Erin Brockovich Challenges the Secrecy Behind AI Data Centre Expansion

Environmental activist Erin Brockovich is calling for greater transparency regarding the rapid expansion of data centres and their impact on nearby communities.

Brockovich, whose legal battle against Pacific Gas & Electric was famously portrayed by Julia Roberts in the film Erin Brockovich, recently launched a website featuring a map of data centres across the United States.

The website describes the map as a work in progress and includes reports submitted by residents living near data centre projects. In a recent Substack post, Brockovich said she received nearly 4,000 submissions within a month after asking the public in April to report concerns related to data centre developments.

According to Brockovich, the issue raised most frequently was transparency. She said the concern appeared more often than complaints about noise, water consumption, or increasing utility costs.

“The single most common concern — more than noise, more than water usage, more than rising utility bills — is the one word that keeps appearing in submission after submission: transparency,” she wrote.

Brockovich stressed that she is not opposed to data centres or artificial intelligence. Instead, she criticised what she described as a recurring pattern of projects being announced only after permits have been secured, developers failing to communicate with residents, and local officials signing non-disclosure agreements before communities are informed about proposed developments.

Her initiative aims to increase public awareness as AI-driven infrastructure continues to expand across the country.