6,615 people have contacted Erin Brockovich’s data-center reporting effort, Brockovich wrote on Facebook on May 31. The campaign publishes a public site, brockovichdatacenter.com, that uses a crowdsourced map to collect resident reports, photos, and location data on operational, under-construction, and proposed AI data centers across the United States. The map already shows 3,674 placed reports and separates entries as operational, under construction, or proposed while offering a dedicated photos page to document local impacts. Brockovich frames the project as transparency work rather than blanket opposition and says residents repeatedly raised transparency as their single biggest concern.

3,674 reports have been placed on the map, and the site distinguishes between operational facilities, those under construction, and proposed projects while adding photos and location details that residents upload daily. Brockovich launched the public website after an April 27 appeal for submissions and wrote in a Substack post that the effort is a "work in progress." She told The Jim Acosta Show that communities feel projects are "shoved down their throat in secrecy," and the map lists multiple accounts of nondisclosure agreements, late-stage announcements, and cases where companies presented developments as warehouses rather than data centers.

What the map documents

The crowdsourced entries show three recurring community worries: water usage, electricity and infrastructure costs, and the financial incentives that drive siting decisions. The project cites figures corroborated by Brookings and the Environmental and Energy Study Institute showing that a single large-scale AI data center can draw as much as 5 million gallons of water per day at the upper end, depending on cooling design. Residents who submit photos and reports on the site often point to visible changes to local water systems, while the posted materials flag potential pressure on wells, rivers, and municipal supplies.

Electricity and grid upgrades are the second thread running through the submissions. Large AI facilities frequently require substantial upgrades to transmission lines and substations, and the map notes that utilities or ratepayers can shoulder part of those upgrade costs. Several community reports document roadwork and new power equipment arriving alongside construction, and the site asks contributors to note any utility notices or public meetings where upgrade costs were discussed.

The third recurring concern is the local economic tradeoff that has driven many local governments to welcome data center investment. Forbes highlighted an estimate, cited from HeatMap News, that a large development in Sulphur Springs, Texas, could generate roughly $100 million in annual tax revenue. That figure helps explain strong local political support in some places even as litigation and protests follow.

Mastheads

Forbes also singled out a roughly 3-gigawatt project in Sulphur Springs as a focal point for lawsuits and public debate, and the map shows Texas as a concentration of reports.

The initial call for submissions produced rapid inflows. TechCrunch reported nearly 4,000 submissions in the first month, and Newsweek published Brockovich’s Facebook tally of 6,615 submissions as of May 31. Inc. reported that at the time of its reporting the map included 33 operational sites, 53 under construction, and 34 proposed sites, with more than 3,600 community-reported concerns. Those counts make the project one of the widest citizen-driven attempts to track the recent surge in AI-focused data center projects.

Industry and state responses

Microsoft, which previously relied on nondisclosure agreements during early-stage siting discussions, announced earlier this year that it would stop requesting NDAs and has promoted a Community-First AI Infrastructure Plan describing reduced water use, local job creation, and commitments on power procurement. The company move aligns with the transparency complaints the map highlights, though Brockovich’s materials catalog multiple other vendors and developers whose early public outreach practices provoked community pushback.

State-level policy has started to respond. Utah’s governor unveiled a data center framework intended to address local concerns about water, air quality, utility rates, wildlife, and quality of life. The framework is an example of officials trying to balance the economic promises of large facilities with the kinds of environmental and infrastructure questions residents report on the map.

Brockovich says she adds reports and photos daily and that there's no pricing or regional limitation on submitting reports. The project accepts entries from any community and encourages residents to upload documentation and meeting notices that they believe were withheld or obscured during siting discussions.

The map not only catalogs locations but also creates a public record of recurring patterns: rapid dealmaking, offers of tax revenue that sway local politics, and disputes over water and grid impacts. Where municipalities weigh short-term tax receipts against long-term infrastructure commitments, the site aims to make the tradeoffs visible to a wider audience. Brockovich has framed the effort explicitly as a transparency campaign rather than a blanket anti-data-center movement, and the submissions she highlights repeatedly name secrecy and late disclosure as central grievances.

Local organizers and lawyers have already used clustered reports to amplify litigation and public hearings, and national coverage has brought the projects into a contested public conversation. TechCrunch, Newsweek, Inc., and Forbes have all reported on the map and its early totals, helping drive more submissions and public attention. Brockovich’s decision to publicize the tally on social platforms and to include a photos page has made the campaign both a repository of complaints and a mobilizing tool for communities seeking more information about projects in their backyards.

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Organizers and lawyers have already used clustered reports in lawsuits and public hearings, and Brockovich says she continues to add reports and photos daily to brockovichdatacenter.com.

This article was created with AI assistance.