美国能源倡导组织「赋能未来」（Power the Future）的拉里·贝伦斯表示，环保组织将外部资金伪装成本地草根运动
2026年9月2日 美国东部时间早上5:00 / 福克斯新闻
作者：安德鲁·马克·米勒
福克斯新闻数字频道就左翼团体支持反对数据中心的活动及其动机，采访了「赋能未来」的拉里·贝伦斯。
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随着数据中心的发展持续成为美国最热门的政治争议议题之一，多位专家对那些投入大量资金和资源开展反对数据中心活动的各类左翼团体和气候活动人士敲响了警钟。
「这是我们见过的一套剧本，」「赋能未来」的传播总监拉里·贝伦斯在接受福克斯新闻数字频道采访时表示。
「我认为美国人在达科他输油管道事件中见过这种情况，在美国的石油或天然气生产领域也见过。这类看似草根的组织突然冒出来，但他们都穿着同款T恤，都在套用同一套剧本，举着同样的标语。所以当我们看到这种情况时，就会发现这并非真正的草根组织，资金另有来源，而这次的矛头指向了数据中心。」
多家支持反对数据中心活动的左翼团体得益于主要的进步派资助网络，其中包括公开将乔治·索罗斯的开放社会基金会列为「慷慨资助」其工作的「民众之声」（Public Citizen），以及2014年至2022年间从阿拉贝拉顾问公司的十六三十基金获得360万美元资助的塞拉俱乐部。
顶级能源组织警告：外国富豪可能在资助美国各地的反数据中心活动
曾针对数据中心项目发起抗议的「粉色代码」（CodePink）获得了与社会主义巨额捐赠者内维尔·罗伊·辛厄姆有关的资金，辛厄姆与中国共产党有着深厚联系。福克斯新闻数字频道此前曾报道，在美国与中国争夺全球人工智能主导权之际，辛厄姆向六家激进主义非营利组织注入了约2.85亿美元资金。
在被许多人视为数据中心斗争前沿阵地的得克萨斯州，反对活动由一系列左翼团体推动，包括「民众之声」、塞拉俱乐部以及社会主义解放党。「民众之声」是「得克萨斯数据中心反抗运动」的创始成员，该运动召集全州活动人士在圣安东尼奥举行为期两天的集会；而塞拉俱乐部奥斯汀分会、社会主义解放党以及「拯救我们的泉水联盟」联合举办了7月的「捍卫狗头」论坛，反对奥斯汀一处包含数据中心的大型开发项目。
参与推动全美各地反移民海关执法局（ICE）抗议和「无王」抗议活动的多个团体，也参与了反对数据中心的行动。今年早些时候，福克斯新闻数字频道曾报道，支持能源的倡导组织「赋能未来」致信国会，要求对全美各地涌现的反数据中心活动展开更深入调查，并指出支持这些活动的各类左翼团体。
「他们通过一系列组织转移资金，刻意掩盖资金用途，让资助触角看起来来自各地，伪装成本地活动，」贝伦斯解释道。「需要明确的是，确实存在本地反对声音，也有合理的疑问需要解答，但当立法措辞、谈话要点、律师的论点都如出一辙时，我们就会意识到这并非自发的本土运动。」
推动「保守派」反抗特朗普核心议程的隐性左翼网络
贝伦斯表示，左翼团体反对数据中心的主要动因，除了对坚定支持美国人工智能主导地位的唐纳德·特朗普总统的意识形态敌意外，还有对化石燃料的反对。
「这和他们一贯反对的东西一样，任何真正的进步他们都会反对，任何能增强美国实力的事物他们都会反对。而说到数据中心，他们反对的理由再清楚不过，因为数据中心代表着美国的就业岗位，且必须依靠美国能源来运营，」贝伦斯解释道。
「而这正是环保左翼绝对无法容忍的两件事。他们会采用拖延或转移注意力的策略，声称问题在于水资源、土地使用。但你看，当涉及种植大麻时，他们对水资源使用毫无意见；当太阳能电站铺满农田时，他们不在乎土地使用；当太阳能电站建在濒危物种栖息地时，他们也不在乎濒危物种。他们的借口从来都不是真正的理由，本质上就是反对美国能源和美国工人的进步与生产。」
数据中心已成为中期选举季最受热议的政治议题之一，在得克萨斯州、俄亥俄州和内华达州等州尤为突出。福克斯新闻今夏的民调显示，绝大多数选民反对在自家社区建设数据中心，70%的受访者持反对态度，仅30%的人表示支持。
专家警告：受中国资金资助、仇视美国的煽动者将目标对准数据中心
近80%的选民表示，应放慢建设速度以应对环境和本地担忧，仅有20%的人支持尽快建设以保持美国相对于中国及其他国家的竞争优势。反对声音跨越代际界限，但「让美国再次伟大」的共和党人和共和党男性是最支持建设数据中心的群体，支持率分别为46%和45%。
