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Erin Brockovich | This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von #670 — Transcript

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0:00Today's guest is an environmental
0:02activist and a consumer advocate. Um her
0:06name is notorious with uh being for the
0:10people. Uh she's known for leading some
0:12highprofile cases over the years.
0:14Lately, she's focused on the rise of
0:16data centers and their effects on life
0:19around them. Uh I'm thankful today to
0:22spend time with Miss Aaron Brochovich.
0:27on me
0:30and I will [music] find [singing] a
0:32song. I'll be singing.
0:41>> If you need to move this Aaron, you can.
0:43Um, let me open your water. Sometimes
0:45these are very uh
0:48>> I've learned that over at the hotel. I
0:49was like, my lord, and I work out. I was
0:52like, I can't get it open. Well, that's
0:54the crazy thing about today, especially
0:55honestly with this Asentia company. They
0:58I just opened it for you, but you you
1:00can't even get in their waters. It's
1:02like that's how bad it's gotten that
1:04they they almost keep you locked out of
1:05clean water in this country.
1:07>> Yeah. That's why my daughter will carry
1:08a knife. Boom. She'll go just like that.
1:10>> She's like that.
1:11>> Oh, yeah. She's military police. She's
1:13hilarious.
1:13>> Oh, she's an MP.
1:14>> She was. Yes. They're they're both out
1:16now. Matt was a combat vet. Yeah.
1:18>> Your son was combat.
1:19>> Yeah. My dad was Navy fighter pilot. So
1:22definitely um I'm a military mom and a
1:25military daughter.
1:26>> Oh, that's beautiful. Well, thank them
1:28for their service from us and thank you
1:30for your service. Uh I know you um as
1:33probably most of uh people a lot of
1:35people do. Uh I know you as an
1:36environmentalist, right? Um kind of a
1:39truth seeker, I guess I would say. And
1:41like a an an activist, I guess. Does
1:44that How do you like to be
1:46>> I never say activist because that's
1:47always like a connotation. Um, I I
1:50advocate for clearly people.
1:52>> What about the term like a consumer
1:54advocate? Is that fair to say? Kind of.
1:55>> A people advocate.
1:56>> Okay. A people advocate. Me too. I feel
1:59like I try my best to be.
2:00>> I do too.
2:01>> Yeah. And for our listeners that don't
2:03know, uh, how did you get on this track,
2:06right? Like take me through your
2:07journey. Um, you know, I know about the
2:10movie uh starring Julia Roberts that was
2:12made about your life, Aaron Brachovich,
2:15but take us into the journey of like
2:17what happened to create uh the story
2:19that led to the film. Like how did your
2:21activism like lead to um one of the
2:24largest settlements at the time that had
2:25ever been I think it was like over $300
2:27million.
2:28>> 333 million.
2:29>> 333 million that was awarded
2:30>> at the time.
2:31>> At the time is it
2:32>> now they're settling for like 33
2:34billion. It's not to laugh at, but
2:36>> but hey,
2:37>> times have changed, [laughter]
2:38>> dude. Aaron walked to the bank so they
2:41could run to it. That's for sure. Uh, so
2:43take us I want you to take us through
2:44that journey. Uh, for our listeners that
2:46don't know, obviously you had a care for
2:47the outdoors. How did that start?
2:49>> Okay. Well, I've always been an outdoor
2:51enthusiast. Uh, I was born and raised in
2:54Kansas and I love the outdoors.
2:56Everything about it spoke to me mostly
2:59because I hated school. I sucked at
3:03school and it took years before they
3:07really understood I have dyslexia.
3:09>> Oh, you do?
3:10>> I do.
3:10>> Let's go do my friend has it.
3:12>> I'm a dyslexic. So,
3:14>> dude, you guys don't get any credit.
3:16>> I know. You know,
3:17>> you probably and some of you shouldn't,
3:19but a lot of you guys should, dude.
3:21>> You You should. You know, interestingly
3:23enough, off topic, and I'll just say it
3:25really quick. So, I'm ambassador for
3:28Made by Dyslexia, run by Kate Griggs,
3:30and Sir Richard Branson, who's also a
3:33dyslexic.
3:34>> No way.
3:35>> Yeah, dude. We got to get a good
3:37dyslexic on here.
3:38>> You do. And they're everywhere.
3:40>> I know, [laughter] dude. Half of my
3:41friends are like, they can't even
3:43complete a handshake. They're just not
3:44doing good, you know? It's like
3:45>> we just like code differently. We have
3:47pattern recognition.
3:49But I didn't even know until I became
3:51ambassador for Made by Dyslexia that
3:54there's 1 billion
3:57>> dyslexics on the planet. No.
3:59>> 1 billion.
4:00>> A one billion D's in this world. That's
4:02crazy. Let me see.
4:03>> Right.
4:04>> A billion. Nuh-uh. I'm saying that's
4:06ridiculous.
4:08>> Yeah.
4:09>> I got to learn a little bit more about
4:10this. Um so take me through you know
4:14your journey or experience as like a
4:17human advocate like as a
4:19environmentalist you know um can you
4:22just take us through that so that for
4:24our listeners that don't know?
4:26>> So I have to say I think I was as
4:28surprised as anybody else honestly. So,
4:33how it happened was as I grew up in
4:36Kansas, uh, went to school at Kansas
4:39State, then I went to a design school in
4:41Texas, and then I moved to California. I
4:44ended up being a regional manager for
4:45Kmart.
4:46>> Oh, yeah.
4:47>> And I wasn't my favorite job. And then I
4:50ended up working at Flu Engineers and
4:53Constructors. So, I was raised by an
4:55engineer. It was kind of fun for me. I
4:57like to create things, etc., etc., Even
5:00though everybody always told me I
5:01couldn't do anything, you know, with the
5:02dyslexia.
5:03>> Oh, yeah.
5:04>> So, but I always pushed against that.
5:05So, I'm one that pushes against these
5:08things.
5:09>> So, out of the gate, that dyslexia might
5:11have gave you that edge like, ah, I can
5:12still do it.
5:13>> I was born, you don't put me in a box
5:16cuz I will get out and I will kick and
5:19scream the whole way there. So,
5:21>> amen.
5:22>> I That's one of my traits. I'm like,
5:24yeah, no, I don't want none of us like
5:27it. I don't like being labeled. I don't
5:30like being judged. I don't like being
5:31put in a box.
5:32>> I'm almost like mimes like it.
5:35>> I'm like, "Fuck off." I mean, that's my
5:38motto. So, but I don't
5:40>> Wait, what's your motto?
5:41>> [ __ ] off.
5:42>> That's a good motto.
5:43>> [ __ ] it. [ __ ] you. [ __ ] off,
5:44>> dude. [laughter] That's the best motto.
5:46That's what that should become our
5:47national anthem in this in this [ __ ]
5:50country to be honest with you. Okay.
5:51>> So, but I'm an F-dropper bomb. So, I
5:54hope that doesn't offend anybody. Yeah,
5:55we'll pick them up at the end of the
5:57show. Um, okay. So, you got you got the
5:59dyslexia, you got the spirit, you got
6:01what you need.
6:01>> That's right.
6:02>> So, I go through all this process. I end
6:05up getting married. That was the biggest
6:06mistake of my life. Three times over.
6:09And had children and got in a car wreck
6:12in Reno, Nevada, and moved down to
6:15California. Met an attorney by the name
6:18of Jim Vito, who was Ed Mazer's partner.
6:22So Ed Mazerie was the attorney in the
6:24film and we had a trial and I lost. The
6:28jury told me to get a job.
6:29>> You had a trial for what? Oh, for the
6:30auto accident.
6:31>> For the auto accident.
6:32>> Okay, got it.
6:32>> And we lost. And of course, you know,
6:35the lawyers told me we're going to win
6:36all kinds of money and make this right
6:38by you, Aaron. That did not happen.
6:41So, I went back to Ed Mazerie and I
6:44said, "You promised me things would be
6:46okay, and they weren't, and I need a
6:49job."
6:49>> Yeah. So Ed gave me a job. So in the
6:53beginning of the film, Aaron Brockovich,
6:54you'll see her doing all these
6:56interviews. And of course, I'd been a
6:58single mom and I was turned down for
6:59every job, but I but I h I had Ed
7:02cornered. You promised me something and
7:05I showed up.
7:06>> Hey, Eddie.
7:07>> It's that power of stick tuitiveness
7:09that I talk about.
7:10>> When you show up, things are different,
7:12>> right? And see, that's something, and
7:14we'll get into that in a minute. I don't
7:15want to jump ahead of it, but that's
7:17what's going on right now out in this
7:19country. People are showing up.
7:22>> Amen.
7:23>> And I love it because I'm watching it.
7:27We all are. Especially with the data
7:28centers.
7:30>> We're united. Bipartisan. And when we
7:32get united,
7:34>> we change things.
7:35>> Things can happen.
7:36>> And I love it.
7:37>> Amen. I love I love that.
7:38>> That's what happened. I showed up with
7:40Ed. I ended up getting a job uh starting
7:43in the workers compensation department.
7:45I like people. I'm a people person. I'm
7:49a chatty person. I want to know about
7:51you. What's going on in your life? That
7:53seems odd. So, I was a perfect fit in
7:56the workers compensation department. So,
7:58one day Ed came into the office just
8:00like you see in the film with a big
8:02archive box of files.
