People Are Organizing to Starve the AI Beast

Disputes continue over proposed AI Data Center in Harwood

HARWOOD, N.D. (KVRR) — Protesters against the proposed AI Data Center stood outside the Harwood Community Center with signs that read, No power to AI and to Water for farms not for AI in light of the City Council meeting. The group was allowed to come inside and attend the meeting.

“Bridge of rezoning to hide from answering questions. This is the exact time. That’s what this is for, this is a public hearing.” [news story continues below video]

The gaping maw of the AI data centre beast is threatening to devour all energy and water on the planet. Awakened to this threat, people are organizing. This is the story of the fight against the data centres.

[Show notes sourced below]

Harwood Mayor, Blake Hankey, warned the group that they would be removed if they continued interrupting by shouting comments. Several people were removed by the Cass County Sheriff’s Department.

During public comment, one person asked the question if the council had done any investigation into the land on the rusty patch bumblebee. The mayor said he had no knowledge.

The mayor of Ellendale was also in attendance and addressed the crowd on how Applied Digital has been working for his city.

“The annexation that took place with Applied Digital becoming a part of the city of Ellendale didn’t happen until this past February. So, from a financial standpoint, we as a city have not seen the benefits yet. That’s the truth because we won’t be because from a property tax perspective, we can’t see any record from that until 2026,” said Don Flaherty, Mayor of Ellendale.

Applied Digital CEO also addressed the crowd, stating that if they don’t make the project here, someone else will. Which includes Fargo.

Shared from https://www.kvrr.com/2025/09/03/disputes-continue-over-proposed-ai-data-center-in-harwood/

Starving the Data Centre Beast – #SolutionsWatch – show notes

Exposing The Dark Side of America’s AI Data Center Explosion | View From Above | Business Insider

The explosion of AI across every industry has seen hundreds of water- and power-hungry server farms sprout up across the US. Already, one-third of the world’s internet traffic flows through data centers in just one US state: Virginia. However, until now, there has been no official record of the number of data centers in America, who owns them, or how much electricity they consume.

Business Insider also discovered that the power needs of data centers have forced some states to withdraw from their carbon emissions targets. Power companies are even looking to extend the life of coal and gas plants to help meet the unprecedented demand. Check to see what data centers might be near your region: https://bit.ly/4r7WdAR

You can access our long read on data centers on the Business Insider website: https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-data-center-development-true-cost-environmental-impact-2025-6

Take a look at Business Insider’s methodology for a full breakdown of how we conducted our research and compiled our map: https://www.businessinsider.com/how-calculate-data-center-cost-environmental-impact-methodology-2025-6

Port Washington council meeting erupts over data center project

Three women arrested, then cited for disorderly conduct and released

PORT WASHINGTON, Wis. — A Port Washington city council meeting Tuesday night devolved into shouting and three arrests over the recently approved $15 billion data center project.

Fiery comments about the new data center being built one mile north of downtown Port Washington led to what police are calling disorderly conduct at the city council meeting.

Walter said the data centers have the potential to radically alter Wisconsin.

“These issues will impact you. They’ll impact your friends, your family, your neighbors, your parents, your children. These are the kinds of things that are going to be dictating the future of Wisconsin, not just for the next couple of years but for the next decade, the next fifty years,” Walter said.

While this was the first time there were arrests in Port Washington over the issue, a state environmental group says the frustration over the data center here, and those statewide, is growing. Amy Barrilleaux with Clean Wisconsin said their petition has gained 1,500 signatures in just the past week, calling for a pause on data center approvals until there’s a statewide plan to ensure the projects benefit Wisconsin.

“We decided to come up with a petition plan because we’re seeing these projects coming into Wisconsin so quickly, and they’re such enormous projects,” Barrilleaux said. “It should not be surprising to anyone that when people are not given a chance to get information, when they’re not given a chance to have real discussions that are out in the open and transparent, that they start to get frustrated.”

Shared from https://www.wisn.com/article/port-washington-council-meeting-erupts-over-data-center-project/69625025

Missouri Town Shuts Down Secretive AI Data Center

Data Center Energy Consumption: How Much Energy Did/Do/Will They Eat?

Nov 12 2025 – Data centers today consume a significant and growing share of electricity. Globally, data centers (excluding cryptocurrency mining) used an estimated 415 terawatt-hours (TWh) in 2024, about 1.5% of world electricity demand. This global demand has roughly doubled since 2010 (when usage was ~194 TWh) thanks to the explosion of digital services. Efficiency gains (better hardware, cooling, and power usage effectiveness) moderated growth for much of the 2010s, but the acceleration of cloud computing and AI has pushed energy use sharply upward in recent years. The International Energy Agency (IEA) reported in 2025 that worldwide data center electricity demand is on track to more than double by 2030, reaching around 945 TWh (slightly above Japan’s current consumption). This implies an annual growth on the order of 10–15% per year in the latter 2020s. Indeed, one analysis forecasts a 165% increase in global data center power demand from 2023 to 2030. A major driver is artificial intelligence workloads, which require energy-intensive chips; AI-related computing alone is projected to quadruple its electricity use by 2030. By the end of this decade, data centers could be consuming as much power annually as a major industrialized country (on par with Japan). In terms of peak power, analysts estimate the global data center fleet currently draws on the order of 50–60 GW on average, and this may rise to ~130 GW by 2028 (a 16% compound annual growth rate). Such growth would elevate data centers from about 1–2% to roughly 3–4% of world electricity use in the next 5–10 years, absent drastic efficiency or offsetting measures.

In the United States, data centers are especially prominent: U.S. facilities consumed roughly 176 TWh in 2023, about 4.4% of national electricity sales. This share more than doubled from ~2% in 2010 and is rising quickly. For most of the 2010s, U.S. data center energy use hovered around 60–70 TWh annually (virtually flat from 2014–2016 at ~60 TWh), as efficiency gains balanced growing workloads. But since about 2017, consumption has risen steadily alongside the boom in hyperscale cloud centers and now AI computing. Federal researchers project U.S. data centers could triple their electricity draw by the end of this decade. In fact, scenario analyses for the U.S. foresee data centers using anywhere from ~350 TWh up to ~580 TWh per year by 2028 in high-demand cases. The upper end of that range (~580 TWh) would represent roughly 12% of total U.S. power consumption by 2028 – a seismic shift in the electricity landscape. Even more conservative outlooks show data centers’ share of U.S. electricity at 9% by 2030 (up from ~4% now). In absolute growth terms, this load is enormous: one utility think-tank names data centers as the “principal culprits” for skyrocketing U.S. power demand in the next five years, potentially adding 90 GW of new load and “ending an era of flat demand” for utilities. Indeed, the IEA expects that almost half of the growth in U.S. electricity demand through 2030 will come from data centers alone, as running servers for AI and cloud eclipses traditional industrial power uses. To put this in perspective, by 2030 the U.S. may consume more electricity for data processing than it does to manufacture all its steel, aluminum, cement, and other energy-intensive goods combined – a remarkable indicator of the economy’s digital shift.

