{"text":[[{"start":9.1,"text":"Blackstone-owned QTS has terminated a vast data centre project in Virginia amid swelling opposition to the facilities in the US. "}],[{"start":18.75,"text":"Plans to build the campus — named Prince William Digital Gateway — were called off after protests and lawsuits from local activists concerned about its placement near a civil war battlefield."}],[{"start":31.45,"text":"QTS said the project had faced a “rigorous process” of “planning, analysis and public review” and “would have delivered significant infrastructure investment to Prince William County”."}],[{"start":41.6,"text":"Activists in Prince William County were jubilant at the news that QTS had ended the project. "}],[{"start":47.550000000000004,"text":"“What an amazing feat, this community is something special,” said Elena Schlossberg of the Coalition to Protect Prince William County."}],[{"start":55.45,"text":"Data centre developers have been riding a wave of AI enthusiasm to build in rural pockets across the country, with Google, Amazon, Microsoft and Meta set to spend more than $400bn on the facilities over the course of this year. "}],[{"start":70.35000000000001,"text":"But local opposition to the facilities has been spreading. Leading progressive politicians such as Senator Bernie Sanders have demanded a moratorium on data centre development, and local groups such as Stop Project Sail in Atlanta are also protesting projects in their areas. "}],[{"start":86.25000000000001,"text":"Virginia recently implemented a first-of-its-kind tax of $0.011 per kilowatt-hour on electricity used by data centres, whether they get power from the grid or on site. Anything more than $600mn collected by the state will be refunded. While the state’s sales tax exemption for data centres remains in place, the move comes amid rising backlash against data centres in the state’s “data centre alley”."}],[{"start":111.70000000000002,"text":"Multiple recent polls have demonstrated the American public’s strong opposition to the construction of data centres. A Gallup poll in May showed 71 per cent of Americans oppose data centre construction in their community. "}],[{"start":125.95000000000002,"text":"Executives and politicians have acknowledged the data centre boom has run ahead of public sentiment, with Calvin Butler, the chief executive of Exelon, the US’s largest utility by number of customers, saying hyperscalers were “caught flat-footed” by the backlash. "}],[{"start":143.05,"text":"“They didn’t do it with local communities. They were doing it to local communities,” he added."}],[{"start":148.75,"text":"Blackstone declined to comment. "}],[{"start":157.85,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1783045171_9078.mp3"}