I suppose it was just a matter of time until the data center conversation reached full pitch across the nation. As it filters through the layers and into state legislatures and communities across the country, there appears to be a true lack of understanding of data centers, their impact on long-term growth and who actually benefits.
Behind every pro talking point we hear the same rhetoric. Bolstering of GDP, jobs, connectivity and the selling of fear, framing this as an arms race for AI superiority. Some of these arguments have merit. But do they hold up when we actually break them down?
Innovations in industry that genuinely boost GDP have historically offered a true ROI. Electricity. The railroads. New industries emerged. New jobs followed. Real wages grew. Communities were transformed in ways that lasted generations.
So what about data centers?
In Q1 2026 alone, AI-related capital expenditure was responsible for approximately 75% of all U.S. economic growth. That sounds impressive until you read the next line: strip out data center and AI infrastructure investment and GDP growth in 2025 would have hovered around 0.1% on an annualized basis, barely above zero. We are not looking at a rising tide lifting all boats. We are looking at an economy being held above water by a narrow band of corporate infrastructure spending, with hyperscalers like Meta, Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon and Oracle projected to allocate over $440 billion to this buildout in 2026 alone. That is not broad-based economic growth. That is a very small group of very large companies spending at a historic scale and calling it prosperity.
When a data center comes to town, you’re told it brings jobs. What you’re not always told is what kind, how many and for how long. The construction phase is real. Then the facility goes online and the crews move to the next site. Many data centers employ fewer than 125 permanent workers. Some employ as few as 25.
Creating one permanent job outside the data center sector costs roughly $137,000 in investment. Inside the data center sector, that same job costs $54 million — nearly 400 times more. The entire industry accounts for just 0.01% of American jobs while consuming approximately 4.4% of the nation’s electricity. Think about what $54 million invested in a small manufacturer, a regional food system, or rural infrastructure would do for a community like ours. The math does not lie.
The same companies building these facilities are openly telling investors that AI will replace workers across the broader economy, yielding more robust margins. They are building the infrastructure to automate your job while asking your town to subsidize the project.
New Hampshire residents already pay around 27 cents per kilowatt-hour for electricity, more than 50% above the national average. A large data center can draw as much power as a small city, around the clock, every day of the year. When that demand is added to a regional grid without proper planning, ratepayers absorb the difference.
The water situation is just as serious. Towns across Grafton County, including Lebanon, Enfield and parts of Hanover, are currently in severe drought. Hundreds of New Hampshire residents had their private wells run completely dry last fall. The state’s Emergency Drought Assistance Program relaunched in January with $1.5 million in funding, and officials expect it to be fully exhausted by summer. Data centers are heavy water consumers. In western New Hampshire right now, we do not have it to spare.
For the average family and small business, data centers function more like parasites than partners. Taking more and giving next to nothing to the people who share their geography.
Beyond power and water there is another conversation that starts on the farm. Data centers rely heavily on PFAS — forever chemicals — in cooling systems, fire suppressants and semiconductor components. New Hampshire knows this story better than most. They do not break down. They move through soil, groundwater, crops and livestock. We are being asked to accept that risk on behalf of our families and our farms before anyone has done the homework. That is not a trade western New Hampshire should be making, especially not for 25 permanent jobs and a tax abatement.
Data centers are not going away, and I am not suggesting they should. But smart legislation that protects communities and ensures they have a real voice is not optional, it is the bare minimum.
Right here in New Hampshire, Senate Bill 439 would strip towns of the ability to impose specific regulations on data center development — no dedicated noise standards, no required water impact studies, no proof of grid capacity before a shovel hits the ground. The people of Lebanon, currently under mandatory drought restrictions, deserve to know that.
Clean water, open land and a stable grid are not free inputs for anyone’s balance sheet. They belong to the people who live here. Keep it on the facts. The facts are enough.
Robbie Mahrou is an independent candidate for U.S. Congress in New Hampshire’s Second District and a Walpole resident.