Looking globally again, similar trends are playing out. Europe’s grid operators, after decades of flat or declining demand, now report a surge of new load requests “mostly driven by data centres,” marking a return to load growth. Goldman Sachs analysts found European utilities have seen connection requests for new data centers skyrocket from a handful to thousands, indicating a pipeline of roughly 170 GW of data center capacity in planning across Europe – about one-third of Europe’s current power generation capacity. In Asia, markets like China, India, and Southeast Asia are also expanding their digital infrastructure; by some estimates, global data center energy use is rising ~12–16% annually in the mid-2020s, far above the growth rate of most other sectors. The consensus is that without dramatic efficiency improvements, data centers and digital networks will become an ever-larger piece of the energy puzzle. (Notably, these figures exclude cryptocurrency mining, which by itself was another ~100+ TWh globally in 2022 – a separate issue often concentrated in specific regions.) To put things in perspective, data centers already represent about 1 out of every 20 kilowatt-hours consumed in the U.S., and roughly 1 out of 70 globally; by 2030 those ratios could more than double. This unprecedented growth sets the stage for both challenges and opportunities in the energy sector.

Shared from https://cleanenergyforum.yale.edu/2025/11/12/data-center-energy-consumption-how-much-energy-diddowill-they-eat

Interview 1997 – US Withdraws From the UN’s Globalist Scam! (NWNW #615)

Welcome to New World Next Week – the video series from Corbett Report and Media Monarchy that covers some of the most important developments in open source intelligence news. This week:

Story #1: Withdrawing The United States From International Organizations, Conventions And Treaties That Are Contrary To Interests Of The United States
https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/01/withdrawing-the-united-states-from-international-organizations-conventions-and-treaties-that-are-contrary-to-the-interests-of-the-united-states/

Trump Exits Entire UN “Climate” Regime. Is It Dead?
https://thenewamerican.com/world-news/un/trump-exits-entire-un-climate-regime-is-it-dead/

Trump’s Withdrawal List Masks US Pullback From Climate, Security And Development Bodies
https://www.spacewar.com/reports/Trumps_withdrawal_list_masks_US_pullback_from_climate,_security_and_development_bodies_999.html

Marco Rubio Couch Memes
https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/marco-rubio-couch-memes

Story #2: Betty Boop, Nancy Drew, Blondie, More Officially In The Public Domain For 2026
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/new-public-domain-works-2026/

#MorningMonarchy: January 12, 2026 – Public Domain Day Include Works From 1930 Open To All
https://mediamonarchy.com/20260112morningmonarchy/

Episode 360 – Steal This Podcast (Please!)
https://corbettreport.com/ip/

Story #3: #NotUnmitigatedGoodNews Updates – Starmer Abandons Plans For Compulsory Digital ID
https://archive.is/6IFBt

The Only REAL Solution to Digital ID – #SolutionsWatch
https://corbettreport.com/the-only-real-solution-to-digital-id-solutionswatch/

Data Center Project Cancellations Quadrupled in 2025 As Locals Fight Back
https://gizmodo.com/data-center-project-cancellations-quadrupled-in-2025-as-locals-fight-back-2000709669

Trump May Save AM Radio
https://cordcuttersnews.com/trump-may-save-am-radio/

The US Childhood Vaccine Schedule Shrinks
https://ronpaulinstitute.org/the-us-childhood-vaccine-schedule-shrinks/

Feeding Ourselves, Breaking New Ground For The Local Food Movement In Ireland
https://www.resilience.org/stories/2026-01-08/ireland-feeding-ourselves-breaking-new-ground-for-the-local-food-movement/

#NewWorldNextWeek: Sixteen Year Old Show Sounds Like It’s From Today (Jan. 14, 2010)
https://mediamonarchy.com/new-world-next-week-jan14/ // https://archive.org/details/NewWorldNextWeek20100114

The ‘New World Next Week’ Store
https://newworldnextweek.com/

Corbett Report 2018 Data Archive (USB Flash Drive)
https://newworldnextweek.com/products/corbett-report-2018-data-archive-usb-flash-drive

Shared from https://corbettreport.com/nwnw615/

Data Center Project Cancellations Quadrupled in 2025 as Locals Fight Back

January 13, 2026 – At least 25 data center projects around the country were canceled last year due to opposition from the local communities, according to research from intelligence platform Heatmap Pro.

The canceled projects would have accounted for at least 4.7 gigawatts of electricity demand if they were to go online. For comparison, BloombergNEF analysts forecast that, under the current plans and course of proliferation, data center power demand in the U.S. will hit 106 gigawatts by 2035.

The number might seem small, but it reflects a sharp climb from recent years: there were only six project cancellations in 2024 and two in 2023. Of the 25 data center projects that were canceled in 2025, 21 of those cancellations were in the second half of the year.

A part of that could be explained away by the fact that there are simply way more data center projects being proposed right now. The investment in data centers is so large that it pretty much singlehandedly drove GDP growth in the first half of 2025.

But the researchers claim that the rise in cancellations is reflective of souring sentiment against the data center gold rush and increasing local backlash, basing it on a comprehensive national survey.

The researchers also say that the number of cancellations outpaced other measures of data center growth. For example, the amount of electricity used by data centers nationwide grew by about 22% and is forecast to double or triple over the next 10 years. Meanwhile, cancellations due to local opposition quadrupled over the past year, researchers say.

According to Data Center Map, which is one of the oldest and most comprehensive of the industry databases, there are 3,779 data centers around the United States at the moment, a number that includes centers that are planned, under development, or currently operational. According to Heatmap, 770 of those projects are planned, and at least 99 are being contested by local activists or residents.

As the AI frenzy reached an all-time peak this year, tech companies and the U.S. government have dedicated trillions upon trillions of dollars to an unprecedented data center infrastructure buildout. But as more data centers went online, more communities around the country began feeling the impact.

Data centers run on monstrous energy demands that have a toll on the local power grid and resources. People living in close proximity to data centers have reported water shortages and soaring electricity prices. According to a Bloomberg report from September, people living in areas near data centers saw their electricity bill jump 267% compared to five years before.

Data centers can also have an adverse effect on the health of the local community. A recent study by the Environmental Data & Governance Initiative found that those living within 1 mile of an EPA-regulated data center were breathing air pollution at levels above the national average.

