Before We Build Faster, We Must Listen Better

While attending the Congressional Black Caucus Legislative Conference in Washington, D.C., this week, I had no shortage of policy sessions and events from which to choose. But as I reviewed the agenda, one thing quickly became clear: AI technology and the massive data centers needed to support it are increasingly at the center of our national policy conversation.

I settled into a session titled “AI Data Center Infrastructure and the Future of Transportation Equity.” I expected to learn more about the transportation implications of this rapidly expanding industry. What I left with was something much bigger and much more concerning. And make no mistake: Black communities and rural communities are at the heart of many of these concerns.

America has entered another infrastructure boom. This time, it is being driven by artificial intelligence. Billions of dollars are being invested, communities are being promised economic opportunity, and development is moving at extraordinary speed.  But as history has taught us, when the future comes calling, someone often pays the price.

For generations, Black and low-income communities have borne the consequences of infrastructure and industrial development, from highways that divided neighborhoods to industrial facilities that contributed to air and water pollution. Too often, communities were told these projects were necessary for economic progress and that the benefits would eventually reach them. Instead, residents were left to manage the long-term consequences.  Listening to the presenters, I couldn't help but think: Here we go again.

Today, data centers are being proposed not only on former industrial and brownfield sites, but also on active farmland and in communities already carrying significant environmental burdens. The impacts extend far beyond the walls of the data center. Construction can bring heavy truck traffic, diesel emissions, noise, road construction, and demands for new energy and water infrastructure.

Yet our permitting processes often examine these projects one at a time. We don't always ask the bigger question: What happens when another major development is layered onto a community already dealing with pollution, inadequate transportation, health disparities, or the loss of green space?  Speaker after speaker called for a fundamental change in how these developments are brought before the public.

Community participation cannot simply mean holding a meeting after the major decisions have already been made. Residents deserve a meaningful voice before projects are approved, throughout construction and after facilities become operational.  When marginalized communities say they need more time to understand the consequences, policymakers should be willing to slow down. When they say no, their voices should be afforded the same respect as those of wealthier, suburban communities.

If a data center is coming into a neighborhood, residents should be asking hard questions: How many permanent jobs will actually be created? How much water and electricity will be used? What will happen to local roads? What are the environmental and health impacts? Who pays for the infrastructure improvements? And, perhaps most importantly, what direct and enforceable benefits will come back to the community?

AI may be transforming our economy, but in our haste, we must listen better. Communities are asked to accept the future, but they deserve a meaningful role in deciding what that future looks like.