In 2025 and early 2026, Fox Business coverage sometimes treated opposition to data centers as rooted in local, material concerns, including water use, electricity demand, land use, zoning, transparency, and community control. Those segments did not reject data center expansion; in many cases, the network still framed AI infrastructure as economically valuable or technologically necessary. However, the reporting also showed that local backlash is often a fight over who bears the costs of rapid infrastructure development and whether communities have a meaningful say in how it happens.

• The Bottom Line featured a grassroots West Virginia coalition opposed to a proposed data center and natural gas power plant in their community because it threatens water, air, and local resources. The May 22, 2025, episode of The Bottom Line featured Davis, West Virginia, Mayor Alan Tomson, who warned that the project could threaten “fresh air,” “open space,” and scarce water resources, while Tucker United spokesperson Nikki Forrester said residents had been left “in the dark” about what would be built in their community. [Fox Business, The Bottom Line, 5/22/25; Tucker United, accessed 6/8/26]
• Reporting on a canceled North Carolina data center, Fox Business centered residents’ fears that the project would permanently industrialize rural land tied to late NASCAR champion Dale Earnhardt’s family. The segment noted that the proposed site had been used by Earnhardt for hunting and fishing, and that residents objected to turning the land over to industrial use. One resident warned, “God’s not making any more land,” adding, “Once you turn it to industrial, you don’t ever take it back to residential.” [Fox Business, The Bottom Line, 8/13/25]
• The Big Money Show acknowledged that data center expansion is fueling rural resistance over rising electricity costs, even as panelists blamed the problem on regulation and constrained energy infrastructure. Fox Business host Dagen McDowell cited a Bloomberg analysis showing that data centers were contributing to sharp power bill increases and said residents in West Virginia and North Carolina had stopped projects “because of the concerns about electricity.” McDowell said, “It’s not government. It is the residents saying, ‘Not here.’” [Fox Business, The Big Money Show, 10/1/25]
• Fox Business aired multiple broadly positive reports on Georgia’s data center boom that still acknowledged local concerns about rapid development, planning, and power demand. Across several programs on December 3, Fox Business’ Ashley Webster reported from Social Circle, Georgia, describing data centers as a “digital gold rush” and highlighting the jobs, tax base, and local economic benefits touted by supporters. But the reports also featured residents’ concerns about planning, construction, power demand, and long-term community benefit. [Fox Business, Making Money with Charles Payne, 12/3/25; Mornings with Maria Bartiromo, 12/3/25; The Claman Countdown 12/3/25; The Bottom Line, 12/3/25]
• Fox Business hosts debated whether data center developers should absorb more of the costs their projects impose on local communities. Co-host Taylor Riggs cited polling showing that 55% to 60% of respondents across regions view data centers as “at least somewhat responsible for higher electricity prices,” and McDowell pointed to footage of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis saying ratepayers should not have to “foot part of the bill” for data center development. Co-host Brian Brenberg argued that communities can raise concerns about projects that create “negative externalities,” adding that developers should not be able to “suck up all the energy and suck up all the water and then turn around and say, well, it’s for capitalism.” [Fox Business, The Big Money Show, 12/5/25]
• A newly elected Festus, Missouri, councilman told The Bottom Line that backlash to a proposed data center centered on transparency, zoning, and local control. Councilman Dan Moore said residents objected to the project’s proposed location in a residential area and to the “transparency or lack of transparency” surrounding the approval process. Moore added that he was “not against data centers as a whole,” but opposed where and how the project was being advanced. [Fox Business, The Bottom Line, 4/17/26]
• Fox Business reported that Oregon residents blamed data centers for rising electricity costs, noise, and changes to their community’s character. During the May 21 episode of Varney & Co., Fox News correspondent Max Gorden agreed with host Stuart Varney that opposition had become a “common theme” as data center construction accelerated nationwide. Meanwhile an industry representative featured in the segment argued that many concerns stemmed from poor communication. [Fox Business, Varney & Co., 5/21/26]

More recent Fox Business segments suggest a more aggressive frame is emerging. Rather than engaging primarily with the local concerns it has sometimes acknowledged, the network has increasingly shifted attention toward opponents themselves, casting resistance as hostile to AI development, harmful to U.S. competition with China, or aligned with foreign influence.