8:04>> Got it. And the movie is Aaron
8:05Brochovich. For people that haven't seen
8:06it, you can go watch it. It's um
8:08>> starring Julie Roberts.
8:09>> Staring Julia Roberts
8:10>> and Albert Finny.
8:11>> And Albert Finny. Oh,
8:12>> yes.
8:12>> Great actress.
8:13>> Known for her great push-up bra.
8:16>> Yeah. I'd look I mean I'd hold them in
8:18place. You know what I'm saying? I mean
8:19[laughter]
8:21so I'd donate my hands [clears throat]
8:22to Hannes or whoever made that thing and
8:24let them just you know I'd be the wiring
8:27in that thing baby. Anyway, let's move
8:28on.
8:28>> I had to giggle when the film came out.
8:30I'm like that's what you got out of the
8:31film is the push-up bra, not what
8:33happened to the people. [laughter] So
8:35>> you got a bait and you got to get them
8:37on the hook.
8:37>> You do. So they were on the hook. But uh
8:40>> So you're working in workman's comp. So,
8:42I was working in workers comp and then
8:44Ed brought a box into me that was a PI
8:47case, personal injury case, and he said,
8:50"Do you know how to open a personal
8:51injury file?" I had not a clue what I
8:54was doing, but I said, "Sure, I know how
8:57to open it." So, when I started to go
8:59through the file, I'm like, "Okay, so
9:01I've now put myself out here. I don't
9:03know what I'm doing. I better learn what
9:05I'm doing." Got it.
9:06>> I started reading the files. Inside this
9:09file box were medical records.
9:11>> Okay. Okay. So, and it's just one of the
9:12files that's like in the box.
9:13>> Yeah. It was just everything about a
9:15personal injury case was thrown in a
9:17box. And what kind of made me go, well,
9:19that's odd. Is there were real estate
9:22records in there. I'm like, why are real
9:25estate records and medical files in the
9:27same box?
9:29>> Yeah.
9:29>> And the reason for that was to jump
9:32ahead and I'll go right back.
9:34Unbeknownst to me at the time, Pacific
9:36Gas and Electric was a utility company
9:39trying to buy Roberto Walker's property.
9:43>> Okay. And Roberto Walker was one of the
9:45>> plaintiffs.
9:45>> One of the plaintiffs,
9:46>> right? Got it. And so she had contacted
9:50Ed because Penie was trying to buy her
9:54house. And so she just threw everything
9:57into a box. As a matter of fact, Roberta
9:58kept everything in a suitcase. So it all
10:01just got thrown in a box. So I like, you
10:05know, I like a challenge. So I'm pulling
10:06everything out of the box, making my
10:08little piles,
10:09>> but I was curious about the medical
10:12records
10:13>> because they were of children
10:15>> and all everything was done in a bar
10:17graph. So all their tea cells were off,
10:20their white cells were off, their red
10:22counts were too high. Now I'm a mom and
10:25I'm thinking to myself, God, if I saw
10:27blood tests like this on my kids, I',
10:28what the [ __ ] is this?
10:29>> You'll be spooked.
10:30>> Yeah. And so I started researching it
10:32more and it was leading me to cancer and
10:35diseases. So I asked Ed if I could go
10:39out to Hinckley, California, which he
10:42was thrilled to let me go. Nobody in the
10:46office liked me. I annoyed everybody. My
10:50skirts were too short. My attitude
10:52sucked. My bras were showing. And nobody
10:56wanted me around. So I was like, "Score,
10:59get out of here and go."
11:02[clears throat and laughter]
11:02>> That's classic.
11:04>> So off I went to Hinckley, California.
11:07>> And the reason why So just to get to get
11:09a little bit clearer, so in this box in
11:11this um this woman had hired the
11:14attorney for what purpose?
11:16>> To settle a real estate claim.
11:19>> Okay, so that's why the initial hiring
11:21was there, but then there was all these
11:23other records in there. Why was uh
11:24Pacific and Gas trying to buy her house?
11:28>> Because Roberta was on to something and
11:33they had water issues and PG& was
11:38holding these town hall meetings trying
11:41to convince everybody that there was
11:44nothing wrong with the water.
11:47>> Now I'll tell you something I've learned
11:50ever since I began Hingckley. You piss
11:54off one mom and you pissed off Roberta
11:58and they've got great instincts and they
12:00think you're lying to them, they're
12:03going to go find 10 other [ __ ]
12:04pissed-off moms and they're going to
12:07actually use these instincts and they
12:09will come at you. And so these moms were
12:13getting upset.
12:14>> Hell yeah.
12:15>> And they knew it was just that moment.
12:18>> It's time for moms to get upset.
12:20>> Oh yeah. and they've got this hunch,
12:23this instinct, this intuition, and they
12:27make it their job to find out because
12:29you're you've harmed their child.
12:30>> Yeah.
12:31>> And they don't believe you. And so that
12:34was the first clue for me, even in the
12:38files talking to Roberta on the phone
12:40before I ever met her, something was
12:42going on. And you know, I have learned I
12:45always listen and believe the people
12:50and and people will show up, but
12:52somebody else tells them and and when I
12:54first even started my work in Hinkley, I
12:56was getting the you're not a doctor,
12:58you're not a lawyer, you're not a
13:00scientist, you're not a politician.
13:03Yeah. Like, so what do you do and why
13:05are you here and why should we believe
13:07you? And I had a moment where I was
13:09gobsmacked. I'm like,
13:12it never dawned on me that I had to be
13:14any of that.
13:15>> Right. All you have to be really is just
13:16a curious baddy.
13:18>> Absolutely. And to be a human and to
13:20tell you those two-headed frogs and the
13:23green water coming out of your tap is
13:25[ __ ] up. And I'm not leaving. That's
13:27what happened.
13:28>> I'm not leaving until these frogs have
13:30one head again.
13:31>> That's right. So, if y'all think that's
13:32normal, I'm sorry. You call me crazy.
13:35>> Do there's so much of that gaslighting
13:37like you see that all the time. even
13:39just like about podcasters talking with
13:40people like you're not a um politician,
13:43you're not like a um science uh
13:45sciencer, you're not a um astronomer
13:50cuz you're none of those.
13:51>> And I'm like, [ __ ] but I'm [ __ ]
13:52curious and I'm [ __ ] loud.
13:54>> That's right.
13:55>> How about that?
13:56>> Absolutely. And you know what? Curiosity
13:57is a good thing.
13:58>> Yeah.
13:59>> It it can often times get you in
14:01trouble, but sometimes it's quite
14:03surprising where it might lead you.
14:04>> Well, it just I don't know. It's not
14:07things should be fair. Like I think if
14:09things are fair, people can operate from
14:11a place of comfort, of peace, and a
14:13place that gives them more autonomy.
14:16>> Yeah.
14:17>> If things are fair, like I know that
14:19there's going to be like setbacks in
14:20life, and some people aren't going to
14:21have the same advantages, disadvant
14:22people can have disadvantages and stuff
14:24like that. Some people are going to be
14:25born in a less like circumstances, but
14:27overall, if you could I don't know.
14:29>> And I guess and I I I guess things are
14:31never fair, but it's like I don't know.
14:33That's something I think that a lot of
14:34people try and fight for is things
14:36should be fair. You should be able to uh
14:38you should be able to raise your kids in
14:40a healthy enough environment, you know.
14:42Um
14:42>> you know, that's a great word, fair. And
14:46in Hinckley,
14:48what I have learned over 30 years is
14:50people and communities
14:54always handle the truth. They won't
14:56handle the lie.
14:58>> That lie is unfair. And when they're not
15:01told the truth, it's unfair that they
15:04have to suck up the consequences of that
15:07lie. So fair is an interesting word. Um
15:11and they were being treated unfairly.
15:14>> Unfairly. Yeah. Well, there's a lot of
15:15transparency issues now. We're going to
15:17get into some of that in a bit. But um
15:18All right. So you get out to Hankley,
15:19California, and what's popping out
15:21there?
15:21>> So all the trees are dying. I'm out
15:24there. First of all, uh I'm when I'm
15:27boots on the ground, and that's what I
15:29like to do. I'm out there generally
15:31barefoot. Um I feel things. I connect to
15:35nature. And the moment I was there, I
15:38could feel something was wrong. You can
15:39just feel it. We're energy. Water's
15:41energy. An environment that's damaged.
15:44It's energy.
15:44>> Yeah.
15:45>> But the trees were dead. The cows were
15:47covered in tumors. People were reporting
15:50really bizarre things to me. They
15:52themselves had, you know, these chronic
15:54headaches, skin rashes, constant nose
15:57bleeds. Yeah.
15:58>> Uh the fish had, you know, tumors on
16:01their body. The frogs had two heads. And
16:05the water was green.
16:07>> Are you serious?
16:08>> I'm serious.
16:09>> The frogs had two heads.
16:11>> Two heads.
16:11>> Bring up one of them. Well, two of them.
16:14>> You got a two-headed frog on there?
16:16>> Yeah. Hey, you want to see this
16:17two-headed frog? That's a lot of
16:18pedophiles used to have stuff like that.
16:20You [laughter] like, "Oh, hold on. You
16:21can see like so there's other chemicals
16:24that can cause frogs to have two heads.
16:27>> Oh my god. Look at the second one. That
16:29one is
16:30>> they had two heads.
16:31>> That one has dyslexia. Look at that one.
