// environmental governance

Source: 404 Media

Across Maine, California, and at least a dozen other states, legislators from both parties are passing laws that restrict data center construction—the unglamorous infrastructure that actually powers AI systems. These restrictions target concrete local concerns: water depletion, power grid strain, property taxes. Unlike abstract existential fears, these grievances are harder for the industry to dismiss as Luddism. State-level environmental and utility politics may constrain AI scaling more effectively than federal policy, since data center operators have less lobbying advantage at the state level than nationally.