The increasingly negative news about such projects helped make Americans more aware of what happens when a data center comes to town, and could have assisted the rise in local opposition. It’s also not helping the pro-data center buildout case that there is a cost-of-living crisis plaguing the country, and the average citizen is growing more concerned about rising electricity bills.

The report found that water use was the biggest reason for local opposition and was mentioned in more than 40% of the contested projects, followed by energy consumption and higher electricity prices.

Some experts say that the pressure data centers put on the local grid can cause it to exceed load capacity, increasing the risk of winter blackouts in places with a high concentration of data centers. The results could be fatal, like the data center proposal hotspot of Texas, where an estimated 246 people died in a 2021 winter power shortage. Unlike other counties facing a data center-heavy future, Texas has had zero project cancellations due to local opposition this year.

About 40% of data centers that face sustained local opposition are eventually canceled, Heatmap’s review suggests. Peter Freed, Meta’s former director of energy strategy, who spoke to Heatmap, expects only about 10% of the projects that are currently underway to ever be completed.

The opposition is also driving some policy action.

Minnesota passed state laws to limit the energy and water consumption of data centers. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is expected to propose an “Energy NY Development” program that will have data center companies pay more for electricity in her State of the State address on Tuesday night. And in December, a group of more than 250 environmental organizations asked Congress for a moratorium on new data centers.

Surprisingly, though, the report found that most of the project cancellations were in red states like Kentucky and Indiana, specifically red counties that voted for the AI-and-data-center-loving President Trump in the 2024 presidential election.

But the gradually souring conversation around the data center buildout could be tipping the political scales. In the November 2025 elections, a Democrat flipped a reliably Republican seat in the Virginia legislature by running a campaign focusing on the burden of data centers.

Trump might be starting to feel that pressure.

“I never want Americans to pay higher Electricity bills because of Data Centers,” Trump said in a Truth Social post on Monday, adding that his team was working with tech companies like Microsoft to “make major changes beginning this week to ensure that Americans don’t ‘pick up the tab’ for their POWER consumption, in the form of paying higher utility bills.”

Hours later on Tuesday, Microsoft announced a five-point plan to minimize the local impact of its data centers, called “Community-First AI Infrastructure.”

Shared from https://gizmodo.com/data-center-project-cancellations-quadrupled-in-2025-as-locals-fight-back-2000709669

Communities Push Back Against AI Data Center Expansion

January 8, 2026 – By Alefiya Presswala – Editor’s Note: This is the first of two Dispatches on AI data centers, with a second article, by Ella Mrofka, to be published in January 2026.

There are more than 5,400 data centers in the United States, accounting for nearly 50 percent of the world’s estimated 11,000–12,000 data centers. As more companies invest in artificial intelligence (AI) and incorporate it into their business models, there has been a push across the country to build even more data centers for AI infrastructure. According to a report authored by the professional services network PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), “overall global data center investment was $250 billion in 2023 and is projected to quadruple to $1 trillion by 2027.”

Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, once said: “AI will probably most likely lead to the end of the world, but in the meantime, there’ll be great companies.” While these centers benefit the companies building them, they have detrimental impacts on surrounding communities and the environment. Some corporate media outlets have reported on the issue, but most of the pushback—and much of the coverage—is from independent, grassroots community organizations, nonprofits, and citizen scientists and journalists.

What Is an AI Data Center?

Generally defined, an AI data center is a specialized physical facility that houses the infrastructure required to train and deliver AI services. Because AI systems are so complex and require a lot of energy, they need to have “high-performance computing capabilities,” as well as large amounts of storage, high-speed memory, and a cooling method. In fact, an AI data center requires so much energy that a regular data center (used solely for powering the internet, cloud services, and other digital functions) not designed for AI would collapse under the workload of an AI data center.

According to IBM, there are two main types of AI data centers: hyperscale and colocation. Hyperscale data centers are huge (typically 10,000 square feet or larger) and are built, operated, and owned by large cloud service providers and tech companies (e.g., Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Meta). Hyperscale data centers are specifically designed for large, high-intensity AI workloads, such as training large language models. By contrast, colocation data centers are smaller, shared spaces where multiple businesses can rent space to store their own servers and equipment via contracts that may last a couple of months or even years.

Where Are These Centers?

Companies that want to construct large data centers target areas with inexpensive real estate and weaker local governments, near large bodies of water. Companies looking to build data centers often receive tax breaks from state and local governments looking to attract large tech investors. For example, a 2025 CNBC study found that a Microsoft data center in Illinois received $38 million in specific sales tax exemptions. Another Microsoft data center in Washington state received $333 million in sales tax exemptions between 2015 and 2023.

The nonprofit organization FracTracker Alliance has created a map that shows locations of currently operating data centers in the United States and proposals for new ones. The yellow dots on the map, which represent proposed data centers, appear frequently in Virginia, Georgia, and Pennsylvania, and in other rural areas in Utah and Texas.

Virginia currently houses the most data centers in the United States, specifically in Ashburn, Virginia’s “Data Center Valley.” Texas is becoming a key state for data centers, and cities in Arizona, Illinois, Ohio, Georgia, California, and Oregon are other strong contenders for data center hubs because of lower costs and high connectivity to other places (like California’s connectivity to Asia with undersea cables through the Pacific, or Chicago’s technological connection to both the East and West coasts).

Environmental and Economic Impacts

As noted, all AI data centers require cooling systems to function. Most AI data centers use liquid cooling, meaning they use water (instead of just air) to remove heat from AI chips. This may mean that the water is placed directly on cold plates on the AI chips, or that the chips/servers in the center are placed in a dielectric fluid that absorbs the heat. According to the Environmental and Energy Study Institute:

A medium-sized data center can consume up to roughly 110 million gallons of water per year for cooling purposes, equivalent to the annual water usage of approximately 1,000 households. Larger data centers can each “drink” up to 5 million gallons per day, or about 1.8 billion annually, usage equivalent to a town of 10,000 to 50,000 people. Together, the nation’s 5,426 data centers consume billions of gallons of water annually. One report estimated that U.S. data centers consume 449 million gallons of water per day and 163.7 billion gallons annually (as of 2021). A 2016 report found that fewer than one-third of data center operators track water consumption. Water consumption is expected to continue increasing as data centers grow in number, size, and complexity.

The water that AI data centers use can come from multiple sources, including surface and groundwater, piped sources like municipal water, and/or “purified reclaimed water.”

There are also concerns about noise pollution, caused by hums and buzzes from server fans, HVAC systems, and other equipment used within the data center. Noise pollution disrupts wildlife by interrupting communication, altering animal behaviors, forcing wildlife to leave their habitats, and generally interfering with the balance of a given ecosystem. Additionally, noise pollution can affect water and soil quality and human health, often triggering stress or sleep disruption.

