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This data centers conversation lays out what most officials are not explaining.

Justin Barclay is joined by environmental health specialists Kristen Meghan Kelly and Tammy Clark to walk through what AI data centers actually are, why they are being rushed into rural communities, and what the real risks look like once you move past the glossy sales decks.

They make one thing clear.
This is not an anti-AI conversation.
It’s a data centers accountability conversation.

Topics include grid capacity limits, massive water consumption, contamination risks, EMF, noise and light pollution, zoning abuse, NDAs, backroom deals, and why farmland is being targeted instead of brownfields or self-contained industrial sites.

They also offer a path forward.
Responsible siting.
Full environmental impact studies.
Community consent.
Company-funded infrastructure.

And a moratorium to slow things down before irreversible damage is done.

If data centers are coming to your town, this episode gives you the questions to ask before it’s too late.

🧾 Show Notes … Data Centers
00:00 Why this data centers conversation can’t wait
01:00 AI expansion across Michigan farmland
02:00 Goshen battery plant parallels
04:30 National security vs community consent
05:15 “No data centers in our communities” vs “no data centers at all”
07:00 Why the grid cannot handle current proposals
09:00 Aging infrastructure and statewide risk
11:30 Brownfields, Superfund sites, and why they’re avoided
13:00 Tax subsidies and corporate welfare
14:00 Missing environmental impact studies
15:30 Water usage myths and closed-loop claims
17:00 Aquifer contamination and nitrate exposure
20:00 Water treatment limits and chemical runoff
22:00 EMF, noise, light pollution, and health effects
24:00 Property values and forced relocation
26:00 Responsible alternatives that already exist
28:00 Underground and self-contained data center models
30:00 Heat reuse and low-water cooling systems
32:00 Why speed is the real danger
33:30 Federal task force proposal
36:00 Misclassification as “commercial buildings”
38:00 Why AI demand is exploding
41:00 How to prepare for township meetings
43:00 Zoning power and stopping projects locally
45:00 Media failures and false assurances
47:00 Why engineers aren’t enough
49:00 Asking questions that force answers
52:00 Bipartisan unity on data centers
55:00 How to follow Kristen and Tammy