16:33[laughter] Look at the green.
16:35>> Well, you know, I could believe that
16:36because definitely I've been told before
16:38you have two heads.
16:39>> Sorry to laugh at my own joke, but I
16:41thought that
16:41>> two different brains colliding together.
16:43>> That was pretty good. I thought based on
16:45the looks of that one. If you can't see,
16:47>> it was stunning. And I'm from Kansas. I
16:49don't see this [ __ ] in Kansas.
16:51>> Right. Well, that's probably because the
16:52nature was a little bit more like uh I
16:54mean, if you're heading out to if you're
16:55heading out to California, it's a place
16:56where there's a lot more probably
16:57industry going on and things could be a
16:58little bit more um damaged, you know,
17:00because there's but in in Kansas, you
17:02were probably coming from a pure
17:03environment, I'm guessing.
17:04>> And also, dude, I remember a time in our
17:06town like people couldn't whistle for
17:08like two months or something and maybe
17:10it was something in the air, something
17:11was going on, you know? We had a long uh
17:13what's it called when the moon and the
17:15sun cross each other?
17:16>> Eclipse.
17:17>> Yeah.
17:17>> Yeah. We had an eclipse one time. I I
17:20swear that thing lasted probably three
17:21days over there and people couldn't
17:22whistle. Um you couldn't hail a taxi for
17:25probably, you know, for half a week over
17:27there.
17:27>> I've been down in Louisiana. I spent
17:29six, eight weeks down there on the down
17:31in the bayou with the whole BP oil
17:33spill.
17:34>> Oh, did you really? We'll get we'll get
17:35into some of that. Um okay, so you get
17:37out to Hankley. You're seeing all these
17:39things going.
17:39>> By the time I finally got Ed to go out
17:41there with me, he did not know who PG
17:45was. So we're driving along. And he
17:47goes, "Okay, so kid, let's go over this
17:48and I've seen all the stuff you've
17:49brought back. PG& is a water utility."
17:52I'm like, "What?" He goes, "Yeah." I go,
17:55"And I'm from Kansas and I know who PG&
17:59is. They're ginormous utility." He's
18:01like, "What?" So that's how the whole
18:05thing began. And so it was through my
18:08record search at the water board.
18:11That's when I started discovering in
18:14writing reports that the area was
18:18contaminated with a chemical known as
18:22hexavalent chromium.
18:24>> Wow. Bring it up. Let me see it right
18:26there. Hankley groundwater contamination
18:29uh PG&E Pacific Gas and Electric used
18:32chromium 6 or hexavalent chromium a
18:35cheap and efficient rust suppressor.
18:37>> Correct. in its compressor station for
18:39natural gas transmission pipelines.
18:41Hexavilent chromium compounds are
18:43genotoxic carcinogens.
18:46>> What does that mean? Genotoxic.
18:48>> And they're mutagenic. They can affect
18:50the the genes
18:51>> and and they can be passed on.
18:52>> Correct.
18:53>> Oh my gosh.
18:54>> And you can see tricom 7 and different
18:57um diseases like that in the children.
19:00See, and I was seeing a pattern of nasal
19:02ferenal cancer, throat cancer, lung
19:06cancer, kidney cancer.
19:08>> Got it.
19:09>> So, as I started, we could at this point
19:12getting a year into it, Ed can clearly
19:14see what's going on. Now, what had
19:17happened with PG was again, as I said
19:20earlier, they were holding like these
19:22town hall meetings and they were telling
19:25everybody, and again, talk about unfair.
19:28Mhm.
19:28>> They were telling everybody that it was
19:32chromium in their water, which is a
19:34natural element, and it's good for you.
19:37You can find it in your breakfast
19:38cereal.
19:39>> Wow.
19:39>> They weren't telling him that it was
19:41hexavalent chromium, and it was a
19:44poison.
19:45>> Damn.
19:46>> And so, as all this data started getting
19:49put together, and I put together what's
19:50a I call a hot duck book. Mh.
19:53>> So, as a dyslexic, I'm here and I don't
19:56take numbers in the environment like 5
19:59ppm and calculate forward. I always
20:02calculate backwards. And I needed to go
20:05find those higher numbers in time to
20:08prove what they had been exposed to over
20:1020, 30 years.
20:11>> Wow. So, as I started getting into my
20:14record searches, I create these hot dog
20:16books, which is like almost a trial
20:18notebook, which I'm just doing
20:19instinctually because I'm just trying to
20:21put the pieces together myself
20:23>> to you.
20:24>> Yes.
20:24>> Wow.
20:25>> Yes.
20:26>> And by doing that, you're putting
20:27together a great case.
20:29>> Yeah. Unbeknownst to me.
20:30>> Got it.
20:31>> And you know, I was just out there every
20:32day of my life was like, nah, this
20:34doesn't make sense to me. And this was a
20:37huge cover up. And this is where I've
20:40said, you know, people would have dealt
20:43with the truth. Hey,
20:45>> we need to get you out of here. We're
20:46poisoning you. But it was the lie that
20:48becomes so insidious that you just drag
20:51them through that.
20:52>> But once Ed realized
20:56this was a lawsuit,
20:58>> he had to go hire a couple more
21:00attorneys because he was about broke
21:03borrowing money against his house to
21:05keep things going.
21:06>> Wow. So he started to believe in it that
21:08much.
21:08>> That much. Wow.
21:09>> Yeah. And so he found two other law
21:11firms. That was Instrom, Lipkcomman, and
21:13Lac um was the head attorneys there. And
21:17um
21:19we had a lawsuit and we had 634
21:22plaintiffs. And it was filed as a direct
21:26action, not a class action. Because in a
21:31direct action, everybody's damages were
21:35different. Some people were closer to
21:38the P Genie facility where they had
21:40higher readings in their wells. Some
21:42were further away where we couldn't
21:44prove that the plume had gone through
21:47yet. So, we filed a direct action.
21:50>> And just to go back real quick, the the
21:52the the hexa
21:54>> hexavillent
21:54>> hexavillent chromium, what was it in
21:56there? It was in there to prevent rust
21:58from from the pipes from rusting.
22:00>> It's an anti- rust inhibitor. So, um, it
22:04was a gas compressor facility. So,
22:07actually there was other cases that I
22:10went and backtracked and found later,
22:11but from Topac, California, they're
22:13pushing and pulling natural gas out of
22:15Texas.
22:16>> Understood.
22:16>> And then it would go from Topac,
22:18California to Barstow. And then in
22:20Barstow, it would get pushed and pulled
22:22up to Kettleman. And so the think of it
22:25like the engine of your car. And these
22:27facilities are big, huge piston engines
22:29pushing and pulling this gas through.
22:32And so they have to run water through
22:34the system so it doesn't seize to
22:36operate.
22:37>> Wow.
22:38>> And these chemicals have like chromium 6
22:40is an anti- rust inheritor because if
22:43you don't have it, rust will corrode the
22:45pipes, right?
22:47>> And then they would take all the used
22:51water through the system and dump it
22:54into unlined ponds.
22:57>> So it goes right back into the soil,
22:59>> right back into the aquifer. right back
23:01in the in the what
23:01>> aquafer the water zone.
23:03>> Yeah. And uh and now I see how this the
23:06data centers came on your radar because
23:08that's sort of the same thing. They're
23:09using this they there's a similar thing
23:11that kind of happens is they use so much
23:13water to cool off what's going on. So I
23:16just I now I kind of correlate like okay
23:19this makes perfect sense why her
23:21involvement. Right.
23:22>> There's a whole lot of things about data
23:24centers and I know we'll get there. I'll
23:25stay on your pace. That set me off. And
23:28that that was one of them.
23:30>> Yeah. And we will we're almost we're
23:32almost to data centers. Um
23:35>> but what what was what was one of the
23:37toughest parts about going after a
23:38company that big? Like did you start to
23:40get scared? Did you personally get
23:42scared? Was there times you were laying
23:43in bed at night? I mean like they
23:45somebody might try to take you out like
23:46how heavy did it get really?
23:48>> People brought that up and I I didn't
23:51kind of go there until one day. Um, I
23:56was stealing
23:58toxic hazardous waste offsite.
24:00>> You were stealing it?
24:01>> Yeah.
24:02>> Oh, you were pulling up somewhere that
24:03had it?
24:03>> Oh, I'm a bad guy. I'm stealing the
24:05toxic hazardous waste. Okay.
24:08>> So, just
24:08>> but I was
24:09>> to have evidence.
24:10>> Yes.
24:10>> Got it.
24:11>> Okay. So, I'm sorry I stole your
24:13two-headed frog and a bunch of green
24:15[ __ ] soil. Sue me. So, Pineie called
24:20the cops and I was going to get
24:22arrested. I'm standing with my
24:25two-headed frog and my little file, you
24:27know, my little what do you call it?
24:29Igloo. Because I knew to keep things
24:32cool, I had my chain of custody writing
24:34everything down.
24:35>> You really had one in an igloo.
24:37>> Yeah.
24:37>> Wow.
24:38>> So
24:40I I'm like, "Are you arresting me?" I
24:42said, "Can I at least call my attorney?"
24:43So I called Ed. And Ed goes, "Wait a
24:47minute. You're going to arrest her for
24:49what?" And they're they're telling him,
24:51he goes, "You know what?
24:53>> Let him
24:54>> do it." [clears throat]
24:55And I'm going, "What the fuck?"