在福克斯新闻数字频道最近的一篇专栏文章中，消费者研究组织执行董事威尔·希尔德指出，数据中心开发商忽视消费者担忧的问题，可能会让美国在人工智能竞赛中失利。
「那些花了数十年时间试图扼杀页岩气开采、输油管道和美国能源主导地位的气候激进分子，找到了新的目标，」希尔德告诉福克斯新闻数字频道。「他们利用消费者合理的担忧，发起大规模虚假宣传运动，试图恐吓美国人关闭科技基础设施。那些曾对抗美国石油和天然气行业的激进机器，现在正动员起来反对现代数据中心，因为他们对美国创新的一贯回应就是阻止建设。」
数据中心的反对声浪正日益重塑全美中期选举局势，两党候选人都面临着与数据中心开发划清界限或要求实施更严格限制的压力，因为选民们对电力成本、水资源使用以及对本地社区的影响表示担忧。
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该议题已出现在俄亥俄州、密歇根州、宾夕法尼亚州和得克萨斯州等州的重大参议院和州长选举中，竞选团队将数据中心问题用于攻击广告，那些曾吹捧该项目的候选人也越来越多地呼吁出台新规定、修改税收政策或暂停建设。
在得克萨斯州，这场斗争也成为该州民主党更广泛的中期选举组织工作的一部分。「得克萨斯团结」是由得克萨斯州民主党、得克萨斯多数派政治行动委员会、贝托·奥罗克的「以人民为动力」组织和其他民主党团体支持的3000万美元联合竞选活动，该组织举办了以数据中心为主题的市政厅会议和新闻发布会，邀请民主党候选人参与；而埃尔帕索青年民主党和埃尔帕索县民主党则组织了抗议活动，称其为「破坏性的人工智能数据中心」。
贝伦斯同意希尔德提出的调整信息传递方式的呼吁，并向福克斯新闻数字频道谈到了数据中心公司如何改变叙事方向。
「我认为他们需要与本地利益相关者进行非常具体的沟通，而非那些被人造草根运动裹挟的人，他们需要讨论数据中心的好处，需要准确解释数据中心的作用，因为确实存在合理的疑问，美国人有权发问：我们这片地区将要建的是什么？」
贝伦斯补充道：「但我也要提醒大家，如果你们没有反对任何其他类型的制造业，如果你们没有反对大型Buc-ees加油站，那为什么单单对数据中心感到愤怒？因为这些企业和数据中心一样，都会消耗大量水资源、占用大量土地。提出问题完全合理，但因为环保左翼告诉你们要讨厌数据中心就设置不必要的障碍，我们真的需要警惕这一点。我认为归根结底，如果反对数据中心的思想指导是奥卡西奥-科特兹、伯尼·桑德斯和凯西·霍楚尔，那你们真的需要好好想想自己的立场，因为他们自从政以来在所有重大能源问题上都错得离谱。」
福克斯新闻数字频道已联系「粉色代码」、塞拉俱乐部、开放社会基金会和「民众之声」置评。
十六三十基金的发言人在给福克斯新闻数字频道的声明中反驳称，该组织「自豪地支持塞拉俱乐部」。
发言人补充道：「全国各地的民众都有合理的疑问，担心这些项目会如何影响他们的社区。将这些担忧斥之为反美或反进步是荒谬的。企业利益相关者应该专注于解决数据中心开发的潜在影响，而非攻击发声的民众。」
安德鲁·马克·米勒是福克斯新闻记者。可在推特@andymarkmiller关注他，或发送爆料邮件至AndrewMark.Miller@Fox.com。
Inside the far-left’s anti-data center push and what experts say is driving it: ‘Playbook we’ve seen before’
Power the Future’s Larry Behrens says environmental organizations are masking outside funding as local grassroots movements
September 2, 2026 5:00am EDT / Fox News
By Andrew Mark Miller
Fox News Digital spoke to Power The Future’s Larry Behrens about the left wing groups backing data center opposition and their reasons for doing so.
