A coordinated network of left-wing groups backed by George Soros’ Open Society Foundations, the Sixteen Thirty Fund, and a socialist megadonor with ties to the Chinese Communist Party is driving much of the organized opposition to data center construction across the country, according to energy-industry sources tracking the campaigns.
Larry Behrens, communications director at Power The Future, says the pattern is familiar. “It’s a playbook we’ve seen before,” Behrens told Fox News Digital. “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.”
Public Citizen has listed Open Society Foundations among the funders whose “generous support” makes its work possible. The Sierra Club took in $3.6 million from Arabella Advisors’ Sixteen Thirty Fund between 2014 and 2022. CodePink, which has targeted data center projects directly, has received funding tied to Neville Roy Singham, a socialist megadonor with deep ties to the Chinese Communist Party. Fox News Digital has previously reported that Singham funneled roughly $285 million into six activist nonprofits as the U.S. and China compete for AI dominance.
Texas Is Ground Zero
Texas has become the central battleground. Public Citizen, the Sierra Club, and the Party for Socialism and Liberation have all backed opposition efforts there. Public Citizen is a founding member of the Texas Data Center Rebellion, which drew activists from across the state to a two-day gathering in San Antonio. In Austin, the Sierra Club’s local chapter joined PSL and the Save Our Springs Alliance for a July “Defend Dog’s Head” forum opposing a massive development that includes data centers.
Behrens says the same groups fueling anti-ICE protests and “No Kings” demonstrations nationwide are showing up against data centers too. Power the Future sent Congress a letter earlier this year urging lawmakers to examine who is really funding the opposition.
“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 said. “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.”
Behind the Opposition: Fossil Fuel Hostility, Not Just Local Concerns
Behrens argues the real motive is ideological hostility to fossil fuels and, more broadly, to President Trump’s push for American AI dominance. “It’s the same thing that they’ve always opposed, any real progress they’re going to be against, anything that strengthens America, they’re gonna be against, and when it comes to data centers, the reason they’re against them is absolutely clear because it represents American jobs and it has to be supported by American energy,” he said.
He pointed to what he calls selective outrage over water and land use. “When it comes time to grow cannabis, they’re more than happy with the water use. When it comes to time to plaster solar fields across farmland, they don’t care about land use,” Behrens said. “It’s never what they say it’s about, it’s always against progress and production for American energy and American workers really.”
Voters Are Skeptical Too
Data centers have become a defining midterm issue, especially in Texas, Ohio, and Nevada. Fox News polling this summer found 70% of voters oppose building data centers in their own communities, versus 30% in favor. Nearly 8 in 10 said construction should slow down to address environmental and local concerns, while just 20% wanted development to move as fast as possible to keep America’s competitive edge over China. MAGA Republicans (46%) and Republican men (45%) were the most supportive groups.
Consumers’ Research Executive Director Will Hild argues developers have made this fight easier for activists by ignoring legitimate consumer concerns. “Climate radicals who spent decades trying to kill fracking, pipelines, and American energy dominance have found their next target,” Hild said. “They are hijacking legitimate consumer concerns to fuel a massive disinformation campaign aimed at frightening Americans into shutting down the technology infrastructure. The same activist machine that fought American oil and gas is now mobilizing against modern data centers, because its answer to American innovation is always to stop building.”
Spilling Into the Midterms
The fight is reshaping races in Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Texas, where candidates in both parties are facing pressure over electricity costs, water use, and community impact. Attack ads featuring data centers are already running, and candidates who once championed the projects are now calling for restrictions, tax changes, or construction pauses.
In Texas, the issue has folded into Democrats’ midterm strategy. Texas Together, a $30 million effort backed by the Texas Democratic Party, Texas Majority PAC, Beto O’Rourke’s Powered by People, and other groups, has hosted data center town halls with Democratic candidates. The El Paso Young Democrats and El Paso County Democratic Party organized a protest against what they termed “destructive AI Data Centers.”
What Behrens Says Companies Should Do
Behrens agrees with Hild that developers need a better strategy, one built on engaging real local stakeholders rather than astroturfed activists. “They need to talk about the benefits of it, they need to talk about exactly what the data center does because there are legitimate questions about it and Americans have a right to say, what is this going up in our area?”
“If AOC, Bernie Sanders, and Kathy Hochul are your intellectual guiding stars for opposing data centers, then you need to really think about where you stand because they’ve been wrong on every major energy issue ever since they entered public office,” Behrens said.
Fox News Digital reached out to CodePink, the Sierra Club, Open Society Foundations, and Public Citizen for comment. A Sixteen Thirty Fund spokesperson pushed back, saying the group “proudly supported the Sierra Club,” adding: “Across the country, people have legitimate questions about how these projects could affect their communities. Dismissing those concerns as anti-American or anti-progress is absurd. Corporate interests should focus on addressing the potential impacts of data center development rather than attacking those who speak out.”
