As the development of data centers continues to grow into one of the top hot button political issues in the , some experts are sounding the alarm on the various left-wing groups and climate activists who are pouring money and resources into data center opposition campaigns.
“It’s a playbook we’ve seen before,” Larry Behrens, communications director at Power The Future, told Fox News Digital in an interview.
“I think Americans saw this with the Dakota Access Pipeline. They see this with oil or natural gas production within the United States. This seemingly grassroots organization pops up, but yet they’re all wearing the same t-shirts. They’re all singing the same playbook and they’re only carrying the same signs and so when we see that, we see that that’s not really a grassroots organization that money is coming from somewhere, and in this case, against data centers.”
Several left-wing organizations backing data center opposition have benefited from major progressive funding networks, including Public Citizen, which has listed George Soros Open Society Foundations among foundations whose “generous support” makes its work possible, and the Sierra Club, which received $3.6 million from Arabella Advisors Sixteen Thirty Fund between 2014 and 2022.
CodePink, which has targeted data center projects, has received funding linked to socialist megadonor Neville Roy Singham, who has deep ties to the Chinese Communist Party. Fox News Digital previously reported that Singham funneled roughly $285 million into six activist nonprofits, as the U.S. and China battle for global AI dominance.
In Texas, viewed by many as the front line of the data center fight, opposition has been fueled by a network of left-wing groups, including Public Citizen, the Sierra Club and the Party for Socialism and Liberation. Public Citizen is a founding member of the Texas Data Center Rebellion, which brought activists from across the state together for a two-day convening in San Antonio, while the Sierra Clubs Austin chapter, PSL and Save Our Springs Alliance teamed up for a July “Defend Dogs Head” forum opposing a massive Austin development that includes data centers.
Several of the groups actively involved in fueling anti-ICE protests and “No Kings” protests across the country are also involved in pushing back against data centers. Earlier this year, that Power the Future, a pro-energy advocacy group, sent a letter asking Congress to take a closer look at opposition to data centers springing up across the country, pointing out the various left-wing groups that were backing those efforts.
“What they do is they send their money through a maze of organizations, deliberately trying to mask what it is being used for and seeing that the tentacles reach in from far and are made to look local,” Behrens explained. “Now, to be clear, there is local opposition and there are legitimate questions to ask, but when the legislative language is the same, when the talking points are the same. And the lawyer’s points are the same, then we start to see that this is not an organic local movement.”
THE HIDDEN LEFT-WING NETWORK POWERING A CONSERVATIVE REBELLION AGAINST A MAJOR TRUMP PRIORITY
The main driver of left-wing groups opposing data centers, in addition to ideological disdain toward President Donald Trump, who has been a staunch supporter of American AI dominance, is the opposition to fossil fuels, Behrens says.
“It’s the same thing t
