KEY TAKEAWAYS: President Donald Trump criticized opposition to data centers as resistance grows nationally over their costs and impacts. Louisiana has four major data center projects announced or underway in Richland, Caddo, Bossier, Rapides and West Feliciana parishes. Gov. Jeff Landry has ba cked the industry while imposing guidelines intended to prevent data center electricity costs from falling on other customers. A March Gallup poll found 71% of Americans opposed data center construction in their communities.   President Donald Trump said opponents of data centers are “backwards” as Louisiana advances four of the facilities designed to feed the artificial intelligence boom. Trump posted the comments on his Truth Social platform Aug. 31 as bipartisan resistance to data centers grows among some communities and politicians. “The only reason that communities throughout the U.S.A. should not want Data Centers is if they want to end up being backwards and poor. If they want to be successful and rich, with far lower taxes and jobs all over the place, let Data Reign,” Trump said. “The good news is that there are plenty of other places that want them. If we kill the Golden Goose, you will only have yourselves to blame. China could not be happier with this anti Data Center movement. Actually, they can’t believe it is happening!” he said. While some Republicans like Texas Gov. Greg Abbott have broken with Trump on the issue, placing a moratorium on the facilities, Republican Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry has championed the projects in his state. Louisiana has become a national data center hub with four projects already announced or underway, including Meta in Richland Parish, Amazon in Shreveport-Bossier, Delta Forge 1 in Rapides Parish and Hut 8 in West Feliciana Parish. “Louisiana is setting the standard for data centers that serve the people!” Landry said in an Aug. 29 post on X. Landry issued an executive order June 25 to address concerns about the massive power needs of the state’s developing AI data centers and who will pay for them. His executive order requires data center companies to follow a new set of guidelines to participate in state tax breaks, specifically the Data Center Sales and Use Tax Exemption program. Among those guidelines is that companies and utilities “must fully fund” their electricity needs, the governor said. Landry’s executive order is specific to eligible participation for tax exemptions since the Public Service Commission is the only Louisiana agency that can regulate utility rates. Trump has also said he wants data centers to build their own dedicated power stations, which is part of a Ratepayer Protection Pledge that several tech companies and governors signed after the president introduced it this year. However, the industry-friendly pledge is not binding and doesn’t mandate any actions. Republican state Rep. Jack McFarland of Winnfield, chairman of the state’s powerful budget committee, said he agrees with Trump that the U.S. shouldn’t cede data center AI storage to potentially hostile countries. “To me it’s a national security issue,” McFarland said Sept. 1 in an interview with USA Today Network. “Much like growing our own food and producing our own energy are national security issues, we don’t want China to be in control of our data.” Though Louisiana has largely welcomed the data centers, there has been some isolated resistance from elected leaders. Democratic Public Service Commissioner Davante Lewis voted against fast-tracking the timeline for Entergy to seek final approval to build seven new power plants to fuel Meta’s $50 billion data center. And Republican Caddo Parish Commissioner John Paul Young proposed a two-year moratorium on new data centers that hasn’t cleared the commission. Young is also a candidate in the Shreveport mayor’s race. A Gallup poll conducted in March found 71% of Americans oppose the construction of data centers in their areas ‒ including 75% of Democratic voters, 63% of Republican voters and 74% of independents. Greg Hilburn covers state politics for the USA TODAY Network of Louisiana. Follow him on Twitter @GregHilburn1. This article originally appeared on Shreveport Times: Trump calls data center opponents backward as Louisiana projects roll on Reporting by Greg Hilburn, Shreveport Times / Shreveport Times USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect ...read more read less