Reading and Podcast Picks is a collection of what we’ve been reading and listening to over the last week or so about energy topics. In addition to these R&P Picks , paid subscribers receive access to the full archives, Grid Roundups , and select episodes of the Energy Capital Podcast . Please subscribe today. Behind the Backlash: Understanding Opposition to Data Centers | Milltown Partners Milltown Partners surveyed more than 6,000 registered voters about data centers and got some surprising results. The chart below is from the report. Opposition to data centers is more than a political phenomenon. It’s driven by anti-tech sentiment more than NIMBYism or environmentalism and underpinned by populism on both sides of the political divide. The permit is not the license | The Edge Harvard professor George Serafeim uses the example of Blackstone walking away from QTS data center development to make a crucial point. Just because a project has local permits to build doesn’t mean it has the social license from the community to move forward. Neighbors of the QTS project fought the development and won legal decisions that made the project untenable. Mining, oil, and gas already paid tuition on this lesson across decades of blocked projects and burned capital. Tech and finance are now enrolling in the same course, and QTS just paid the first installment. The permit was never the license that mattered. Attitudes toward data centers in Texas are shifting | Dallas Morning News The Dallas Morning News editorial board throws its support behind Gov. Greg Abbott’s position on firm data center regulations. Abbott is right to push for a framework that reduces the impact data centers have on their neighbors because as Texas attracts more data center development, especially in rural areas, the state is confronting a new reality. Read more
Shifting Winds for Data Centers | Reading and Podcast Picks - July 12, 2026
Brief
Shifting Winds for Data Centers (July 12, 2026) highlights a Milltown Partners survey of more than 6,000 registered voters showing opposition to data centers stems largely from anti‑tech sentiment and populism rather than NIMBY or environmental concerns. It cites Harvard’s George Serafeim and Blackstone’s abandonment of a planned QTS site—local legal defeats that underscore permits ≠ social license—and notes the Dallas Morning News backing Gov. Greg Abbott’s push for stricter statewide rules as Texas attracts more rural data‑center projects.
Why it matters
Milltown Partners surveyed more than 6,000 registered voters and found opposition to data centers is driven more by anti‑tech sentiment and populism than by NIMBYism or environmental concerns.
Key details
- Harvard Prof. George Serafeim highlights Blackstone’s decision to walk away from a planned QTS data center after local legal challenges, showing municipal permits didn’t secure a community ‘social license.’
- The Dallas Morning News editorial board backed Gov. Greg Abbott’s push (coverage July 2026) for firm statewide data‑center regulations to limit neighbor impacts as Texas attracts more rural development.