From our inbox: Iowa CCI (Citizens for Community Improvement) and communities all over Iowa are organizing to stop massive data centers from draining Iowa resources. Check out the petition link and fact sheet below.
| Data Centers descending on Iowa |
Data centers have been rapidly expanding, despite the fact that this AI data center expansion far exceeds what we need to live our normal, day-to-day needs, and people across the political spectrum are standing together to stop them.
This is a long-haul fight. And we need to build a statewide people-power movement to protect our communities, land, and water.
Have a data center proposed in your area? Download this fact sheet as well as this petition. Use them to talk to folks in your community about what’s happening, send the petitions back to CCI’s headquarters, and email Katie Biechler at kbiechler@iowacci.org if you have questions.
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What are data centers?
Data Centers are giant warehouses that host electronic equipment used to store, compute
and transmit all sorts of information and data; they’re full of computer servers, chips and
related equipment that power AI (artificial intelligence) and other technologies. They use
enormous amounts of electricity, water and land, and they’re oftentimes owned and operated by trillion-dollar tech corporations like Amazon, Meta, Google and Microsoft.
Here’s what we know:
• Big Tech has been rapidly expanding its data centers -> there were 2,701 in the U.S.
in 2022, and by 2025 that number had jumped to almost 4,200.
• This expansion has been driven by Big Tech’s speculative AI “boom” and its close
ties to the fossil fuel industry and other big industries.
Some states are keeping coal plants open, building new gas-fired power plants,
and reopening nuclear plants solely for data center use.
• The biggest demand now is for mega-facilities called hyperscale data centers, just
one of which can use as much energy as an entire town.
• When it comes to water, a typical data center uses about 300,000 gallons per day.
But large data centers can use an estimated 5 million gallons of water each day,
equivalent to the needs of a town of up to 50,000 residents.
• When it comes to electricity, a single hyperscale data center can consume 20-100+
MW (megawatts) of power continuously, equivalent to powering 15,000-75,000 homes.
The largest facilities consume over 650 MW – enough electricity for nearly 500,000
homes. U.S. data centers – in 2023 – collectively consumed enough electricity to
power 16 million homes for an entire year. And in states with a high concentration of
data centers (like Virginia), electricity prices have increased by up to 267% over the
last five years.
• Data centers receive billions of dollars in financial incentives from state and local
governments through property tax abatements, sales tax exemptions and other
subsidies.
The technology they use may be new, but the story has been around a long time: big
corporations profit by extracting and over-using our finite resources, while offloading the
costs onto taxpayers and our communities.
Analysts say the current data center expansion far surpasses what is necessary for our
everyday digital lives and what our resources can sustain.
How many data centers are in Iowa?
A November 2025 Business Record story said Iowa has at least 104 data centers, with more on the way. Some of our giant data centers include…
• Google has a 1,000-acre data center complex in Council Bluffs with 3 buildings that
have a total of 2.9 million square feet.
• Google wants to build a data center complex next to Palo in Linn County, adjacent to
the Duane Arnold nuclear power plant – it’s expected to have up to 6 buildings with a
total of 3-4 million square feet of construction (bigger than 52 football fields
combined!)
• QTS (a global Big Tech company) is building a hyperscale data center in Cedar Rapids
on 612 acres – it’s expected to have 6 buildings ranging in size from 400,000 square
feet to 1.2 million square feet; The Cedar Rapids Gazette reports that QTS is set to
receive tax rebates worth more than $500 million. The company said it expects to
produce 15 permanent jobs during each of seven planned phases.
• Microsoft and Meta have hyperscale data centers in Altoona and West Des Moines.
• Apple has a 400,000-square foot data center in Waukee.
Big Tech corporations want to build more data centers in Iowa, so we have to be organized and pay attention to the impact they can have on our water and energy systems, our land and quality of life – and our public treasury (tax dollars).
How are everyday Iowans fighting back against Data Centers?
In January, we started hearing from CCI members in different parts of the state who were
concerned about data centers being built – or proposed – near them.
• We started doing some local organizing with a group of CCI members in Story County,
and in March they won a 1-year moratorium on data center construction in
unincorporated areas of the county.
• Mitchell County passed a 1-year moratorium on data centers after 150+ local residents
spoke out against a bitcoin facility.
• At least 18 Iowa counties have either passed – or are planning to pass – data center
moratoriums. We need more counties (& towns!) passing moratoriums in the coming
months.
Looking ahead, we’re almost certain the Iowa Legislature will weigh in on data center issues in 2027. And when that happens, we know Big Tech corporations – and their high-paid lobbyists – will be there pushing hard for weak rules and regulations, lax enforcement, and little or no public oversight and accountability. They’ll also be pushing for lots of taxpayer subsidies (our money!) to pay for their expansion.
That’s why we need to be there, too – standing up for what’s right, going toe-to-toe with the billionaires (and their trillion-dollar companies), and doing everything we can to protect the people and places we love – people before profits, communities before corporations!
To join the fight-back against giant data centers, contact Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement at iowacci@iowacci.org or call us at 515.282.0484
Simon Rosenberg of Hopium Chronicles posted this last week on Substack. Click 
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