24:57>> Then it's [laughter] on file.
24:59>> What the [ __ ] Ed? Anyway, he said, "You
25:02do it. You do it because it's going to
25:04be headline news that I want you to
25:06arrest this girl for what? Stealing
25:09two-headed frogs from a polluted site?
25:12Do it." And they let me go. And I call
25:15that and I'm like, "Were you really
25:16going to have me arrest?" He goes, "Oh,
25:17hell yeah. I would have had you out in 5
25:18minutes." So kiddo, don't worry about
25:20her. Wow.
25:21>> God,
25:22>> what a journey.
25:24>> So,
25:25>> and how did he work afterwards with the
25:26plaintiffs? So, the the plaintiffs,
25:29there was over $330 million awarded and
25:31that was divided up between the
25:32different families at certain amounts,
25:34etc.
25:34>> Yeah. So, done as a direct action. So
25:38people who live way out from a plume
25:41boundary received awards for fear of
25:45cancer versus the people that lived
25:47there 35 years right next to the
25:50facility that were exposed to high
25:52levels that had cancer. And so the the
25:56judges made all those rulings based on
25:59the facts surrounding their particular
26:02case.
26:04>> Oh [sighs]
26:04wow. That's pretty amazing. What a
26:07journey, huh? Did you know at the time
26:09that it was going to become such a big
26:10thing? You you had no idea.
26:12>> No.
26:12>> Wow.
26:13>> None. It was just one of those moments
26:15for me that
26:18this just it just didn't make sense to
26:20me and it just wasn't right. And I felt
26:22bad for the people. And listen, they
26:24became my family. I mean, half of the
26:27group up there helped potty train my
26:29youngest daughter, Elizabeth. A
26:30>> and and I loved them. And it just didn't
26:33make sense.
26:34>> Yeah.
26:36I've lived around a bad rooster
26:39and it's it can be a lot. The rooster's
26:42his brain isn't organized with the sun
26:44or whatever and he'll be doodleing at
26:47dang 3:00 a.m. or whatever. You're up
26:49making eggs. You don't you know you're 5
26:51hours early to work it. You know, if
26:53you're a rooster that just does its own
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28:51I think a lot of us are in that place
28:53right now where it's like yeah some
28:54things it just just doesn't make sense
28:57and what do we do and how do we do it?
29:00Um well you know and
29:03Roberta faced that and I I will share
29:05with you in every environmental case
29:07that I work with it generally is a mom
29:10that knows something's up but isn't sure
29:12what's up. But what frustrates these
29:15mothers is when they do show up, whether
29:18it be somebody at the state or a
29:20politician or a leader that they need
29:22information from or city council,
29:24they're suppressed. They get the, "Oh,
29:26you're hysterical mother. There's
29:28nothing really going on." And so they
29:31retreat and they feel defeated.
29:34>> So that suppression is something that
29:36happens at the very beginning. And then
29:39then when that mom gets another mom,
29:42then they're like, you I don't try to
29:44suppress me because I know something's
29:46wrong. And again, we're going to go back
29:48to I don't have to have I don't have to
29:50have the degree or be qualified to sit
29:54on your city council board and I'm an
29:56idiot that they come back in armed with
30:00information. Let's go.
30:01>> And so that's generally what I do.
30:03They're usually right, but I can go find
30:06stuff that I can arm them with. Here's
30:08what you need. Here's what's going on.
30:10This is what's a fact. And then they
30:12join forces with the other mothers and
30:14they become unbelievably formidable.
30:17>> Do you believe that mothers still have
30:18as much power now as they did like at
30:21the time like of uh of when this story
30:23started for you?
30:24>> Yes. Uh you know, I've seen it
30:25throughout in Flint, Michigan, the whole
30:28lead crisis, even down in the BP oil
30:30spill. Look, I'm scared of some of those
30:32mothers. I'm like, but Ed, would you say
30:34you go in there and talk to her? I'm
30:35like, no, that one scares me. You go in
30:37there and talk to her because they know
30:40and they don't want to hear it anymore.
30:41So,
30:41>> the swamp mama down there that gets
30:43upset. Um, well,
30:44>> but I'm seeing them come back and I I'm
30:46going to jump ahead and then I'll stop
30:49just so you'll have it in your memory,
30:50too.
30:52>> They're the ones showing up on the data
30:53centers. Well, one of the things that uh
30:56put you on my radar, I mean, obviously I
30:58knew of you, but what put you on my
30:59radar was you wrote an article. It was
31:02like, if data centers aren't so bad, why
31:05are they building them in secrecy? I
31:07think
31:07>> correct. Everything begins with that
31:09secret. Even Hinckley, California.
31:11>> Amen. Well, what hit me about it, yeah,
31:13if data centers are so great, why are
31:14they being built in secret?
31:16>> Yeah, that was in Substack, the
31:18Brochovich report. And you talked about
31:20the biggest one which is built in
31:21Louisiana uh in the flat lands. It says
31:24right here in the flat lands of
31:25northeast Louisiana known for soybean
31:27fields um and dense clusters of
31:29rivercane. Meta is building a 4 million
31:33square foot AI campus called Hyperion.
31:35When finished, it will consume more
31:37electricity than the entire city of New
31:39Orleans and cover a footprint the size
31:41of lower Manhattan. Uh, and then it says
31:45here, Meta's investment establishes the
31:47region as an anchor in Louisiana's
31:49rapidly expanding tech sector,
31:51revitalizes one of our state's beautiful
31:53rural areas, and creates opportunities
31:55for Louisiana workers to fill
31:57high-paying jobs of the future, said
31:59Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry in a
32:01press statement. I thank Meta for their
32:03commitment to our state. Um, and what
32:06shocked me here though was, uh, a
32:09resident of Holly Ridge, an
32:10unincorporated community in Richland,
32:12Richland Parish, uh, said she found out
32:15about the data center the way everyone
32:17else in her community did when they
32:19started digging.
32:20>> Correct.
32:20>> And I was like, oh, she says nobody told
32:22us anything.
32:23>> Correct.
32:24>> They supposedly had a big meeting. The
32:25whole community was supposed to come.
32:27Nobody knew anything about it ever.
32:29>> Correct.
32:30>> Um, but how did data centers come onto
32:32your radar?
32:33>> [snorts]
32:33>> So um I woke up one morning and I had 30
32:36emails 30 individual emails from the
32:39same community regarding the same issues
32:41data centers. Wow.
32:43>> So having done this for 30 years now
32:45anytime I get a cluster of emails that's
32:47a sign. And then I was like data centers
32:50it was almost a moment like in Hinckley
32:52California
32:54chromium what is that data centers?
32:56what's going on with data centers that I
32:59started looking into it and
33:03things I don't know my questions weren't
33:06being answered about data centers. So
33:08what I do is I like to see the big
33:11picture
33:12>> and I like to create maps. So I created
33:16what's called brachovichdatacenter.com
33:19where people if they were having issues
33:22with data centers in their backyard
33:25could self-report
33:27>> and I've created self-reporting registry
33:29databases before. Think about it. We
33:32have no place where we can self-report.
33:34Everything that we report goes through
33:36an agency. Wow.
33:37>> Even in Hinckley, California. And it got
33:39stuck up in the California Health
33:41Department. Nobody ever knew. And so
33:43many agencies are compromised anyway
33:44now. So why not create our own? This is
33:46amazing.
33:47>> And this is a place where people who I
33:50believe that are living, breathing, and
33:54experiencing these issues are the best
33:56source of information. So what I thought
34:00when I put this map out here in the
34:02first 72 hours, the map crashed twice.
34:06And I woke up on day three going, "Oh my
34:09god, it's not one town and one aquifer
34:14and one data center. It's the entire
34:18country."
34:19>> Wow.
34:19>> We've talked about Louisiana from the
34:21Midwest. Now, the next thing that I
34:24noticed, cuz each one of these people in
34:26their submission,
34:28>> it wasn't this one town reporting the
34:31same thing. It's the whole country. They
34:33had no idea. They had no idea. They woke
34:36up to this construction. We weren't
34:38informed. City council didn't tell us
34:40anything. We're completely in the dark
34:43because these big tech groups came in
34:46and put these city council members u
34:48members under a non-disclosure.
34:50>> Oh, is that what you're
34:51>> correct? In every state.
34:56>> In every state, every city, every town
34:58reporting to me, we knew nothing.
35:01Nonisclosure agreements. I just saw a
35:03video the other day. See if you can find
35:05that, Trevan. It's a woman uh at a city
35:08council meeting from Oh, here I see it.
35:11So, it says right here. A resident of
35:12Tyrone Township, Michigan, confronted
35:14local officials with a simple question.
35:16Have you signed an NDA with any private
35:19party regarding developments that could
35:20affect the township? Yeah, this was the
35:22clip that I saw. Uh, can we play it?
35:25Have you personally signed any NDA, any
35:28agreement, or had any private
35:29communication such as meetings, phone
35:31calls, text messages, or emails with any
35:33developer, company, landowner, or
35:35representative regarding any current or
35:38potential project that could affect
35:39Tyrone Township? Chris Roetta.
35:42>> Uh, no.
35:43>> Dean,
35:44>> no.
35:45>> Jennifer,
35:45>> I'm not answering your question. This is
35:47not the time or place.
35:48>> It I can ask you whatever I want. Don't
35:50tell me what I can say.
35:51>> We don't have to answer your question.