Companies and institutions that want to build data centers claim that these centers will create more job opportunities in the communities where they are building. However, while there may be jobs in data center construction, there are not many permanent positions. A 2017 report from the US Chamber of Commerce found that, on average, a data center employs 1,688 workers during the construction phase, but once it is running, it only provides 157 permanent jobs.

But the larger economic impact of these centers lies in their electricity consumption. In 2025 alone, the tech industry is expected to spend $475 billion on data centers. Currently, data centers account for 4 percent of the country’s electricity demand, but that number is expected to triple within the next three years.

A recent study published by MediaJustice shows that communities in the South are disproportionately affected by rising electricity prices, with rural farming communities and communities of color impacted the most. In South Carolina, for example, “data centers will account for 65 percent to 70 percent of all new energy usage in the state.” Along with the amount of electricity that data centers require, the energy they use frequently causes power outages, highly impacting the rural communities where these centers are often based.

In addition to this, the CNBC study mentioned earlier found that “42 states provide full or partial sales tax exemptions to data centers or have no state sales tax at all. Of those, 37 have passed legislation specifically granting sales tax exemptions for data centers, and 16 of those states have granted nearly $6 billion in exemptions over the past five years.” The analysis calls these state tax breaks a “losing proposition for taxpayers.”

Greg LeRoy, executive director of Good Jobs First, a nonprofit research group that tracks corporate subsidies and advocates for transparency and accountability in economic development, told CNBC, “When tax breaks don’t pay for themselves, only two things can happen: Either public services are reduced in quality, or everybody’s taxes go up in other ways.”

The Case of Lansing, New York

Terawulf, a Maryland-based technology company, has proposed converting an old coal power plant on Cayuga Lake in Lansing, New York, into a large-scale AI data center. The company originally gained revenues from Bitcoin mining operations in New York and Pennsylvania.

Lansing is a rural town in Tompkins County, just north of Ithaca, which is more urban (and home to Cornell University). Lansing’s municipal government and its population are smaller than Ithaca’s, which is likely why Terawulf targeted Lansing. Ithaca is also the base for many environmental nonprofits and a politically active community. Critics of the data center have shown up at Lansing town board meetings, citing environmental concerns, including noise pollution and the proposed use of Cayuga Lake water for cooling. Much of the investigative reporting on the proposed data center has been conducted by local outlets, such as the Ithaca Voice and Ithaca Times, and other independent investigative organizations.

Hunterbrook Media, which calls itself a “new type of newsroom,” publishes investigative studies without requiring readers to pay to subscribe to access them. In August 2024, they published a report on Terawulf that exposed issues with the company’s claims of sustainability and energy efficiency. Grizzly Research, which publishes research on publicly traded companies, authored a report in August 2024 in which they concluded, among other findings, that “TeraWulf is in the business of selling stock while enriching insiders and not in the business of becoming a legitimate crypto miner.” These studies have been cited by Tompkins County residents to argue that Terawulf’s presence in their community will not benefit them.

Residents have also created an Instagram account with the handle @no_datacenter_flx, on which they share important information and updates about the AI data center proposal, including town board meeting times and summaries. Their bio reads: “A grassroots movement to advocate against the AI data center that’s planned to be built in Lansing, NY. Protect our lake, protect our people!”

The people who run this account have most recently been posting a week-long mini-series highlighting the reasons why they oppose an AI data center in Lansing, citing environmental concerns, public health risks, and delays to the US’s transition to clean energy. These posts are extremely detailed and well-researched, showing how community journalists and concerned citizens are at the forefront of the fight against AI data centers. The social media account has been an essential—if ironic, since social media apps rely on data centers to function—tool for many Tompkins County citizens in understanding the issue and joining a movement.

How Other Communities Are Fighting Back

As the number and scale of data centers across the country expands, so too does pushback against them. A report from Data Center Watch found that in the second quarter of 2025 alone, opposition to data centers rose 125 percent. According to the report, “an estimated $98 billion in projects were blocked or delayed, more than the total for all previous quarters since 2023.” The report continues:

Community opposition continues to grow, with 53 active groups across 17 states targeting 30 data center projects in Q2 alone, bringing the total to 188 groups nationwide. During this period, 66% of the tracked protested projects were blocked or delayed. As development expands and media attention intensifies, local groups are learning from one another. Petitions, public hearings, and grassroots organizing are reshaping approval processes—especially in Indiana and Georgia.

In Michigan, residents of Saline Township are protesting a $7 billion data center project called Stargate, which is backed by politicians and major figures in the tech world, including Sam Altman (CEO of OpenAI). This project would be one of the largest data centers in the country. OpenAI and Oracle would use this new Michigan data center to house their infrastructure. Residents claim that the companies were not transparent with their plans to build in their town. More than a hundred people gathered at the state Capitol on December 16, 2025, to protest data center proposals across the state.

The Earth Island Institute writes about resistance in Tucson, Arizona, where a proposal for “Project Blue,” put forth by Beale Infrastructure, would take millions of gallons of drinking water from the desert for cooling purposes. Residents consistently attended town board meetings and wrote numerous emails and op-eds in local newspapers. “I feel like I learned more about Project Blue from the public than the city,” said city councilman Rocque Perez, revealing how concerned citizens take it upon themselves to communicate with each other and fill local news deserts. The Guardian reported that “on 6 August, in an unscheduled vote, council members unanimously decided to discontinue discussions with Beale, each sharing short speeches revealing sharp opposition to Project Blue. Tucsonans packing the council chambers cheered and celebrated; Beale executives, appearing stunned, were booed as they left.” Project Blue no longer.

According to the independent outlet Truthout, more than 230 state and local environmental groups joined together on December 8, 2025, to send a letter to Congress demanding a national moratorium on the construction of new data centers. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) also called for a national moratorium earlier in December. Across the country, local community members are showing up to their town board meetings to actively oppose the construction of data centers and demand more from their governments.

The rapid expansion of AI data centers is often framed as the natural next step in technological growth, but the consequences and impacts of these centers reveal a larger, more complicated story. While these facilities may generate billions of dollars in profit for tech corporations and fuel the advancement of AI systems across the globe, they also impose enormous and detrimental environmental and financial burdens on the communities in which they are built. AI data centers are not being built for the public good when they increase electricity bills, cause power outages, and consume massive amounts of water in vulnerable, rural areas.

