Power companies are using eminent domain to seize land for data centers (fortune.com)

Power companies in the U.S. are increasingly using eminent domain to acquire land necessary for building transmission lines to support the growing demand from data centers, which have surged to over 3,000 nationwide. This demand has been partly fueled by the AI boom, as these data centers are critical for processing information for large language models like ChatGPT. However, this development faces significant public opposition, with many Americans concerned about the implications for utility costs, environmental degradation, and noise pollution. The legal and ethical implications of using eminent domain for private data centers further complicate the issue, as landowners can resist sales, prompting companies to seek government intervention. The growing dependency on data centers raises questions about what constitutes "public use" in eminent domain cases. While most states allow utilities to exercise this power, recent rulings indicate a tension between economic development and actual public benefit. Courts have upheld property seizures when they enhance electrical grid reliability—provided they benefitted in-state customers. As these disputes continue, there is potential for landowners to challenge such actions based on whether they genuinely serve the public interest, raising the stakes in the ongoing battle between infrastructure expansion for AI and individual property rights.