A proposed data center in our town set off a wave of anti-data center campaigning by the local Democratic Socialist group, the Heartland Democratic Socialists. Their public meetings and social media posts mixed legitimate questions with information that was simply false, and the effect was less “informing residents” than building an us-vs-them narrative that could grow the group’s membership and influence. The campaign got a reach boost from outside the area, too — amplified through national digital organizing tools like Action Network and messaging support from the national Democratic Socialists of America.
It wasn’t a hard sell locally. Many residents already carry vague anxieties about AI, and our press hasn’t always brought the same rigor to data center coverage that it brings to other issues. That made it easy to paint this project with an AI brush it doesn’t deserve — the proposed facility isn’t an AI computing facility at all. It’s a traditional colocation center built to store things like medical records, financial documents, and corporate data.
The public meeting opened with warnings about the private investment firm that holds a controlling stake in the company proposing the project. That’s a familiar opening move for this kind of campaign, and it tells you where the energy is really coming from: skepticism of the investment system itself, dressed up as a local concern.
From there, the meeting moved into specific claims — most either invented or badly exaggerated. It was stated or clearly implied that the data center would: raise only $10,000 a year in tax revenue, a number with no basis; raise residents’ electric rates, when it will have no impact on rates; use massive amounts of water, when it will use virtually none; produce intolerable noise and light pollution, when it demonstrably will not; and release toxic chemicals into local waterways, when we know for a fact it will not.
One more argument kept surfacing that deserves its own scrutiny: that unless the data center can demonstrate a direct benefit to residents, it shouldn’t be allowed to be built at all. That standard isn’t applied to any other private development in town, and treating it as a precondition here would put ordinary commercial construction up for the community’s ideological approval rather than a building permit.
Here’s what the record actually shows.
The Size of the Facility
This 100,000-square-foot facility is small — smaller than our Ames Target store. It will occupy only 2 of the 11 acres on the lot, set thousands of feet from any homes, schools, or churches. Organizers have repeatedly described it as “two-thirds the size of Jack Trice Stadium,” the largest structure in town. That’s a vivid comparison, but it isn’t an honest one.
Water Usage and Cooling Systems
Organizers have repeatedly implied the data center would use large amounts of water. It won’t. The facility will use a closed-loop cooling system that requires virtually no ongoing water consumption. When the system is refilled, the wastewater is treated by our water treatment facility just like wastewater from the other closed-loop systems already operating in Ames — including the City of Ames’s own facilities. No polluted water is allowed to be released into the environment.
Electricity Prices
Iowa currently has the sixth-lowest electricity prices in the country despite having built more than 100 data centers. No data center in Iowa has ever passed its costs on to other customers, because MidAmerican Energy, the Iowa Utilities Commission, and even a presidential executive order don’t allow it. The Ames City Council has stated that all energy and infrastructure costs for this project will be borne by the company. Speakers at the meeting cited rate increases as high as 3,000% to make their case — but those increases happened nowhere near Iowa and had nothing to do with data centers.
Electric System Stress and Costs
Presenters attributed rising cost estimates for the City’s planned upgrades to its power-generation facility to data center demand. The City’s own director of electric services has explained, in a video on the city’s website, why that isn’t accurate. The fear-mongering about strain on city electric capacity also left out a key detail: the data center’s initial electrical use will be modest — 3 to 6 megawatts, expanding to 25 only after the City’s new generation capacity comes online.
It also went unmentioned that the data center can draw electricity from the regional grid rather than relying solely on locally generated power, the same way Ames itself already draws from the grid for much of its current needs. Grid power in Iowa is more than 60% renewable and low-cost.
Noise Levels
Many residents raised concerns about noise, but visits to the company’s similar facility in Altoona show very little will be produced here. In Altoona, cooling-fan noise measured in the low-50-decibel range even when readings were taken within 50 feet and in direct line of sight of the fans. Given the much greater distance — thousands of feet — between the proposed facility and the nearest Ames residence, the noise won’t disturb anyone.
Misleading Claims About Microsoft
The presentation claimed Microsoft’s West Des Moines data centers were originally promised as closed-loop systems and later switched to evaporative cooling to save money. That’s backwards. Microsoft’s facilities originally used evaporative cooling, and the company has since announced that all of its new data center designs will use zero-water, closed-loop technology — and is currently retrofitting its existing Iowa facilities to match.
Not an AI Data Center
This distinction was deliberately blurred, and it matters. The proposed LightEdge facility is a traditional colocation data center intended to store medical records, financial documents, and corporate data — not an AI computing facility.
The “Doesn’t Do Anything for Ames” Argument
One of the most repeated criticisms is that the data center “doesn’t do anything for the people of Ames.” That’s a dangerous standard to apply consistently. Private companies aren’t required to be community benefactors to build a legal project on private property. If this standard were applied across the board, economic growth in this town would grind to a halt.
What the Project Will Actually Generate
The data center will generate real property tax revenue starting from day one — far more than the $10,000 figure floated at the meeting. Iowa’s standard industrial tax incentive law phases property taxes in gradually over five years, so the project’s local tax contribution will start modest and grow from there. Even during that phase-in period, the facility is very likely to generate hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in property tax revenue. Once the five-year abatement period ends, annual revenue will very likely climb into the millions — not the trivial sum opponents portrayed. The project will also generate well-paying construction jobs and ongoing local employment.
None of the claims above required taking anyone’s word for it — they check out against public meetings, city documents, and a handful of phone calls. That’s a bar this campaign’s own claims couldn’t clear.