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As the development of data centers continues to grow into one of the top hot button political issues in the United States, some experts are sounding the alarm on the various left-wing groups and climate activists who are pouring money and resources into data center opposition campaigns.
“It’s a playbook we’ve seen before,” Larry Behrens, communications director at Power The Future, told Fox News Digital in an interview.
“I think Americans saw this with the Dakota Access Pipeline. They see this with oil or natural gas production within the United States. This seemingly grassroots organization pops up, but yet they’re all wearing the same T-shirts. They’re all singing the same playbook, and they’re only carrying the same signs, and so when we see that, we see that that’s not really a grassroots organization that money is coming from somewhere, and in this case, against data centers.”
Several left-wing organizations backing data center opposition have benefited from major progressive funding networks, including Public Citizen, which has listed George Soros’ Open Society Foundations among foundations whose “generous support” makes its work possible, and the Sierra Club, which received $3.6 million from Arabella Advisors’ Sixteen Thirty Fund between 2014 and 2022.
TOP ENERGY GROUP WARNS WEALTHY FOREIGNERS ARE POTENTIALLY BANKROLLING ANTI-DATA CENTER CAMPAIGNS ACROSS US
A crowd demonstrating against global warming and plastic pollution, concepts about green ecology and environmental sustainability.(Getty Images)
CodePink, which has targeted data center projects, has received funding linked to socialist megadonor Neville Roy Singham, who has deep ties to the Chinese Communist Party. Fox News Digital previously reported that Singham funneled roughly $285 million into six activist nonprofits, as the U.S. and China battle for global AI dominance.
In Texas, viewed by many as the front line of the data center fight, opposition has been fueled by a network of left-wing groups, including Public Citizen, the Sierra Club and the Party for Socialism and Liberation. Public Citizen is a founding member of the Texas Data Center Rebellion, which brought activists from across the state together for a two-day convening in San Antonio, while the Sierra Club’s Austin chapter, PSL and Save Our Springs Alliance teamed up for a July “Defend Dog’s Head” forum opposing a massive Austin development that includes data centers.
Several of the groups actively involved in fueling anti-ICE protests and “No Kings” protests across the country are also involved in pushing back against data centers. Earlier this year, Fox News Digital reported that Power the Future, a pro-energy advocacy group, sent a letter asking Congress to take a closer look at opposition to data centers springing up across the country, pointing out the various left-wing groups that were backing those efforts.
“What they do is they send their money through a maze of organizations, deliberately trying to mask what it is being used for and seeing that the tentacles reach in from far and are made to look local,” Behrens explained. “Now, to be clear, there is local opposition and there are legitimate questions to ask, but when the legislative language is the same, when the talking points are the same. And the lawyer’s points are the same, then we start to see that this is not an organic local movement.”
THE HIDDEN LEFT-WING NETWORK POWERING A ‘CONSERVATIVE’ REBELLION AGAINST A MAJOR TRUMP PRIORITY
Volunteers hand out yard signs against a data center complex in Canaan Valley on June 30, 2025, after a public meeting organized by the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection regarding an air quality permit application for a gas-fired power plant near Davis, W. Va.(ULYSSE BELLIER/AFP via Getty Images)
The main driver of left-wing groups opposing data centers, in addition to ideological disdain toward President Donald Trump, who has been a staunch supporter of American AI dominance, is the opposition to fossil fuels, Behrens says.
“It’s the same thing that they’ve always opposed, any real progress they’re going to be against, anything that strengthens America, they’re gonna be against, and when it comes to data centers, the reason they’re against them is absolutely clear because it represents American jobs, and it has to be supported by American energy,” Behrens explained.