• Stuart Varney warned that opposition to AI and data centers could undermine U.S. technological dominance. Varney questioned whether mounting opposition could “throttle” a technology in which America has “a strong lead,” criticized Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) call for a data center moratorium, and argued that the United States is “in a race to develop a technology that will change just about everything” and “better win.” [Fox Business, Varney & Co., 5/19/26]
• The Bottom Line amplified claims that “U.S. activist networks … are pushing anti-data-center messaging in alignment with Chinese Communist Party narratives” and suggested that grassroots opposition is a “PR” problem for developers. Dagen McDowell noted that “a lot of the opposition is grassroots,” but argued developers need to better explain the community impact and “upside” of their projects. [Fox Business, The Bottom Line, 5/19/26]
• Mornings with Maria Bartiromo hosted Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, who cast data center expansion as a national security imperative and opposition as part of a propaganda war. Burgum argued that the United States is in an “arms race” with China, and claimed some opposition is “geo-targeted” propaganda that could harm America’s competitiveness. [Fox Business, Mornings with Maria Bartiromo, 5/26/26]
• Mornings with Maria Bartiromo advanced claims that China-linked funding is helping drive opposition to a proposed Utah data center (while acknowledging that the central allegation was unverified). Introducing the segment, host Maria Bartiromo said, “China’s monetary influence here in the United States could be funding a swell of opposition to American data centers.” Correspondent Darren Botelho said, “As usual, follow the money, and that’s exactly what we’re doing this morning,” before reporting that feminist anti-war organization CODEPINK had criticized a Kevin O’Leary-backed data center project over environmental concerns. He explained that O’Leary, an investor and Shark Tank personality, had accused local groups of having ties to China-linked funding networks, but noted “there’s been no independent verification of that claim.” [Fox Business, Mornings with Maria Bartiromo, 5/27/26; CODEPINK, accessed 6/9/26]
• Fox Business host Larry Kudlow turned opposition to data centers into a loyalty test, claiming that “anybody who opposes data centers or any related AI work is actively promoting China and running against America.” Though he admitted that he had no evidence of “Chinese infiltrating” grassroots activist groups, he added, “You’re against data centers, you are for China.” [Fox Business, The Big Money Show, 5/27/26]
• A Varney & Co. segment advanced claims that China is funding protests against data centers in the United States. Introducing the segment, guest host David Asman reported that “lawmakers are claiming the communist government of China is undermining the U.S. by fueling anti-AI data center protests.” He later asked guest Gordon Chang what evidence showed China was “encouraging” anti-AI data center protests. Chang said the protests are “not entirely organic” (though he briefly noted that “locals do have a lot of concerns”) and claimed that “the protests themselves are being funded by China,” citing CODEPINK as one alleged funding pathway. [Fox Business, Varney & Co., 6/5/26]
• Later that day, Varney & Co. returned to the claim that China is behind opposition to data centers. Asman replayed Chang’s earlier claim that data center protests are “not entirely organic” and are “being funded by China,” before asking business and policy strategist Adonis Hoffman whether China was funding the protests. Hoffman acknowledged that Americans and local communities have “legitimate concerns,” but argued that the protests were “so coordinated” that “all the evidence points to some external influence,” including possible “funding and some coordination” by China. [Fox Business, Varney & Co., 6/5/26]

Fox Business has already shown viewers that data center opposition is tied to concrete concerns about power bills, water use, land, zoning, accountability, and local control. The network’s more recent coverage increasingly recasts those concerns as obstacles to America AI investment and competitiveness. 

This shift is happening as opposition becomes harder to dismiss as isolated local friction. A March Gallup survey found that 71% of Americans oppose building AI data centers in their area, including nearly half who “strongly” oppose them. The concerns driving that opposition are not speculative: A new United Nations University report found that data centers already consume more electricity than “all but 10 countries in the world” and warned that their energy use, water demand, and pollution are expected to grow sharply as AI expands.

Those material pressures are already turning proposed data centers into local political fights. Residents and local officials have helped delay, block, or threaten major data center projects, and the backlash is increasingly visible inside conservative politics. Now Fox Business is trying to contain this pressure by attacking the opposition, increasingly eliding the costs its own coverage has documented in communities the network cannot easily dismiss.