Exclusive — Innovation Council Action’s Taylor Budowich: Data Centers ‘Should Be Feeding Our Communities,’ Start ‘Listening to What People are Saying

Innovation Council Action (ICA) Founder Taylor Budowich pointed out during a Breitbart News event on Tuesday that AI data centers “should be feeding our communities” instead of taking away from communities and draining them.

During the event, Breitbart News Washington Bureau Chief Matthew Boyle asked Budowich about how to deal with the issue of data center development.

“I think part of the problem is actually the premise, which is we’re thinking about it in political terms. I’m a believer of Reaganism: good policy makes good politics. The question should be, ‘What’s good policy here?’” Budowich said. “I think good policy is, not a single shovel should go in the ground, not a single slab of concrete should be laid, if there’s a data center that’s taking from the community.”

“These data centers, this industry shouldn’t be draining our community, they should be feeding our communities. And, I think we start by just listening to what people are saying. They’re saying that they’re hurting, they’re saying that they’re scared, that electricity bills are rising, that they’re scared about water, and so let’s address that on the front end and say, ‘This shouldn’t happen.’”

“You see data centers across the country, you look at the different stories, there’s a data center in Oregon that was permitted and built, cost hundreds of millions of dollars and the bill was sent to your average energy customer, and that’s something that should be opposed,” Budowich said.

“But, then you look at a data center in Louisiana that just sent $50,000 checks to teachers throughout the community, you see data centers in Virginia lowering property taxes. You see the Quincy miracle in Washington state, where the revenue from the data centers [are] building the hospital, schools, rebuilding the community. Some of these towns that have been abandoned by politicians for decades that have been broken down, that are destitute, they’re honestly… they’re begging for data centers, they’re begging for investment, they’re begging for good jobs.”