“And those are two things that the environmental left just absolutely cannot stand. And they’re gonna use delay or distracting tactics. They’re gonna use tactics like saying it’s about the water, it’s about land use. But lo and behold, when it comes time to grow cannabis, they’re more than happy with the water use. When it comes time to plaster solar fields across farmland, they don’t care about land use. When it comes time to put their solar fields across an endangered species area, they don’t care about that endangered species. It’s never what they say it’s about, it’s always against progress and production for American energy and American workers really.”
Data centers have become one of the most talked about political issues of the midterm election season, particularly in states like Texas, Ohio and Nevada, and Fox News polling this summer found voters overwhelmingly oppose building data centers in their own communities, with 70% opposed and 30% in favor.
AGITATORS UNITED BY CHINESE MONEY, HATE FOR AMERICA TARGET DATA CENTERS, EXPERTS WARN
George Soros pictured on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in January 2020.(Simon Dawson/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Nearly 8 in 10 voters said construction should move more slowly to address environmental and local concerns, while just 20% favored building as quickly as possible to preserve the U.S. competitive edge over China and other countries. Opposition crossed generational lines, though MAGA Republicans and Republican men were the most supportive groups, at 46% and 45%, respectively.
In a recent Fox News Digital op-ed, Consumers’ Research Executive Director Will Hild made the case that data center developers ignoring the concerns of the consumers’ has been a problem that could cost the United States victory in the AI race.
“Climate radicals who spent decades trying to kill fracking, pipelines, and American energy dominance have found their next target,” Hild told Fox News Digital. “They are hijacking legitimate consumer concerns to fuel a massive disinformation campaign aimed at frightening Americans into shutting down the technology infrastructure. The same activist machine that fought American oil and gas is now mobilizing against modern data centers, because its answer to American innovation is always to stop building begins.”
Data center backlash is increasingly reshaping midterm races nationwide, with candidates in both parties facing pressure to distance themselves from data center development or demand tougher restrictions as voters raise concerns about electricity costs, water use and the impact on local communities.
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The issue has emerged in major Senate and gubernatorial contests from Ohio and Michigan to Pennsylvania and Texas, with campaigns using data centers in attack ads and candidates who once touted the projects increasingly calling for new regulations, tax changes or construction pauses.
In Texas, the fight has also become part of Democrats’ broader midterm organizing effort in the state. Texas Together, a $30 million coordinated campaign backed by the Texas Democratic Party, Texas Majority PAC, Beto O’Rourke’s Powered by People and other Democratic groups, has hosted data center-focused town halls and press events featuring Democratic candidates, while the El Paso Young Democrats and El Paso County Democratic Party organized a protest against what they called “destructive AI Data Centers.”
Behrens agreed with Hild’s call for different messaging and spoke to Fox News Digital about what data center companies need to do to shift the narrative.
“I think they need to discuss very specifically with local stakeholders, not the ones that are being astroturfed in, they need to talk about the benefits of it, they need to talk about exactly what the data center does because there are legitimate questions about it and Americans have a right to say, what is this going up in our area?”
Behrens added, “But I would also caution to say if you’re not throwing up opposition to any other type of manufacturing, if you’re not throwing up opposition to a large Buc-ees gas station then why the anger over data centers? Because those operations can use a lot of water, they can use a lot of land just like the data centers. So asking the questions is absolutely legitimate, but throwing up needless roadblocks because this is something that the environmental left has told you to dislike, we really need to watch out for that. And I think the bottom line would be if AOC, Bernie Sanders and Kathy Hochul are your intellectual guiding stars for opposing data centers, then you need to really think about where you stand because they’ve been wrong on every major energy issue ever since they entered public office.”
Fox News Digital reached out to CodePink, the Sierra Club, Open Society Foundations and Public Citizen for comment.
In a statement to Fox News Digital, a Sixteen Thirty Fund spokesperson pushed back saying the group “proudly supported the Sierra Club.”
The spokesperson added: “Across the country, people have legitimate questions about how these projects could affect their communities. Dismissing those concerns as anti-American or anti-progress is absurd. Corporate interests should focus on addressing the potential impacts of data center development rather than attacking those who speak out.”
Andrew Mark Miller is a reporter at Fox News. Find him on Twitter @andymarkmiller and email tips to AndrewMark.Miller@Fox.com.