Erin Brockovich made a map to track data centers around the country

Erin Brockovich, the environmental activist whose name and work you may recognize from the Oscar-winning movie Erin Brockovich, has created a tool to map data centers across the country, along with a form for people to report data centers and their impacts in their community.

“The RACE to build AI infrastructures is unfolding town by town across America. In some places, data centers are welcomed,” Brockovich writes on the site (emphasis hers). “In others, they are delayed, contested or abandoned altogether. This MAP captures the real-world footprint of that race — revealing patterns of growth, conflict and uncertainty.”

As data center demand continues to grow rapidly, so are concerns about their impacts; in March, Andrew and I wrote about how investigating data centers is quickly becoming its own beat. As of publication, Brockovich’s map — similar to a map published by Business Insider, whom Andrew and I talked to for our story — shows the locations of 33 operational data centers, with 44 under construction and 27 proposed. There are also 2,716 community reports so far, and undoubtedly more will follow.

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Dhanesha, Neel. "Erin Brockovich made a map to track data centers around the country." Nieman Journalism Lab. Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard, 26 May. 2026. Web. 26 May. 2026.

Dhanesha, N. (2026, May. 26). Erin Brockovich made a map to track data centers around the country. Nieman Journalism Lab. Retrieved May 26, 2026, from https://www.niemanlab.org/2026/05/erin-brockovich-made-a-map-to-track-data-centers-around-the-country/

Dhanesha, Neel. "Erin Brockovich made a map to track data centers around the country." Nieman Journalism Lab. Last modified May 26, 2026. Accessed May 26, 2026. https://www.niemanlab.org/2026/05/erin-brockovich-made-a-map-to-track-data-centers-around-the-country/.

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