Country music legend Willie Nelson, 93, rallies Texas hometown in fightback against 'water-thieving' AI data centres
Nelson has called on Texans to "fight against data centres invading our land"
Country music star Willie Nelson has waded into a backlash over plans to build 'water thieving and light polluting' AI data centres near his small Texas hometown.
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The 93-year-old was brought up in the tiny rural city of Abbott, which has a population of just 352 people.
The country star's intervention comes after revelations that more than 250 AI data centres are planned across Texas, including 56 in central Texas.
The warehouses, used to store the servers, storage systems and networks that power AI systems such as ChatGPT, have sparked controversy over the pollution and waste heat they create and their vast water and electricity usage.
In a caption to a social media post, the "On the Road Again" singer wrote: “I grew up in Abbott, and I still have a home there with farmed land where I can still see stars at night. And now our community, like many others, needs to fight against data centres invading our land.
“The last thing we need is a loud, water thieving, light polluting, data center anywhere near our town (or any others for that matter).
“The strength of rural America has never come from big industrial footprints. It comes from generations of people, open spaces, local businesses, and a connection to the land."
The southern state has been flooded with at least 248 planning applications for AI data centres, the Texas Tribune reports.
Data centre developers have been buying up swathes of land across the rural state to build warehouses to power artificial intelligence for firms such as Meta, Amazon and Google.
It is unclear which exact data centre Nelson is referring to but there are several planned around Hill County where the town is located.
One proposed Cyrus One data centre is planned about 25 miles from Abbott, the Texas Tribune reports, while another site owned by Nexus is approximately 20 miles to the town's east.
The Instagram post, published on Tuesday night, has received more than 22,000 likes and just under 400 comments.
Governor Greg Abbott has responded to the backlash by calling for a ban on new data centres in rural parts of the state.
Governor Abbott, 68, has outlined proposals for more regulations around data centres, including a requirement to reuse water add new power capacity to the state's electricy grid.
The Republican politician had previously been a champion of data centres, declaring that he wanted to see Texas become an "epicentre of AI development" following a $40 billion Google investment in AI infrastructure last year.
Earlier this month he called for regulators to “guarantee any data center development does not come at the cost of Texans and our local communities” and to consider how to “minimize adverse impacts on local communities.”