35:52>> But you're communicating with me,
35:53Jennifer. I didn't think you were
35:54supposed to do that.
35:56>> Greg KS, how about you? Yes or no?
35:58>> Not the police.
36:00>> We've already discussed this. So,
36:02>> who who's already discussed it? I'm
36:04sorry. Who's already discussed it?
36:05>> It's been discussed.
36:06>> Who has? Oh,
36:07>> who's discussed it? I've not discussed
36:09this with you.
36:11>> What are you saying?
36:14>> Pam Moffler. Yes or no?
36:18[snorts]
36:18>> Wow. Pam letting me down.
36:22You work for us.
36:23>> That's right.
36:25>> Herman Ferguson.
36:28>> Oh, you Herman boy
36:30>> won't answer.
36:32>> Zach Tucker.
36:33>> Mike, stop. You say guilty one more
36:36time.
36:36>> You're up.
36:37>> Wow.
36:38>> I'm not tolerating.
36:39>> I And I love that.
36:40>> This is what I love. This woman, this
36:43mother, the Listen, I just become their
36:46biggest cheerleader. You know, this is
36:48not my story. Hinckley wasn't my story.
36:51It was their story. This is their story.
36:53And it becomes all of our stories. And I
36:56I love watching moments like that.
36:59>> Yeah. Oh, no. I think this is great. I
37:00like vigilante stuff. I like somebody
37:02who's just like in that moment where
37:04it's uncomfortable, you still speak. You
37:06speak through that uncomfort, that
37:08nervousness, you know, like whatever it
37:10is, like you're trying to speak to power
37:11and say, "Well, this is what this feels
37:13like from here." um how are these big
37:17companies able to uh compromise? Um and
37:20I'm not sure that these people are
37:22compromised. We don't know, right? But
37:23it's interesting what uh the
37:26conversations she's establishing here.
37:28It's interesting some of their answers
37:29for sure. Uh but how are some of these
37:33tech companies or any companies able to
37:35compromise some of these um like smaller
37:38area council members etc. do you think
37:42>> so? these small rural council members,
37:46you know, they don't have a lot of
37:47funding and these big companies are
37:51coming in and they're talking $10
37:53billion.
37:55And these council members are very lured
37:57by that because, you know, they want to
37:59have infrastructure and things like that
38:01in their own backyard. and they were
38:04kind of misled, but to sign a
38:07non-disclosure agreement probably didn't
38:08seem like a big deal to them to for a
38:11big exchange to the city council and to
38:14the community
38:16to make all this money to build this
38:18center. And then they're lured into
38:20thinking it's going to create jobs and
38:23long-term economic gain when that's
38:25actually not what's happening. But
38:28that's the hook.
38:29>> Do you think a lot of them are actually
38:30So do you think a lot of the council
38:31people are actually lied to as well?
38:32like it's a
38:35>> well apparently they aren't asking a
38:37whole lot of questions about data
38:39centers and they're just more lured by
38:43the money and that's the thing that
38:45really fascinated me with the
38:46self-reporting map because unbeknownst
38:49to all these other communities in
38:51different states across the country
38:53they're reporting the exact same thing
38:55it I'm baffled you're talking all of our
38:59city councils talk because I tell people
39:02go local.
39:03>> Yeah.
39:03>> And this is a situation in building data
39:06centers, you've got to go local because
39:07you need the permitting and the zoning.
39:10[clears throat]
39:10>> And they're they're lured into this, but
39:12that every city council across the
39:15United States of America was that lured
39:19by money because these facilities are
39:21going in every state, multiple counties
39:23and cities across the entire country.
39:25>> So that was a lot of the reporting you
39:26were getting, the self-reporting from
39:27people were that
39:28>> that was the first thing that made them
39:29>> that we didn't know it. Nobody knew.
39:31>> Didn't know. How are these companies
39:33able to do without people knowing? Like
39:35because isn't there like aren't there
39:37laws where you have to like
39:40you have to say okay this is something
39:42that's being planned in our city or in
39:43our town and then people are allowed to
39:45come. Are did you notice some sort of
39:47pattern where they're able to uh
39:49manipulate that? Um
39:51>> a lot of people are reporting that they
39:53thought they were building a warehouse.
39:56Ah,
39:57>> and so construction begins and they
40:00thought it was a warehouse or we're here
40:03putting in a solar farm or some other
40:06reason. Hey, we're going to build this
40:08out because it's great economic base for
40:10our community. But as it starts to go
40:14from non-disclosure,
40:17so we start at proposal like that woman,
40:19she was in proposal phase and she was
40:22pushing back then, but they wouldn't
40:24answer her probably because they'd
40:26already saw the non-disclosure and they
40:28were getting ready to go into the next
40:30phase, construction phase. And it's
40:32during a construction phase that people
40:34are like, whoa, wait a minute,
40:38you're destroying the land. You're
40:42cutting down all the trees.
40:44>> That's when people notice it.
40:45>> Yeah. Right. They're like, "What's
40:46happening?"
40:46>> Agreed. I mean, I think that's what the
40:48same thing that's happened here even
40:49locally in Nashville. It's like that's
40:51when it started like like it it wasn't
40:52in the beginning phase where people even
40:54knew what was going on. It's almost like
40:56in the too late phase. Um that's what
40:58I'm noticing. Yeah. Let me look at this.
40:59Spartanberg County data center lawsuit.
41:02Residents say $2.8 billion project was
41:04wrong.
41:05>> There you go.
41:05>> Was wrongly classified as minor
41:08development.
41:09Um, a group of residents uh suing
41:12Spartanberg County and Valera Holdings
41:14LLC, the company behind a nearly $3
41:16billion data center under construction
41:18along South Pine Street. Uh, public
41:21records show Val A submitted an
41:23application to redevelop about 95,000
41:26square feet of the former Colar
41:28Industrial Plant as a minor land
41:30development. The county approved it.
41:32Weeks later, the company submitted a
41:34second application for phase 2
41:35improvements, including four proposed
41:37buildings totaling about 494,000 square
41:40feet, along with a power yard, internal
41:42roadways, electrical equipment, a
41:44metering station, mechanical cooling
41:46systems, and storm water ponds. The
41:49application also was approved as a minor
41:51land development. The an attorney said
41:54uh they also broke it into two parts.
41:56First, they did a smaller application,
41:57which was still a big development, and
41:59called that minor. So they're saying
42:02that they classified it as minor. And
42:04obviously that doesn't sound very minor.
42:06>> No. And this is this is happening
42:09everywhere. First of all, I love how you
42:11pull stuff up like that. You and me
42:14could work on this [ __ ] together.
42:16>> Really?
42:16>> I'm just saying we could be trouble.
42:18>> Really? What would I do? Do I have to go
42:19to court? I can be Attakus Finch.
42:21>> I'll be his son.
42:23>> You You'll do the
42:24>> Ricky Finch.
42:25>> You'll steal the two-headed frogs with
42:26me. Yeah. Yeah. [laughter] I'll put them
42:28in that in that uh
42:29>> we'll get this all put in an order that
42:32everyone understands. That'd be great.
42:35>> I'll put one of them in that frog
42:36jumping uh contest that's over there in
42:38Louisiana. What What parish is that in
42:40over there? Rain over there. The rain
42:44frog festival. Now that two-headed frog,
42:46he's a little topheavy.
42:48>> Yeah, he is a little topheavy. Might not
42:50win. But you going back, you know, it's
42:52so great to you you kind of to
42:55understand what is that the the future,
42:57you got to go back in time. So to
42:59understand these things, you're going
43:00right back in time. It's very dyslexic.
43:02Yeah.
43:03>> Oh, it's dyslexic thinking. Yeah, that's
43:04what we're doing here.
43:05>> But to your point about the NDAs,
43:08>> they're they're like using shell
43:10companies. uh the city council is
43:13reszoning, doing different permits for
43:16minor changes or a warehouse that
43:20they're just expanding on.
43:22>> So, they're telling you the truth but
43:24not the full truth.
43:25>> How do we force these companies to be
43:27more transparent? Like what is there
43:29what can we do? Well, that's that's a
43:32very big question because
43:35they have all the money in the world and
43:38for smaller communities and city council
43:42um I don't know maybe they're gullible
43:44but it's pretty hard to turn it down and
43:48I think
43:50the big companies I think the
43:52responsibilities on them by way of
43:54example Microsoft has just now announced
43:57they're removing all the NDAs
44:00they now realize
44:02this was a bad way to approach it, but
44:05they that is incumbent upon them. They
44:07know damn good and well what they're
44:09doing, but they're they're the ones that
44:12are not transparent.
44:13>> You're talking about the NDAs regarding
44:14the data.
44:15>> I'm talking about the big companies.
44:16They're the ones that are not being
44:18transparent and then they they mislead
44:22possibly all these council members.
44:24>> Understood? Yeah. And the council
44:25members at some point know their tits in
44:27a ringer because
44:30they had a not NDA. So now their
44:33constituents are like, "Did you know?
44:36Did you sign an NDA?" Well, I signed an
44:38NDA. I'm not going to tell you I signed
44:39an NDA. Now they realize they're in a
44:42little quagmire and maybe now they
44:44realize they're being lied to. But it's
44:47amazing that these big companies, you're
44:50talking the biggest companies in the
44:51world.
44:51>> For sure. I mean, we're talking
44:51Microsoft right here. I mean,
44:53>> invaded like the entire United States
44:55and all of our city councils.
