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St. Louis becomes the latest battleground in fight over data centers

From CBS News · () English

Summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

In-depth Named sources In the courts
  • TerraWatt plans to convert about 1 million square feet of former warehouse space in St. Louis into a data center.
  • A Saint Louis University biologist is among plaintiffs seeking to stop the project, citing concerns about noise, water consumption, electricity use and the lack of environmental studies.
  • The developer says the facility would use a closed water system, pay its own electricity costs and invest hundreds of millions of dollars in local schools.

A former warehouse complex covering 1 million square feet has become the focus of St. Louis’ fight over the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence infrastructure. TerraWatt CEO David Daneshforooz wants to turn the site into a data center, but the project has drawn a lawsuit and strong community opposition.

St. Louis has a lot of old, kind of decaying infrastructure that's being underutilized. And so data centers have the opportunity, if done responsibly, to bring back industry into those communities.

— David DaneshforoozThe TerraWatt CEO defended the proposed St. Louis data center as a possible use for underused industrial space.

Daneshforooz argues that St. Louis has aging infrastructure that is being underused. He said data centers could restore industry to such communities if developers build them responsibly.

Kasey Fowler-Finn, a biologist at Saint Louis University and a plaintiff in a lawsuit filed Friday, says the project’s potential effects have not been properly assessed. She cited noise, water consumption and electricity use, as well as the absence of an environmental impact assessment and a low-frequency sound study. She also criticized what she called a lack of transparency around the project’s environmental and noise impacts.

There's been no environmental impact assessment and no low-frequency sound study.

— Kasey Fowler-FinnThe Saint Louis University biologist cited missing studies in her opposition to the project.

The debate reflects broader unease about the facilities that support the AI boom. A recent Gallup poll found that more than 70% of Americans do not want a data center in their area. Daneshforooz said the concerns about AI partly reflect fear of the unknown, but Fowler-Finn rejected what she described as baseless panic, saying the concerns draw on scientific evidence.

It is not a baseless panic. It is a worry that's based in real scientific evidence. We have to be very careful about where and how we install these large data centers.

— Kasey Fowler-FinnFowler-Finn explained why she rejects the developer’s characterization of opposition as fear of the unknown.

TerraWatt says it would pay for its own electricity, operate a closed water system and invest hundreds of millions of dollars in the local school system. That approach has worked in other cities, but the company has not yet won the same acceptance in St. Louis. Daneshforooz also argued that keeping data centers in the United States would help ensure Americans’ data remains in a location subject to domestic regulation.

Where is that information and data going to be stored? Would you rather have it be in a place like this in the middle of America, or would you rather have that information be stored in a country that we can't regulate or control?

— David DaneshforoozThe developer argued that domestic data centers could keep data in a location subject to U.S. regulation.
About this summary

Originally published by CBS News. Summarized and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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