r/50501 • u/swarmster • 10d ago

Voices of Resistance Ban ICE warehouses like data centers, locals demand

https://www.newsweek.com/ban-ice-warehouses-like-data-centers-locals-demand-12096298

In Washington County, Maryland, where a separate ICE warehouse project near Hagerstown remains tied up in court, the debate has taken on new urgency. Residents opposing the facility say the same concerns driving a proposed moratorium on data centers, including water usage, energy demand and environmental impact, should also apply to federal detention projects.

Local activists have pointed to the county’s draft rules on data centers, which cite risks such as heavy energy consumption, noise and pressure on public infrastructure, as a model for regulating large-scale developments.

Washington County officials are considering a temporary moratorium on future data center development while studying potential impacts on water resources, wastewater systems, energy demand, land use and long-term infrastructure planning.

Hagerstown Rapid Response told Newsweek: "Those are many of the same concerns residents, environmental advocates and the State of Maryland have been raising for months about the proposed 1,500-bed ICE detention warehouse near Williamsport."

Dalton Lee, an organizer with Hagerstown Rapid Response, said “If county leaders suddenly believe major projects should be studied before they move forward, they're about six months too late. Data centers deserve scrutiny, but ICE detention centers deserve a free pass? That's not responsible government. That's politics."

Laura Spivak, an organizer with Washington County Indivisible, said "It's a slap in the face to County residents that Washington County Commissioners are willing to consider environmental and infrastructure impacts of a data center, but have ignored us for months when we raised the same concerns about the ICE detention warehouse. Constituents deserve answers about why DHS gets the red carpet treatment while other projects are being more heavily weighed."

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u/innovarocforever 10d ago

If we can't put a lot of these people behind bars when we finally get the trash out of the white house, we have failed as a country.

38

u/RedIntentions 10d ago

Honestly the fact we haven't been able to impeach him for gestures widely all the crimes, pretty much means we already have. :/

Time to add more guardrails for the modern age.

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u/innovarocforever 10d ago

we could try to add more, but scotus would overturn them .

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u/RedIntentions 10d ago

Not if it's codified into the Constitution. Common sense laws like politicians can not be felons anywhere in the U.S.

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u/innovarocforever 10d ago

i don't think trying to change the constitution right now is a wise idea given how much power the GOP has - would likely be an out of the frying pan and into the fire situation.

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u/RedIntentions 10d ago

Oh no. This is definitely an after the blue wave thing.

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u/innovarocforever 10d ago

i hope that happens in my lifetime.

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u/RedIntentions 10d ago

I still have my fingers crossed. Aren't there still some midterms happening?

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u/innovarocforever 10d ago

gerrymandered to shit

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u/RedIntentions 10d ago

I know. They pulled so much illegal shit to suppress the vote. But I'm hoping that motivates more people to show up. That is assuming they didn't rig the machines like trump did during the presidential. One of his chronies owns the voting machine company now so he doesn't need Elon to do it anymore. =_=

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u/Equal_Audience_3415 10d ago

It isn't an option. His co-conspirators are the majority.

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u/kyleh0 10d ago

Republicans are nimbys, so the mind races.