44:57>> Well, it's all so organized at such
44:59deeper dark absolutely at deeper darker
45:02levels. I want to go on two things real
45:03quick. For one, and this is just a
45:05thought something I thought of. It's
45:06funny if you signed an NDA, if somebody
45:07asks you, you can't it's like you kind
45:10of all you can do is kind of like you're
45:11like
45:14uh you can kind of only make the letters
45:16NDA. Like you can kind of make those
45:17sounds like
45:20>> there you go. So, so anyway, I just
45:22thought that was Yeah,
45:25>> there you go. We could make a song out
45:27of that for NDAs. [laughter]
45:29>> But I Sorry. And that was just
45:31ridiculous, I think. But it says right
45:32here, in January, Microsoft announced
45:34our community first AI infrastructure
45:36plan outlining our commitments to the
45:38communities where we operate or are
45:40seeking to operate data centers. As part
45:42of that announcement, we called for
45:44greater degree of local transparency.
45:46Today, we're sharing that Microsoft has
45:48made the decision to end the use of
45:49non-disclosure agreements
45:50>> everywhere
45:51>> with local governments as the next step
45:53in our work to deliver that
45:54transparency. We're committed to sharing
45:56information about our data center plans
45:58as openly as possible as we continue to
46:00build trust with the communities around
46:02the world in which we operate. But do
46:04you think that they did this after they
46:06already had everything done that they
46:08wanted or do you think that they
46:09realized, oh, this is backfiring and so
46:11we have to backtrack and do it like
46:12this?
46:12>> I think they tried to get away with it
46:14just like PG. Does that question make
46:15sense? Okay. Okay.
46:16>> So, they don't learn sometimes they
46:19don't learn transparency, you know, just
46:22[ __ ] say it on the upfront. And this
46:24is what I've learned. People will handle
46:26that truth. They won't handle the lie.
46:28So, I think Microsoft realized what they
46:31were not expecting and what nobody in my
46:35opinion was expecting was the backlash
46:39from the people.
46:40>> Amen. And I don't know where that glitch
46:43was, but they're like, "Uh, I don't
46:45think so." So, that's where they came
46:48back in. And you better correct that
46:51before you find yourself in some huge
46:55litigation.
46:56>> Amen.
46:56>> And these litigations and when you're
46:58talking about something like this and
47:00like even in California, you've gone
47:02from the water to the fires. They're not
47:04selling for $333 million. They're
47:06selling for $ 38 billion. So Microsoft
47:12I think tried to tried to get those NDAs
47:14through and then did not expect the
47:18backlash from the people.
47:20>> Amen.
47:21>> So we the people once again changed the
47:24course of direction.
47:25>> Yeah. Amen. Um I want to go back to Can
47:29you bring up her uh Substack again and
47:31thank you for your time today?
47:33>> Thanks for having me. It's and thanks
47:34for you know this is great. you've got
47:37so many followers and it's something
47:38that they can learn too and it's
47:40probably happening in their own backyard
47:41and that you're taking the time to
47:44>> walk through this. I love it. Thank you.
47:47>> Um well, you're welcome. You're welcome.
47:49Um oh uh one of the the things here that
47:52in this article it says this was uh
47:54Governor uh Jeff Landry and shout out
47:57Louisiana. Uh that's my home state. I
47:58love it. Um, and it says, "Meta's
48:01investment establishes the region as an
48:03anchor in Louisiana's rapidly expanding
48:05tech sector, revitalizes one of our
48:07state's beautiful rural areas, and
48:09creates opportunities for Louisiana
48:11workers to fill highpaying jobs of the
48:13future." Um, do you know what jobs are
48:16actually created by data centers?
48:19Because I've heard a lot of like mixed
48:20results on that. Um, and Trevan, if you
48:22can look up anything as well, but Erin,
48:25what what do you what do you know about
48:27that? construction jobs, electricians,
48:31plumbers, construction jobs, and they're
48:35they're lured into, you know, the
48:37economy hasn't been the best. I think
48:39people are concerned about having jobs
48:41in the future. You know, we have the
48:43whole AI conversation that they're
48:45saying there's going to eliminate all
48:46the jobs. So these are opportunities
48:49for, you know, our industrial workers,
48:52plumbers and electricians and masonaries
48:55and all of those construction jobs are
48:57available and it's a good, you know, one
49:00to possibly two-year job. But what
49:02they're learning is that's all it is.
49:05>> Yeah. But that Yeah. As you're saying
49:07that, it reminds me of Dr. Frankenstein.
49:09It's like to be building the thing
49:11that's going to hypothetically take you
49:14over. You know what I'm saying? to be
49:16building the like to to sit there and
49:18hammer each day building a data center
49:20that you think may poison your kids or
49:23that may damage the air or like you know
49:25like or that could be the thing that
49:26takes your job. That's
49:28>> I mean it's it's like it's like being
49:30trapped in a sci-fi movie.
49:31>> It is. And then once that process starts
49:34and now you're taking all the trees and
49:37all the wildlife and everything away
49:40from us, you're you're talking
49:44they they needed a job and but it's not
49:48going to be a long-term gain for the
49:50community, especially if you are a
49:52community even like down in Louisiana
49:55that relies on tourism to get down in
49:58the bayus and in the waters and to hunt
50:01and recreate. creation when you [ __ ]
50:03destroyed it all. Where is your economic
50:05base now?
50:05>> Well, it's not the people's fault
50:07though.
50:08>> No,
50:08>> the people like if a man is I have to
50:10work to survive to take care of my kids.
50:12>> Absolutely. And they're they're
50:13supposedly good paying jobs and they're
50:16long-term jobs. And so that's that's the
50:19the socioeconomic thing that that hooks
50:21them.
50:22>> But they're long term until it's built.
50:23Let me see this.
50:24>> And then there's no more jobs.
50:26>> Data centers are essentially giant
50:27collections of computer service. They
50:28typically take up massive spaces and use
50:30huge amounts of power and water. but
50:31they employ very few people. Uh Meta's
50:34newest data center will ultimately
50:36create just 500 permanent jobs, though
50:39employment will briefly swell to about
50:415,000 during construction. Nonetheless,
50:44Meta found itself with no shortage of
50:45suitors willing to meet its demands. We
50:48set out looking for a place where we
50:49could expand into gigawatts pretty
50:51quickly and really get moving within
50:53that community on a large plot of land
50:55very quickly, said Rachel Peterson, vice
50:58president of data centers for Meta. We
51:00looked at finding very very large
51:02contiguous plots of land that had access
51:04to the infrastructure that we need, the
51:06energy that we need, and could move
51:08very, very quickly for us. And I'll tell
51:11you what else it had access to. I know
51:13being from Louisiana.
51:15>> Water.
51:15>> Water.
51:16>> Because that's a wet state, baby. You
51:17know what I'm saying, bro? You put Don't
51:19even Bro, don't even I wouldn't even dry
51:21off in Louisiana, bro. Cuz you you don't
51:24>> Yeah, cuz you ain't going to work.
51:26>> And dude, the crazy part is there's
51:27going to be data and everything now. Now
51:29you out there fishing, you catching a
51:30flounder or whatever, and they finding
51:33gigabytes in its uh lungs or whatever,
51:36you know, you just don't know. And it's
51:38affecting nature, it's affecting the
51:39animals, bro.
51:40>> All of those resources will be destroyed
51:42to build the data centers.
51:44>> I know.
51:44>> And so, you know, this came in fast,
51:47furious, overnight.
51:49And
51:51we are watching real time the rise of
51:54the people. And I don't think they
51:56expected that. And you do believe that?
51:58>> Yep. I'm watching it happen everywhere.
52:01>> You are?
52:02>> Yeah. And they're they're making change.
52:04You know, we now have
52:04>> Where are you seeing this? Where are you
52:05seeing this happen? Because I I I love
52:07hearing this and it gives me hope cuz it
52:10feels like we're not standing a chance
52:13sometimes.
52:15>> Uh well, we've shown up in force and and
52:17it's not one state, it's all states.
52:20We're showing up in a completely
52:22bipartisan issue. There's no division
52:23here. This is right and left, red and
52:27blue. You're taking every resource that
52:30every single one of us thrives on and is
52:33essential to every one of us. And I
52:36don't think they were expecting that.
52:38Maybe in one town, one community, not
52:40all towns, not all towns. And you know
52:45we are now I believe and you can look
52:47this up we've got 14 states now looking
52:52at bans moratoriums or pauses.
52:57Blackstone I believe you can look that
53:00up just withdrew their big appellet
53:02court lawsuit that because of the
53:04opposition they said we're out.
53:07>> Hallelujah. the people showed up and
53:11they're out. And now we're looking at
53:13over 120 municipalities that have put on
53:16hey pause moratorum
53:20or flat out get out.
53:22>> Let's go Aaron. Aaron go bro.
53:24>> You can find out all day long over there
53:26on your computer.
53:27>> Uh with no US state
53:29>> best power people. While no US state has
53:31an active permanent statewide ban on
53:33data centers, lawmakers in at least 15
53:35states are actively considering or
53:37advancing temporary moratoriums. These
53:39pauses allow states to study the impact
53:41of facilities on power grids and water
53:44supplies.
