Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) sparked swift backlash on Wednesday after he attempted to defend data center development during a CNN interview.
Fetterman appeared on "The Area" with host Kasie Hunt, where he was asked about the unpopularity of data centers. Recent polls have shown that up to 70% of Americans don't want a data center built near their home because of concerns about water consumption and impacts to the energy grid.
Fetterman told Hunt that concerns about data centers are largely overblown, but his reasoning left several critics alarmed.
"A lot of the opposition has been driven by the [Chinese Communist Party], and a lot of influence," Fetterman said. "Also, there are the facts. It consumes maybe less than 1/10 of the water, and contributes to our economy and our land uses too. In Pennsylvania, we are land rich and also water rich, too. So, I think it's an important part of our economy right now."
Critics reacted to Fetterman's comments on social media.
"As far as I'm concerned, John Fetterman is already a lobbyist," Nick Field, a politics writer, posted on X.
"I dare Fetterman to go visit a community pissed about data centers and tell them this BS," J.J. Abbott, a Democratic political communications strategist in Pennsylvania, posted on X. "He won’t because he’s too afraid to go out in public in PA without his Dave McCormick security blanket."
"When your whole thing is being an online contrarian, and all you see is tons of people online sharing an opinion (because that opinion also happens to be shared by tons of people offline), you end up saying stuff like this," Prem Thakker, a reporter at Zeteo News, posted on X.
