Erin Brockovich's Data Center Tracking Map Surges to Over 5,000 Community Reports

Erin Brockovich's data center tracking map logged more than 5,000 community reports as of June 9, 2026, up from just over 3,000 a week earlier, with Brockovich noting that total contacts to her team had already exceeded 6,600 by late May. The map, which as of its latest update shows 5,028 reported locations alongside 33 operational, 67 under-construction, and 39 proposed data centers — concentrated heavily in the eastern United States — has become one of the most visible public databases tracking the AI infrastructure boom and community resistance to it. Commonly reported concerns include significant electricity consumption, water use for cooling, noise pollution, electronic waste, and vulnerability to natural disasters or geopolitical disruption. The environmental stakes are substantial: large data centers can consume up to 5 million gallons of water per day, U.S. facilities collectively use an estimated 160 billion gallons annually, and data centers accounted for roughly 4.4 percent of U.S. electricity consumption in 2023, a figure Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory projects could reach 12 percent by 2028. A Gallup poll conducted in March found 7 in 10 Americans oppose data center construction in their local area, with 48 percent strongly opposed. Legislative responses have multiplied, with Seattle's City Council unanimously passing an emergency one-year moratorium, multiple Kentucky counties introducing zoning restrictions, and cities in Georgia and California enacting outright bans, even as the Trump administration frames accelerated data center development as essential to competing with China in AI.