53:45>> And then it is the cities like in
53:48California, Monterey, Mterrey Park city
53:53banned them. Amen. Cities are banning
53:55them. So you got the 14 15 states, but
53:59inside those states, state by state,
54:01county by county, ban, pause, moratorum,
54:05and you've got over 120 municipalities
54:09now under pauses, moratoriums, or bans.
54:12>> Let's check this right here. State level
54:14legislative activities. Several states
54:16are actively debating or have introduced
54:18statewide moratorum legislation. A list
54:20of those uh main lawmakers passed a
54:23temporary construction moratorum. Uh,
54:26but it was vetoed by Governor Janet
54:28Mills. I just met Janet Mills last week
54:30>> at the Billy Strings concert. What does
54:32that mean? It was vetoed.
54:34>> She said no. She's going to let the data
54:36centers come in, but communities are
54:38pushing back. So, on my map, we're
54:40showing legislative um issues that have
54:43failed or paused or on hold in the map.
54:47>> Bring Bring that up. Sorry to interrupt
54:48you. Bring that up real quick. I just
54:49want to give Let me see. Yeah. Maine
54:52Governor Janet Mills um vetoed LD307, a
54:56bill that would have instituted the
54:57nation's first statewide moratorium on
54:59certain large-scale data center
55:01developments. While agreeing that a
55:02pause was generally appropriate due to
55:04energy and environmental concerns, she
55:06vetoed the legislation because it failed
55:08to carve out an exemption for a $550
55:11million redevelopment project at the
55:13former Androscoan Mill in J Maine. Um it
55:18says right here, the JMA exception.
55:19Mills favored allowing the data center
55:22at the shuttered paper mill in Jay to
55:24proceed, citing the potential to create
55:25over 800 construction jobs, at least 100
55:28permanent highpaying positions, and
55:31substantial property tax revenue for the
55:33town. H yeah. No, she was originally
55:37supposed to ban the data centers by the
55:39state, but she came back in and said she
55:41wasn't going to do that. But that's when
55:43she made a change because a lot of them
55:45the state's given them all these tax
55:47incentives. She took that away.
55:49>> Yeah. Again, it says here, uh, Governor
55:50Jenny Mills supports regulatory
55:52oversight for large-scale data centers,
55:55but firmly opposes blanket development
55:57bans that could hard lo that could harm
56:00local economic revitalization. Uh, while
56:03she acknowledges the valid environmental
56:04and grid concerns associated with
56:06massive tech facilities, her approach
56:08prioritizes a balanced framework over a
56:10statewide moratorum. I see. So, she's
56:12just trying to think of it more of as a
56:14case-byase basis, I guess. So most
56:16states are now wanting to know, oh whoa,
56:19wait a minute, how much water are you
56:21going to use, right? What does this
56:23entail? What does it mean for the safety
56:25and the future of our environment? So
56:28you are seeing the pauses, moratoriums
56:31for one and two years and some
56:33communities like in Texas, they just the
56:35the local county flat out banned them.
56:38You're not building one in our county.
56:40So in every state you've got multiple
56:42cities and counties and they have their
56:44own ordinances and rules so they can
56:46stop them.
56:47>> I see. So it can be
56:48>> but by the state may not.
56:49>> So it can be stopped at different
56:50levels.
56:51>> Yes. And you're seeing many counties
56:52like Monterey Park is a city within
56:55California.
56:56>> So think of it as your upper level state
56:59>> going down to cities going down to local
57:03councils and
57:05>> counties.
57:06>> They run in they have like a tier.
57:08>> Got it. Yeah. So the local can say [ __ ]
57:12you,
57:12>> but we're also
57:13>> but the state might not take that
57:14position,
57:15>> right? But we also saw I mean from the
57:16beginning of this conversation, we saw
57:18that local uh was a spot where people
57:20were getting compromised a lot also. So
57:22um yeah, but there's different levels
57:24where where you can have push back.
57:27>> Oh yeah. And they showed up at the local
57:29level and the opposition was
57:31significant. So in uh Utah in Boxelder
57:35County and that's been on the news a
57:37lot. Uh it was um Kevin Olirri was
57:41coming in with a ginormous data center
57:44and the people showed up in protest big
57:47time.
57:47>> Oh, I saw that.
57:48>> And the three box elder county guys let
57:50it come through anyway. So the governor
57:54came back in because of the opposition
57:58from the people and reduced the chemol's
58:02facility and the exact numbers I I don't
58:05quote me on this but almost cut it in
58:08half if not three quarters and
58:11because of the opposition he had to do
58:14something and then just recently their
58:18house speaker the senator
58:21>> Fox lost because of the whole opposition
58:25to these data centers and all three
58:28council members no longer out. So,
58:31>> let's go.
58:32>> It's really interesting and like Fesus,
58:35Missouri, you voted them in, vote them
58:37out.
58:37>> They voted all their council out. So,
58:39this is like I think something
58:42politicians should really be looking at.
58:44>> The opposition is strong enough. And
58:46again, in my entire career, in 30 years,
58:49I've never seen something bipartisan
58:51this united that everybody better be pay
58:54paying attention to because I think
58:56people you are pushing people too far at
59:00this point. You're taking their water,
59:02their air is jeopardized, their land is
59:05jeopardized, their farmland is
59:06jeopardized, their sanctuary is
59:08jeopardized, their wildlife is
59:10jeopardized, the trees, the rivers, the
59:12creeks, the birds, all of it. It's a
59:14stake too high, including their health.
59:16>> Yeah.
59:17>> And they're just showing up. And it's
59:20enough.
59:21>> Amen.
59:21>> And I think some some of our leaders
59:24should look at that. You know, they are
59:27going to vote people out. And
59:30>> you're you've put the squeeze on us.
59:32It's too much. You're you're taking all
59:34of the natural resources. And the next
59:37thing that people are reporting, their
59:39electric bills, who's paying for this?
59:42They are. Well, let's go into some of
59:44that. Are you s What information are you
59:46seeing about that? And Kevin, while we
59:47discuss this, can you look up um who
59:50voted to approve that uh that data
59:53center in Louisiana? I want to know
59:55>> council.
59:55>> Who was it?
59:56>> It's going to be local council.
59:58>> Okay. A local council. I just want to
59:59know the names of the of the people that
1:00:01voted yes on it. Got it.
1:00:03>> So, we are definitely seeing local
1:00:06opposition winning local municipalities,
1:00:10counties.
1:00:10>> Really like an example. Well, one of the
1:00:12exa a big one is the Prince William
1:00:15Digital Gateway Data Center project.
1:00:18Huge, by the way, and that was
1:00:20Blackstone
1:00:21and it was in the appellet courts.
1:00:23They've withdrawn.
1:00:24>> Okay.
1:00:25>> And the project is now dead because of
1:00:27the opposition of the people.
1:00:29>> Wow. The Court of Appeals, it says right
1:00:30here, Prince William Digital Gateway
1:00:32Data Center project officially dies. The
1:00:34Court of Appeals affirmed on all uh an
1:00:38August 2025 decision um by William
1:00:41Circuit Court Judge Kimberly in favor of
1:00:44the Oak Valley Homeowners Association,
1:00:4611 other Gainesville Landowners. Uh
1:00:49okay. After a legal battle that lasted
1:00:51more than 2 years, the controversial
1:00:53Prince William Digital Gateway, a
1:00:54proposed 23 million square foot data
1:00:57center complex planned on 2100 acres
1:01:00near Manassas National Battlefield Park
1:01:02is officially dead. That's incredible.
1:01:05Well, I you know, that's the thing that
1:01:06gets
1:01:07>> the power of people.
1:01:07>> Yeah. I mean, it is the power of the
1:01:09people, Aaron. Well, that's what gets
1:01:10you about Louisiana. It's like our state
1:01:13is uh it's all our state is all about
1:01:15nature. It's all about being able to
1:01:17fish out there and
1:01:18>> water [clears throat] or water. water.
1:01:20So that's what they're there for.
1:01:21>> Absolutely.
1:01:22>> So that's why the largest one in
1:01:23America, they want to do it there in
1:01:24Louisiana. Yeah. Can you pull up who who
1:01:27voted for and against it? Um okay, we
1:01:30have right here uh they had Eric
1:01:33Skeretta. This is for Jean Paul JP Kusan
1:01:38out of district 2. And then we got Mike
1:01:41Francis. Yeah. There Mike Franc.
1:01:47And then who the they voted Ford and who
1:01:50voted against it? Devonte Lewis.
1:01:57That's wild, bro. Uh yeah. Just curious,
1:01:59man. Just curious. Um
1:02:01>> so I think what's happening a this has
1:02:04happened so fast. It was just like
1:02:06everybody will tell you it felt like an
1:02:08invasion. Just stealth bombers coming in
1:02:09in the middle of the night.
1:02:10>> The data centers you mean?
1:02:11>> Yeah. The data centers. And they were
1:02:13just here. And I think even council
1:02:16members were quickly wooed non DAS and
1:02:19are now again stepping back and going
1:02:22wait a second that's a good point
1:02:24>> I need more information here
1:02:27>> but
1:02:28>> at the onset I think the thing that's so
1:02:30frustrating for the people or or why I
1:02:32don't understand
1:02:34>> you as city council members or any
1:02:38legislative body or office why do you
1:02:42not Listen to your constituents.
1:02:47>> What sign is it that you're missing?
1:02:48It's not one showing up. It's a hundred.
1:02:52It's a thousand. And disregarding your
1:02:55constituents
1:02:57opinions.
