is—the woman who, in 1993, helped residents of Hinkley, California sue Pacific Gas and Electric over contaminated groundwater and won a $333 million settlement, then the largest payout in a direct-action lawsuit. Julia Roberts played her in a film. She became the person you call when a corporation has hurt your town and you have nowhere else to turn.
But these new emails weren't about the old fight. They were about datacentres. In April, Brockovich posted a request on her website asking anyone worried about a facility near their home to reach out. Within a month, 3,862 people had replied. She began mapping them—the operational ones, the ones under construction, the ones still proposed. As of late June, the picture was stark: 33 datacentres already running, 68 being built, 41 waiting for approval. And 7,005 people had submitted reports through her form, documenting what they could see with their own eyes. "This feels like Hinkley on steroids," she said.
The structures themselves are enormous, stretching across hundreds of acres. In May, Utah approved one twice the size of Manhattan. They appear to power artificial intelligence—the computing infrastructure that makes the technology work. But Brockovich is careful to separate the tool from the problem. "That genie is out of the bottle," she said. "It's here, it's an effective tool." The issue is not AI itself. The issue is that these buildings are being erected across the country with almost no public knowledge, no environmental review, and no community input. People watch them rise and ask: Why wasn't I told? How did this get approved without me having a voice?
The emails reveal a pattern of shock and concern. Some people report watching wildlife disappear, seeing dead animals, noticing the absence of birds. Others describe water bills that jumped from $22 a month to $350. The largest datacentres consume up to 5 million gallons of water daily for cooling—the equivalent of what 50,000 people use. According to analysis, two-thirds of planned facilities sit in drought-stricken regions. Developers often sign nondisclosure agreements with local officials, so the public cannot see the reasoning behind approvals. Zoning laws are changed. Moratoriums are announced and then reversed when developers sue for $100 million or more. Hill County, Texas tried to pause construction and was sued into backing down.
Brockovich, now 66, grew up in the Midwest. Her father built pipelines for major companies and told her that water would become more valuable than gold in her lifetime. Her mother was a journalist. That combination—engineering and curiosity—shaped how she sees the world. She learned in Hinkley that corporations can ignore a handful of angry people but struggle when a hundred or more act together. She learned to recognize when someone is lying to you about what you've seen. She saw a two-headed frog in Hinkley. She had never seen one in Kansas. Someone wanted to tell her it wasn't real. She knew better.
Since Hinkley, she has fought other battles—hexavalent chromium contamination, PFAS chemicals in drinking water near military bases and carpet factories. Each time, she builds cases from the ground up, starting with local government and town halls, demanding environmental impact reports and answers about power sources and water plans. She has confidence that lawsuits still have teeth. "They're settling for billions now," she said, "not $333 million."
The datacentre campaign has reached beyond the United States. She has been contacted by people in Australia, India, Scotland, and Ireland. Dublin already has a moratorium; by 2023, datacentres were consuming a fifth of Ireland's electricity. Seventy-nine municipalities in the US have issued moratoriums, though many face legal challenges. Georgia, Maryland, Michigan, and South Carolina have introduced pauses. These are early interventions against companies with unlimited resources. Brockovich knows the political climate is difficult—a president committed to AI and dismissive of environmental concerns. But she also knows that administrations change, and when they do, enforcement can shift dramatically. The Pentagon announced a cleanup operation for PFAS in the final days of Biden's presidency. Trump's Department of Defense has quietly delayed it; in some areas, it won't begin until 2039.
She is in her legacy phase now, she said, smiling. She has six grandchildren. She is getting too old for this. But she won't walk away until it's over. She can beat this—she just cannot beat it alone.
Notable Quotes
This feels like Hinkley on steroids— Erin Brockovich, describing the scale of AI datacentre expansion
If data centers are so great, why are they being built in secret?— Erin Brockovich, in a post on her Substack blog
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
You've been fighting this for thirty years. What makes the datacentre fight different from Hinkley?
The scale. Hinkley was one town, one company, one chemical. This is happening in every state, multiple counties, rural areas, ranches, farms. And it's happening in secret. People don't even know to be angry yet.
Why secret? These are massive buildings.
Nondisclosure agreements. Zoning changes that happen without public notice. By the time people see the structure rising, it's already approved. Democracy gets skipped.
And the water problem is the core issue?
It's one of them. Two-thirds of these centres are in drought areas. A single facility uses what 50,000 people use. We don't know whose needs come first—the machines or the people.
You mentioned that corporations can't ignore a hundred organised people. Do you have that yet?
I have 7,005 reports. People are waking up. But they're scattered across the country. That's what the map is for—to show them they're not alone, that this is happening everywhere at once.
What do you actually want to happen?
Start with a moratorium on new approvals. Then environmental impact assessments. Then town halls where people have a real voice. Get the information out. Let communities decide if this is what they want.
And if the companies sue for $100 million?
Then we sue back. And we win bigger.