But, at the same time, a growing wave of resistance against the construction of these data centers shows that communities are not powerless. From Arizona to New York, residents, environmental organizations, nonprofits, and journalists are demanding that companies be held accountable and be more transparent about construction plans and negative impacts on communities. The continued blockage of $98 billion worth of AI data center projects is proof that taking informed action, showing up to board meetings, organizing, and engaging with one’s community can actually influence government decisions.

As AI continues to shape the global economy and affect our daily lives, decisions about the construction of the centers that house these systems need to be made with the long-term benefit of the public in mind, not behind closed doors where corporations can continue to exploit natural resources and other public goods.

Shared from https://www.projectcensored.org/communities-against-ai-data-center/

Not One Drop: How an Arizona Community Came Together to Fight a Data Center

January 15, 2026 – Digital Colonialism, a series co-produced by NPQ and MediaJustice, explores how the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence (AI) data centers is reshaping communities across the United States.

On the summer solstice, a place known by many names brought us together. Referred to as Chuk Shon, Sentinel Peak, ‘A’ Mountain, or the birthplace of Tucson, this land is one of the only remaining areas where the expansive open desert west of Tucson, AZ, meets the Santa Cruz River. Essential to all life and continuously inhabited by humans for over 4,000 years, this place has been central to many, namely the Tohono O’odham.

At the solstice’s dusk, a couple dozen people stood on this land in a circle. We came, many of us as strangers, to connect to the land and to one another at an informal “Walk and Talk” event organized by the Tucson Birthplace Open Space Coalition, an organization working to protect this corridor of connectivity and biocultural heritage. But there was another reason for gathering aside from the event.

Many of us had caught wind of the looming “Project Blue,” a proposed $3.6 billion hyperscale data center slated for development on 290 acres of land on the southeast edge of Tucson. We voiced our concerns into the dark edge of night, sharing what we knew and what we would each contribute to the fight ahead to stop its development. That evening felt as if we collectively stepped into a commitment to this land and our community—both of which reached back to carry us all the way through.

Mobilizing to Stop Project Blue

A few days prior, the Pima County Board of Supervisors had voted 3–2 to approve rezoning and the land sale for Project Blue. The next step in the approval process was seven weeks later in the form of a vote from the Tucson City Council to officially transfer ownership by annexation into the city. This would allow Project Blue to utilize the city’s water. Our timeline to mobilize was set and this is how the No Desert Data Center Coalition was born.

Identifying the scope and nature of the threats posed by the data center took the sleuthing and knowledge of many in the community, as nondisclosure agreements signed by the city and county as many as three years prior withheld critical information.

Beale Infrastructure, Project Blue’s development company, presented a rosy image of a “sustainable” data center that would be good for Tucson’s environment, local employment, and overall economy. Eventually, we came to understand that Project Blue would require the energy equivalent of the entire city of Tucson to power it at full build. Water use would total nearly 10 million gallons per day for cooling purposes alone, without including the additional amount needed for its lengthy construction phase.

These statistics are staggering for any locale, but the concern was intense in the context of a quickly warming region with ongoing long-term drought conditions since the mid-1990s and an extreme seasonal drought with visible effects on the landscape.

An investigation by Arizona Luminaria, a community-centered local newsroom, revealed that Project Blue’s mysterious end user was Amazon Web Services (AWS). Given Amazon’s anti-union track record, it was highly unlikely that local union labor would be used. The revelation also raised serious concerns due to the clear connection between AWS and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE’s) growing forces of surveillance, deportation, and incarceration. As AWS expands its cloud storage, it creates more digital space, some of which is used by the Department of Homeland Security to store and reference data for tracking and targeting immigrants. In an era when many of our neighbors are increasingly threatened by these operations, the Tucson community was rightfully outraged.

As our No Desert Data Center Coalition gained momentum, we regularly gathered to develop our strategies. We identified clear goals and moved quickly. Most importantly, community care was at the center of our efforts. Meals were shared, sign-making gatherings created connection, and visits to the land in question kept us grounded in our collective love of the Sonoran Desert. In time each member found their place in the whole and we moved together as a united front. All of us, like the diversity of the desert, created something together that had teeth. The line we agreed to hold together was not one drop for data, meaning that we valued water as a life-giving element—and none of it was to be used for extractive industry.

During two informational sessions where Beale and the City promoted the supposed benefits of Project Blue, such as its commitment to renewable energy and the promise of jobs, thousands of Tucson residents showed up mad. Wearing red in solidarity with other communities engaged in similar fights, it was crystal clear how the community felt about Project Blue. We roared and questioned, brought forward our own research and expertise; youth sobbed and begged to simply have a future; and the crowd’s chant burst through without hesitation, “Not one drop! Not one drop!”

Already-eroded trust between constituents and elected and unelected officials was further fractured at these sessions. It was revealed that Pima County and the City of Tucson were planning the development of Project Blue for a full two years before the public was informed. And Amazon’s involvement was only discovered through investigative reporting. We had a sense that the decision to move Project Blue forward had already been made and our voices carried no weight. And, disturbing to many, was the exclusion of the Tohono O’odham and Pascua Yaqui Nations as decision-makers in the process. According to Tucson’s Climate Action and Adaptation Plan, the City seeks to “build reciprocity with sovereign tribal nations and Indigenous communities to address local climate change impacts,” among other things. But thus far for Project Blue, that engagement has not happened.

Extractivism at Its Root

Extractivism—the economic model based on extracting natural resources—continues to dominate the colonial West through hypercapitalism. It fuels the drive to override a community’s demands and a struggling ecosystem’s needs in exchange for a temporary and insignificant boost to the local economy.

Although Project Blue might be the latest example of such extractivism in the area, it is far from the first.

Tucson’s history of environmental justice organizing and movements has been a necessity for many harmed by injustice and extraction. From the 1950s to the 1970s, trichloroethylene (TCE) and other pollutants from the Hughes Missile Systems Company (now Raytheon) poisoned the groundwater, impacting a largely Mexican American and Indigenous community who continue to fight for their health today.

The consequences traveled, as the TCE plume also drifted into the San Xavier District of the Tohono O’odham Nation. Similarly, the fate of the Santa Cruz River, having ceased perennial flow by 1913 and most seasonal flows by the 1940s due to overpumping by settlers, has been an ecological travesty and a profound injustice to the original stewards of this land. Many, including the San Xavier District and some local organizations, have worked to restore and bring awareness to this ghost river, nudging parts of it back to life and returning it to the public’s view as the heart of this region.

On August 6, 2025, Tucson’s City Council met for a study session. Council members Kevin Dahl and Karin Uhlich introduced a motion to strike down Project Blue. A unanimous vote followed, and the project stopped then and there. The crowd, filled with red shirts, cheered and cried, then booed as representatives from Beale Infrastructure left the chambers, heads held low. That day confirmed that despite what we might be told, such projects are not inevitable.

