The same local officials who recently renamed their county airport after their most famous resident — Donald Trump — just blocked construction of a data center — exactly the kind of project the president has been plugging.
“Project Tango” was set to be a hyperscale artificial intelligence facility less than 20 miles from Mar-a-Lago, another brick in the builder-in-chief’s bid to expand AI infrastructure — a plan that included an early executive order to reduce federal regulations and speed up such projects.
But on Wednesday night, hours after Trump’s social media post touting data centers as “LIQUID GOLD,” Palm Beach County commissioners blocked the proposal at the end of a packed public meeting attended by residents wearing shirts emblazoned with the slogan “No to Project Tango.”
“This has become, in this country, one of the biggest political issues,” said Brian Seymour, an attorney representing the data center developer, at the top of what turned into a 12-hour meeting where one county commissioner reprimanded the public for issuing “threats” to him and his colleagues in the days ahead of the vote.
Many of Project Tango’s most vocal opponents would agree, at least on political significance of these projects. For them, the issue has transcended party lines.
“You have to be living under a rock right now to not be on social media or any media of any kind to realize the audible noise and impact that occurs from these types of centers,” said Ben Brown, who on Wednesday wore a blue and red shirt that read “A Common Fight: Democrats & Republicans United.”
Brown lives in the residential community of Arden, a 2,000-home, master-planned community in Loxahatchee, Florida, that boasts a large community pool, a fishing pond and a community farm. The neighborhood’s appeal, Brown said, is the relative silence of the community, a serenity he feared would be threatened by the construction of a data center half a mile away.
But the site is currently home to a natural gas power plant, an aggregate mine, an asphalt plant and a concrete processing facility — all heavy industrial uses. Project planners for Project Tango said the data center would replace the asphalt and concrete facilities, reducing the overall noise and environmental impact on the surrounding area.
“The concerns of the residents are legitimate. We’re addressing all of them, but the mischaracterization of what’s here is where I have a problem,” Ernie Cox, project manager for PBA Holdings Inc., told MS NOW a day before the county commission meeting.
According to Cox, whose firm was tasked with overseeing the development of the AI data center, the site was chosen due to its proximity to the area’s electrical grid.
Cox said he’s given tours in an effort to smooth tensions with community members who oppose the data center, but he’s been surprised by the level of hostility aimed at those involved with the project. That part he attributed, perhaps ironically, to AI-fueled misinformation.
“The last year or so, it’s become extraordinarily personal, mean and nasty,” Cox said. “And unfortunately, I think that’s a lot of the social media influence.”
Asked for comment on why many communities like West Palm Beach are pushing back against data center development, the White House referred MS NOW to what Trump posted the day of the meeting. “One of the biggest Driving Forces in the Future for Jobs, are Data Centers,” read the post, which was written in reaction to New York state’s new moratorium on data centers.
“These Companies are now being sought in Alabama, Florida, Texas, Arizona, and many other States,” the president continued. “Data Centers are tremendous WINS for the States and Communities that are lucky enough to get them.”
Yet, communities across the United States don’t seem to share the president’s enthusiasm. Just last week, a large project was blocked in Virginia, another hit a major roadblock in Tennessee and a similar proposal was pulled in California by a developer who cited local opposition as the reason.
“This data center fight has opened my eyes to a lot, and I’m realizing that it crosses party lines,” said Rachel Smith, a Palm Beach County area resident who said she leans Democrat. “And if you can go in, you know, aware of ‘All right, a MAGA person put this protest together, but we agree on something, so we’re going to unite on this cause,’ I think the world needs more of that.”
As for Project Tango, Cox said his team has not given up on the prospect of future development, saying he remains committed to “helping meet the region’s growing critical infrastructure needs” and will “evaluate our options moving forward.”
Emily Hung contributed reporting.
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