Thursday, during an appearance on Fox Business Network’s “Mornings,” Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA) criticized those behind the data center push for not messaging better. However, he maintained data centers had some value.
“Congressman, this has become a big political issue for the midterms,” host Cheryl Casone said. “I want to get your thoughts on that, because the argument from these companies, who maybe have not done a great job of messaging, is that they can handle their own power. They’re not going to be a strain to the water systems, and that they’re going to create jobs, thousands of jobs. Congressman Steve Scalise told me earlier this week. He said, look at Louisiana. Teachers got a $50,000 bonus because of a data center from Meta in their area. Why is that message not getting out, do you think?”
Carter replied, “Well, as you said earlier, they’re not doing a good job. Data centers are not doing a good job of messaging, and they need to do a better job. But more importantly, they need to work with local leaders. Look, I was a former mayor, and I can tell you, I understand the importance of the data centers, of the utilities, of the communities, and working together to make sure that these kind of questions and these kind of concerns are addressed before the fact, not after it’s already been announced that they’re coming, but before they’re announced that they’re coming. That’s when they need to be working together on these things to make sure that energy costs aren’t going to rise for consumers.”
“Now, in Georgia, we’ve covered that,” he continued. “Our Public Service Commission has said, ‘No, data centers are going to incur their own cost.’ If there has to be any improvements to the infrastructure, they’re going to have to pay for it. They covered that. What about water resources? We need to make sure that those are going to be available, and we need to make sure that these data centers aren’t being built on valuable farmland, and instead, they’re being built in areas that aren’t going to intrude on other people and on neighborhoods.
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