Unfortunately, Beale has since re-engaged Project Blue, which moved through the auspices of Pima County. Three of five county supervisors who wielded the power to bring the project to a halt have remained committed to it, as it also got approval through the Arizona Corporation Commission. The No Desert Data Center Coalition continues the fight and has officially filed a lawsuit against Pima County on January 14, 2026 for violating the Arizona open meeting law.

The story of Project Blue and this region at large, where multiple massive data center proposals are still on the table, is unfinished. Even with the echo of our initial win, this struggle is far from over.

Often, our coalition hears the question, “How did you do it?” The answer is complex, only some aspects known to us. We fought, and will continue to fight, with all that we have. We embraced everything from amplifying community members’ knowledge, going door-to-door with flyers in 110-degree weather, elevating local artists’ work, and hosting town halls, all while embracing an organizing structure that works across social divides.

Foundational to it all, though, is the depth of relationships that we have—to one another, to our broader community, and to the extraordinary desert in which we live. This sense of place and commitment is what moves us. We know that the opposite of extractivism is an orientation toward reciprocal relationships of care with an eye toward the future. For us, that future is bright and alive, where water is free to flow.

Shared from https://nonprofitquarterly.org/not-one-drop-how-an-arizona-community-came-together-to-fight-a-data-center/

NOT. ONE. DROP. URGENT MARANA UPDATE!

Earlier this week… (January 2026)

Marana town council met to vote on the rezoning of two 300 acre parcels of land (600 acres total) for a massive data center complex, courtesy of your favorite 3-grifters-in-a-trench-coat-developer, Beale Infrastructure.

Unfortunately and unsurprisingly, the town council voted 6-0 to pass the rezoning application, complete with some truly wild softball testimony from the council and bonus harassment and bullying of constituents from the dais! (Don’t worry, we’ll talk about this more in the weeks to come).

Since we expected this might be the case, we were prepared with a referendum on the two votes (filed on Thursday), and now we need volunteers to help collect signatures!

Due to the complexity of this process, we’ve partnered with Worker Power to accomplish this task – there are a lot of legal requirements to meet so we’re incredibly thankful for their partnership!

What’s the point of a Referendum?

This referendum will simply put the rezoning on the ballot, not decide whether the projects move forward. This will also mean more opportunities to educate and get real input from the Marana community on these data centers.

We need about 1400 signatures from registered voters in Marana.

We want the people of Marana to have their voices heard.

Find out more here https://nodesertdatacenter.com

Organizing Against Big Data w/Myaisha Hayes, Vivek Bharathan, and Keshaun Pearson

Supes OK Project Blue agreement; Marana data center moves ahead

The Pima County Board of Supervisors approved a binding agreement between the county and Beale Infrastructure, the developers of the Project Blue data centers complex, on several “community benefit investments” the company commits to.

County supervisors passed the agreement by a 3-2 vote, with Supervisors Andrés Cano and Jen Allen voting “no.”

Members of labor unions spoke to the board during the Tuesday meeting’s call to the audience portion to support the agreement and the data center project at large, while other members of the public, including some from the No Desert Data Center Coalition, spoke out in opposition.

The agreement negotiated between county administration and Beale outlines $15 million in community investments along with the developer’s pledge to match 100% of the data centers’ energy use with renewable energy under terms the developer committed to in early November, County Administrator Jan Lesher said in a memo to the board last week.

Key aspects of the agreement are that the data centers will be air-cooled instead of water-cooled; that water for “domestic applications like kitchens, bathrooms and fire suppression systems” will be obtained from a source approved by the Arizona Department of Water Resources; and that Beale Infrastructure “will use commercially available means” to match its energy consumption with renewable energy, but details in the proposed agreement on how Beale will do so are sparse.

Cano said the county needs more good-paying jobs in the region, but he doesn’t believe Project Blue is the way to get them.

“Throughout the United States, communities are warning us when governments approve massive data center deals without enforceable guardrails: harm to public health, strain on water and energy, and residents losing their right to say ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ We cannot rush deals like this for short-term gains, because the costs do not stay short-term. They linger, in our bodies, in our neighborhoods and in our public trust,” Cano said.

“Our community has lived the price of ‘trust us,’ we have lived the consequences of secrecy, we have lived the damage done when public health is treated as an afterthought, when residents are asked to carry the risk while someone else collects the reward,” he continued. “That is why I cannot support Project Blue in its original or current form.”

Allen, the other “no” vote, said the economic benefits touted by supporters of the data center project do not outweigh short- and long-term costs.

“Our vote (in June) opened up the floodgates, and now we’re all going to have to deal with the consequences. The floodgates of not just what’s happening on the 290 acres of (county-owned land), but looking at what’s happening in Marana, what could be happening in Sahuarita, what could be happening on Davis-Monthan (Air Force Base),” she said. “Data centers now saw an opening and they’ve jumped in and are wedging that opening into something larger, and we are still not prepared for the impacts and the consequences of that.”

The Board of Supervisors agreed by a 3-2 vote in June to sell the land on the Tucson area’s southeast side, near the Pima County Fairgrounds, to Project Blue but the deal hasn’t closed yet. Project officials now are pushing to have the sale closed by Dec. 25.

Supervisor Rex Scott said getting Beale’s commitments into an agreement “is a laudable and significant accomplishment,” and that Pima County residents “should know that their representatives pushed hard for this independent verification of Beale’s commitments to renewable energy in our discussions with them.”

“The $3.6 billion capital investment in this project is the largest of its kind in the history of our county and will have a positive, profound effect on our local economy,” Scott said. 

Previously, when the Project Blue developers sent a letter to the county committing to matching its energy use with renewables, Beale said it would do so through the energy supply agreement it was seeking with Tucson Electric Power. In the letter, Beale said it would “seek to accelerate the development of new renewable energy resources for TEP’s grid that produce enough energy to match 100% of the data center’s energy consumption — at the data center’s cost.”

Project Blue plans to buy what was described as renewable energy credits during the Arizona Corporation Commission meeting earlier this month, when the ACC approved the energy service agreement between Beale Infrastructure and TEP. The renewable energy credits will be used to satisfy its pledge made with the county

Beale will also will make an “initial $5 million donation” to go towards science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) scholarships and funding for students and trade schools in Pima County. An additional $10 million donation will be made “during subsequent phases of the project to fund community benefit initiatives identified with the County to address local priorities,” Lesher said in her memo.

Additionally, Beale Infrastructure will agree that the data center “will meet the County’s Preliminary Integrated Water Management Plan (PIWMP) requirements,” Lesher wrote.

