‘Never seen anything quite like it’: How rural Pennsylvania’s $165 million data center fight became representative of the bipartisan battle against AI

An area of Pennsylvania once known for its anti-immigration crackdown is now resisting data centers, just one example of how the AI buildout has created a unified, bipartisan front in an increasingly splintered America.

About 20 years ago, Hazleton passed the controversial Illegal Immigration Relief Act , which withheld permits from businesses employing undocumented immigrants and fined landlords who rented to them.

Capitalizing on a time of deindustrialization and demographic changes in a heavily Hispanic city, the law galvanized a base of white, working-class supporters.

Fast forward to today, and Hazle Township, the area where Hazleton sits at the foot of the Poconos, is still making headlines.

But this time, it’s the AI infrastructure boom.

Data center opponents, diverse in both class and political party, have jumbled what was considered a left-versus-right issue and created a powerful united front pushing politicians to alter their platforms and policies in a consequential election year.

Over the summer, residents of Hazle Township received letters from NorthPoint Development, offering the township’s 4,500 residents each a potential $10,000 payday in exchange for permission to build a 1,300-acre data center in the area, part of the developer’s $165 million proposed investment into the township.

At the same time, about 30 properties in nearby Sugarloaf Township faced eminent domain threats from the local utilities company over a proposed high-voltage power line that would run through the homes and power that same proposed data center, dubbed Project Hazelnut.

Locals formed the group Alliance to Stop the Line and filed 20 formal protests against the utilities company over the health and property-cost risks associated with the power line, while others filed right-to-know requests, demanding transparency on the end user of Project Hazelnut, which emails revealed to be Amazon .

An Amazon spokesperson told Fortune it is “evaluating multiple sites across the Commonwealth” but does not have a definitive agreement in place with NorthPoint.

What has stuck out to some locals is the demographics of those opposing the data center.

Annie Vinatieri, a Sugarloaf Township protester, observed that the data center opponents are a combination of working, middle, and upper classes, mostly white, but definitely nonpartisan, including many who are new to environmental protests.

“It’s invigorating, in the sense that you’re meeting people who might not be like-minded on a lot of things, but it feels for so many people like this a righteous cause,” she told Fortune .