Dynamite blasts have shaken the Potteiger family's central Pennsylvania home for two months as construction crews clear land for PAX-1, a 700-acre data centre project. The Potteigers, who have lived beside the hillside for decades, say they can no longer see their yard due to dust from the blasts. Their concerns echo across Middlesex Township, where opposition to PAX-1 flooded a recent town hall so heavily that the meeting was cancelled for exceeding the 150-person venue capacity.

The backlash against rapid data centre expansion has become a flashpoint in Pennsylvania and across the US ahead of November's midterm elections, scrambling partisan divisions in battleground races. Nearly two-thirds of Pennsylvanians believe data centres pose a problem, citing potential job losses, increased electricity and water prices, and environmental degradation, according to a Muhlenberg College poll.

In Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley, signs opposing six proposed data centres dot lawns, including Project Atlas on a 410-acre site near Bethlehem. Both Democratic challenger Bob Brooks and Republican Ryan Mackenzie in the seventh congressional district support Governor Josh Shapiro's August executive order slowing data centre approvals. Amazon Web Services vice-president Roger Wehner argues the company's $20bn investment will generate tax revenue and local jobs, but residents view the developments as intrusions by outside interests.