Beale data center in Marana moves ahead

The developers of Project Blue got another win last week, when the Marana Planning Commission unanimously voted to recommend a rezoning change that would allow another data center to be built there, so long as the Town Council approves it.

One of the two properties recommended to be rezoned is a roughly-300-acre plot located west of Interstate 10  along North Luckett Road south of the Pinal County line and Pinal Airpark Road. The land is owned by the Kai Family Trust. Herb Kai, listed on the property details in the Pima County Treasurer’s Office, is one of Marana’s six Town Council members.

The other property is a 310-acre parcel at 14990 W. Hardin Road, northwest of the intersection at North Luckett and West Hardin roads. It is owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, according to the Treasurer’s Office.

At full buildout, the data center campus will use an estimated 550 to 750 megawatts of power in its operations, according to materials from the Planning Commission’s meeting. Developers are “currently engaged” with Trico Electric Cooperative for power.

Plans for the data center campus recommended for approval last week align with Marana’s data center ordinance, which the Town Council enacted last year. The ordinance requires data-center developers to disclose how much water and energy they use and to bring in their own water supply rather than rely on the town’s supply.

The data centers also will have to adhere to limits on the amount of noise coming from their facilities. Before they get Marana Town Council approval, they’ll have to submit a noise study performed by a qualified outside acoustic engineer and project how noisy the centers will be once in operation.

Since Marana’s ordinance does not allow for potable water to be used for the cooling operations of data centers, the current proposal for these data centers would be for them to be air-cooled facilities.

Marana Water will provide water for office operations only, while Cortaro Marana Irrigation District will provide water for industrial, irrigation and fire suggestion.

In the presentation to the Planning Commission, Beale Infrastructure said converting the data center campus would use 95% less water than the parcels currently use, as they consume about 2,000 acre-feet of water per year for existing agricultural uses, while the air-cooled data centers would use about 40 acre-feet per year.

Shared from https://tucson.com/news/local/government-politics/article_9f6fc6b5-a7fc-4c1b-b2dd-360fed1454b1.html

National Data Center Moratorium Now!

Shared from Food and Water Watch https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org

Arizona’s data center projects stir tensions

Jan 22, 2026 – Another Republican suburb in Phoenix rejected a proposed data center late last year, suggesting bipartisan opposition statewide

The No Desert Data Center Coalition filed a lawsuit last week against Pima County in southern Arizona for approving a land sale and rezoning request from a data center developer — just the latest move in the battle over data centers amid water concerns in Arizona.

In August 2025, the Tucson City Council rejected Project Blue, a proposed $3.6 billion data center complex spanning 290 acres. But the Pima County Board approved the land sale and the rezoning request.

The latest lawsuit alleges the county hid a “bodyguard of lies” to mislead the public. This included hiding the project’s true intent by incorporating phony “potential” plans for the land.

“The democratic process requires open meetings and public disclosure of what our government is working on in order to hold people accountable and we didn’t get that opportunity,” said Reed Spurling, a member of the No Desert Data Center Coalition. “They didn’t give us that opportunity.”

Beale Infrastructure, the developer, is simultaneously pursuing another data center project in Marana, which neighbors Tucson in Pima County. The town council unanimously approved the data center’s rezoning application for two 300-acre parcels of land on Jan. 6.

The No Desert Data Center Coalition plans to respond with a referendum.

As The Associated Press reported, these two proposals are in competition to become “the first large-scale data center in southern Arizona,” a possibility that the federal government welcomes.

Local opposition to data centers in Tucson, a Democratic stronghold, Marana, a conservative-leaning district, and Chandler, a Republican suburb, suggests bipartisan consensus over concerns of water scarcity and rising energy costs.

Arizona AG blocks secret energy deal tied to data center

Concurrent with this lawsuit, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes has stepped in to block the project from striking a deal with a Tucson utility company and the developer.

In a recent filing, she argued that a “loophole” allowed Tucson Electric Power and the developer to set their own electricity rate in private. Typically, rates are regulated by the elected members of the Arizona Corporation Commission.

The loophole would bypass the evidentiary hearing where interested parties have a chance to present their evidence.

In a statement, TEP President Erik Bakken denied Mayes’ claims and dismissed the allegation of its association with the controversial data center project.

“Our customers deserve honest, accurate information about decisions that affect their energy future,” said Bakken.

“Recent statements by those attacking Tucson Electric Power’s agreement to serve Project Blue are false and at the very least misleading,” the president of the Tucson utility company added.

“Facts matter and the public deserves clarity.”

In September 2025, the Arizona Corporation Commission approved Mayes’ request to intervene in TEP’s request to hike electric rates by nearly 14%.

“This is blatant corporate greed. TEP’s parent company reported $1.6 billion in net earnings last year,” Mayes said in a press release at the time. “This is a billion-dollar company that wants to increase the average Tucson consumer’s monthly bill by 14% following back-to-back rate hikes over the past five years. It’s time to say ‘enough.’”

Beale Infrastructure, the data center developer, said the data centers will be air-cooled instead of using millions of gallons of water to “wash” the heat away from servers.

But the trade-off in this case is a massive energy draw in an already strained region.

Shared from https://www.deseret.com/politics/2026/01/22/tuscon-fights-back-against-data-center-proposal-after-chandler-rejected-another-proposal-last-year/

Episode 289 – Solutions: Nullification

by Corbett | Dec 14, 2013

Hardly a week goes by that we aren’t faced with some new outrageous piece of legislation from the increasingly tyrannical government. But once these bills have been passed, what can we actually do about them? What if stopping this legislation was as simple as saying “no”? Join us this week on The Corbett Report as we explore the nullification solution, a long-repressed piece of political history that offers us a way out.

Shared from https://corbettreport.com/episode-289-solutions-nullification/

Tenth Amendment Center

“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” https://tenthamendmentcenter.com/author/michael-maharrey/

Writs, Riots, and Redcoats: Hancock’s Spark of the Revolution

By: Mike Maharrey|Published on: Jan 17, 2026|Categories: American Revolution, History, John Hancock

In an early confrontation between the customs officials and John Hancock, the British hoped that flexing their muscles would teach the colonists a lesson and cow them into submission.

They were wrong.

Instead, the crackdown sparked a willingness to physically resist unconstitutional taxation and British assertions of “unlimited” power.

SETTING THE STAGE

In the first act of widespread resistance to British power, colonial opposition to the Stamp Act made it impossible to enforce.

On March 18, 1766, Parliament relented and repealed the hated tax. However, the British government wasn’t backing down. On the same day, it passed the Declaratory Act, asserting that it had the unlimited power to make laws binding the American colonies “in all cases whatsoever.”

This set the stage for additional taxes.

In the summer of 1767, Parliament enacted four laws together known as the Townshend Acts. These laws imposed new levies on the importation of paper, paint, lead, glass, and tea.

The British also established the American Board of Commissioners, empowered with “writs of assistance,” to step up tax collections and crack down on smuggling.

In practice, these writs served as open-ended search warrants that authorized customs officials to search ships, warehouses, and even homes if they even suspected the presence of smuggled goods.

This further antagonized Americans and set the stage for further protests and resistance.

THE LYDIA AFFAIR

Things came to a head in the spring of 1768 when tidesmen (customs agents) boarded the Lydia, a merchant ship owned by John Hancock.

Hancock imported manufactured goods from England and exported a variety of colonial wares, including whale oil, fish, and rum.

When British agents boarded the Lydia, Hancock didn’t just comply. Instead, he demanded to see their authorization to board and search the ship.

Lacking even a broad Writ of Assistance to authorize a search, the agents were barred by Hancock from going below deck. But the British agents persisted. Lydia crewmembers caught one of the tidesmen, Owen Richards, snooping below deck twice, attempting to search the hold anyway.

What followed is a timeless example of how the American Revolutionaries understood a free people should act in the face of arbitrary government power.

Rather than accept the situation and sue for damages later, John Hancock drew a hard line in the sand. He ordered his crew to forcibly remove Richards from below deck and have him brought topside, making clear that he saw the ship’s deck as the limit of their jurisdiction.

The British attempted to prosecute Hancock, but their efforts were thwarted when Massachusetts Attorney General Jonathan Sewall, a close friend of John Adams, determined that Hancock had not committed an offence due to the lack of a writ, and refused to proceed with a case.

If Hancock hadn’t already been on the British radar, he was now. His willingness to physically resist gave him the status of a hero to many in Boston. And given this prominence, he was the perfect target for the British to make a statement.

The Board of Commissioners wrote to London seeking to overrule Sewall; however, a second incident gave them a better opportunity to go after Hancock.

THE LIBERTY SEIZED

On May 9, 1768, another Hancock ship entered Boston Harbor, reportedly carrying 25 casks of wine. The British were suspicious because the Liberty had the capacity to carry four times that cargo.

Customs agents boarded the Liberty (this time with the proper paperwork), but initially claimed they didn’t see anything suspicious. However, officials still suspected smuggling.

Rumors spread everywhere, including one repeated by Royal officials that Hancock was even boasting that he could unload the wine without paying the taxes.

Without hard proof, the British had to settle for rumors.

Weeks later, however, things changed. Thomas Kirk, one of the tidesmen who initially reported that nothing was amiss, suddenly gave a different story in an affidavit.

He claimed that he was forcefully held on the ship while the cargo was offloaded before entering the harbor. He said he was subsequently bribed and threatened with violence by Captain Marshall, who helmed another of Hancock’s ships, to keep quite. But in the meantime, Marshall suddenly died.

No longer fearing retribution, and likely emboldened by the presence of the newly-arrived 50-gun naval vessel HMS Romney, Kirk said he finally felt safe enough to change his story.

He said he “heard a noise as of many people upon deck at work hoisting out goods,” as well as “the Noise of the Tackles.”

Despite finding no additional witnesses to corroborate Kirk’s story, the commissioners determined that Kirk’s affidavit provided sufficient grounds to seize the Liberty for unloading before entry.

On the evening of Saturday, June 10, Collector of the Port Joseph Harrison, Comptroller Benjamin Hallowell and several other customs officials showed up at Hancock’s wharf, where the Liberty was moored. The officer boarded the sloop and executed the legal procedure to seize her.

Hoping to avoid a rescue mission staged by angry Bostonians, the customs officials enlisted the help of the Romney. Once the formal seizure was complete, they signaled the British warship, and two boats filled with sailors rowed to the Liberty and took charge of Hancock’s ship.

Despite assurances from a growing onshore crowd that they would not interfere with the seizure and their efforts to hold the Liberty at the wharf, the sailors cut the ship loose and had it towed into the harbor under the guns of the Romney.

VIOLENT PROTEST

This set off a mass protest that quickly grew to a riot with an estimated 3,000 colonists. They attacked the customs house and pelted customs officials with rocks.

As Massachusetts Bay Governor Thomas Hutchinson described it, “A Mob presently gathered & insulted the Custom H Officers & carried them in triumph up the Wharffe tore their cloaths & bruised & otherways hurt them until one after another they escaped.”

They also seized a personal boat belonging to Collector of the Port Joseph Harrison, hauling the vessel to the Liberty Tree and burning it.

The riot was intense. Customs agents in varying degrees were physically attacked, beaten, had their clothes torn off and were even dragged out or chased away. Four of the British commissioners were forced to flee and take shelter on the Romney, where they stayed for several days before retreating further to Castle William in Boston Harbor.

More violence was expected on the following Monday, but instead, the Sons of Liberty called a meeting at Liberty Hall. The crowd was so large that the meeting moved to Faneuil Hall.

Hutchinson wrote, “It is now the talk among the populace that neither the Commissioners nor the Comptroller shall be suffered to Return to Town & just before noon today (June 16) I saw a printed notification upon the Change Requiring a full meeting tomorrow as the fate of the province & of America depended upon the measures to be then taken.”

Meanwhile, in an early application of nullification, the sheriff refused to take any action against the protestors. Hutchinson explained why.

“It is very natural to ask where the Justices & Sheriffs are upon these occasions. The persons who are to assist the Sheriff in the execution of his Office are Sons of Liberty & determined to oppose him in every thing which shall be contrary to their Schemes. Some of the Justices are great favourers of them & those who are not are afraid of being sacrificed by them & will issue out no warrants to apprehend them.”

AFTERMATH

The Liberty affair didn’t end there. The British wanted a show of force in an attempt to prevent a repeat.

On September 28, 1768, eight more British warships arrived in Boston Harbor, joining six others already anchored there. The following evening, the ships launched skyrockets, lighting up the fleet as crew members sang “Yankee Doodle,” an effort to taunt the people of Boston.

Days later, hundreds of redcoats landed and marched into the hostile city.

This was the beginning of what is now known as the Boston Campaign, or the Occupation of Boston.

Rather than restore order after the riot, this militarization only made things worse. The presence of British regular troops in the streets of Boston enraged the people, who now felt they were being occupied by a foreign standing army.

Over the next two years, tensions heated up and then boiled over in March 1770 with the Boston Massacre, and ultimately, American independence.

Shared from https://tenthamendmentcenter.com/2026/01/17/writs-riots-and-redcoats-hancocks-spark-of-the-revolution/