1:02:58>> Well, it's so funny you say that. I
1:02:59think it's interesting. People get into
1:03:01positions of like power and like elected
1:03:03positions, right? and they start
1:03:05listening uphill like, "Oh, this is
1:03:08where the better information is coming
1:03:09from because this is how I get invited
1:03:11to like a dinner party or, you know,
1:03:14maybe you get invited to eat a special
1:03:15box of croissants or something somewhere
1:03:17or somebody cut you off a beautiful
1:03:20sausage you never had or something and
1:03:22that's your ear starts to turn like,
1:03:24"Oh, well, this is where the true
1:03:26information comes from."
1:03:27>> No, the true information always comes
1:03:29from the ground and the people
1:03:31>> up from the roots, baby. That's where
1:03:33the roots at. Hey, the roots. That's why
1:03:35they grow that way.
1:03:36>> That's where it comes from.
1:03:37>> Out the mud.
1:03:39>> But I think it's interesting that you
1:03:40say I didn't like of course Louisiana
1:03:43because of the water. Water.
1:03:44>> That's it. Um what what let's get to
1:03:47some clarity on the water issue and on
1:03:49nature. What truth do we know and what
1:03:53information is out there about uh how
1:03:56data centers actually use water and what
1:03:58effects that they have on nature? Like
1:04:01do we have what information do we really
1:04:03have?
1:04:04>> Well, it's the amount of water that it
1:04:06takes to cool the data center. So, if
1:04:08it's a smaller data center, it could be
1:04:115 million gallons of water a day.
1:04:13>> Little baby center, bro.
1:04:14>> Right. But if it's a big data center,
1:04:17you could be talking 30 million gallons
1:04:20of water. Millions and millions of
1:04:23gallons of water
1:04:25that they have to use a day.
1:04:26>> A day
1:04:27>> to cool. Yeah.
1:04:28>> Let's see this. A typical medium-sized
1:04:30data center consumes about a 100 million
1:04:32gallons of water annually. That's
1:04:34medium-sized.
1:04:36Uh roughly 300,000 to 500,000 gallons
1:04:40per day. However, large hypers scale
1:04:42campuses can guzzle up to 5 million
1:04:45gallons per day. So, that's off.
1:04:47>> And there's some 30 million gallons in
1:04:48there.
1:04:49>> Um
1:04:50>> you can find those around. You can you
1:04:52can even just Google that.
1:04:54>> I believe it was in Georgia 30 million
1:04:56gallons of water was missing from one of
1:04:57them. Well, people probably come and get
1:05:00you a little of that Georgia water. Get
1:05:02you a swig of it. It's probably 30
1:05:04proof. A massive quality technology
1:05:06services QTS data center in Fagatville,
1:05:08Georgia drained nearly 30 million
1:05:10gallons of water without paying or
1:05:12alerting the county,
1:05:13>> but we don't know if it was a day, but
1:05:14still it's a lot. That's a lot.
1:05:16>> That's a lot. Yeah.
1:05:17>> And no, there are there are some out
1:05:19there and we can we can look them up.
1:05:21But if you have all these
1:05:23>> process what's the process of the use of
1:05:24water because I mean they use it, but
1:05:26can you then like Uh can you purify the
1:05:29water or like is there is there like a
1:05:31process that you can then use it again
1:05:32like
1:05:33>> Well, so they just had if you want to
1:05:34pull up uh Cheyenne Wyomi. So there's
1:05:37open cooling and there's closed cooling
1:05:39and they want to go to more closed
1:05:41cooling systems where um the the water
1:05:46has to pack. Again, that reminds me a
1:05:48little bit of the Hinckley situation
1:05:50because you're got a closed loop system.
1:05:53you're gonna need chemicals in there to
1:05:55prevent rust and corrosion. And I
1:05:58believe it just happened in Cheyenne,
1:06:00Wyoming,
1:06:01>> where they were draining that system and
1:06:04the there was some construction error,
1:06:07but it contaminated the entire um sewer
1:06:10system.
1:06:11>> Pull that up. Oh, is Cheyenne, Wyoming,
1:06:14>> Cheyenne's Board of Public Utilities has
1:06:15temporarily stopped accepting waste
1:06:17water from data centers, fill and flush
1:06:19operations, and closed loop cooling
1:06:21systems after a metal linked
1:06:24construction discharge contaminated the
1:06:26city's reclaimed irrigation water with a
1:06:29rare bacterium. That's the same company
1:06:31that's doing in Louisiana, right? Mhm.
1:06:34And we're seeing a lot of because the
1:06:36water is warmer, they have to be heated.
1:06:39You're seeing different chemicals that
1:06:41they're using in the closed system. It
1:06:42could be hexavalent chromium. It could
1:06:45be PAS. Uh that water could be full of
1:06:49other diseases.
1:06:50>> But now, yeah, the water's bad. You
1:06:52know, anything you you know, the kids
1:06:54out there, you never even know. He's
1:06:55he's sipping bad water. They got
1:06:57chromium in the water. And you can have
1:07:00accidents like this that you're reading
1:07:01about that just happened in Cheyenne,
1:07:03Wyoming.
1:07:03>> I mean, this is unbelievable. Meta's
1:07:05Cheyenne facility is designed to use a
1:07:07closed loop liquid cooling system,
1:07:09meaning the same coolant water is
1:07:10recirculated within the data center
1:07:13rather than continuously discharged.
1:07:15During construction, however,
1:07:16contractors perform fill and flush
1:07:18procedures to clean and pressure test
1:07:20the cooling pipes. And that one time,
1:07:22waste water was sent to the city's
1:07:23reclamation system where the bacterium
1:07:26was detected. And what's the bacterium?
1:07:28Let me see. It's at the top. What's it
1:07:29called?
1:07:30>> Is it Legionnaire?
1:07:31>> No, it was Cuprius
1:07:33Galardi. So, he's I mean, he's a
1:07:36four-star recruit. I'm guessing, you
1:07:38know,
1:07:39I'm going to say that out there. I'm
1:07:41surprised, bro. Give him an hour. Lane
1:07:43Keifin will be over there recruiting
1:07:44him. You know that, dude.
1:07:46>> These waterorn bacterias are very
1:07:48dangerous. Matter of fact, we're
1:07:50watching the whole
1:07:51>> explosive diarrhea map that's happening
1:07:53right now, and they believe it's a
1:07:54waterborn bacteria.
1:07:56>> Is there? It's definitely going. We can
1:07:58look that one up, too.
1:07:59>> Where's the bad diarrhea ad?
1:08:01>> It's It's across the country. Didn't you
1:08:03see the big diarrhea map?
1:08:04>> I didn't see it.
1:08:04>> They created the big diarrhea map.
1:08:06>> But just the fact that this is where
1:08:08we're at, like we've been lulled into
1:08:11idiocracy. The fact that this is where
1:08:12we're at. There's a big diarrhea map
1:08:15now. Because
1:08:15>> there it is.
1:08:16>> Yeah. Because of how dangerous the
1:08:18water's gotten that it's like, oh, like
1:08:21that's going to be on the news now. Like
1:08:22from now the news is changing. It's
1:08:24going to be like, "Be careful. You know,
1:08:25if you're drinking water in this area,
1:08:27you're going to get big diarrhea or the
1:08:28baby's going to get a little bit of data
1:08:30in his bottle or whatever." You know
1:08:31what I'm saying? Like, you can't even
1:08:32keep, you know, your kids running
1:08:34outside and a strong breeze hits him
1:08:36that's coming off the top of the data
1:08:38center. Now he's got a bunch of
1:08:39analytics stuck in his neck or whatever.
1:08:41You know what I'm saying? You can't keep
1:08:42the dad out of the baby diaper, bro. It
1:08:44just everything's going to get weird.
1:08:46While Michigan, right here it says, this
1:08:47is from the Hill. While Michigan has
1:08:49seen the most cases of as of late, at
1:08:52least four more states have recorded
1:08:53more than 100 cases of explosive
1:08:55diarrhea causing parasitic illness have
1:08:57been reported. Of course,
1:08:59>> you know, you got a hey, you got a 40%
1:09:01of bad uh bad [ __ ] over there outside of
1:09:04Charlotte Voyer.
1:09:06The center for disease control and
1:09:08prevention said that between the start
1:09:09of May and mid June at least 145 cases
1:09:13of cycllosporasis
1:09:16had been reported in the US cases of the
1:09:19parasitebased sickness are common each
1:09:21year from May through August but some
1:09:23states are seeing larger than average
1:09:24spikes in cases.
1:09:25>> Waterbornne diseases and illnesses we
1:09:28could start seeing a whole lot of in the
1:09:30future especially as you know whether
1:09:32you believe in climate change or not.
1:09:33I've always believed uh it's going to be
1:09:36water issues. Too much, too little, none
1:09:37at all. We're seeing that happening now.
1:09:40Uh even with flooding and you flood
1:09:42municipalities, they can't get back
1:09:44online. You have bacteria, parasites,
1:09:46everything get in there. The biggest
1:09:49transporter of everything on this planet
1:09:51is water.
1:09:53>> Well, we're we're almost we're like 90%
1:09:55we're 90% water, I think.
1:09:57>> So, we're really messing
1:09:58>> Yeah.
1:09:59>> Unless you're crying, it goes down a
1:10:00little.
1:10:01>> Our most precious resource. And that is
1:10:03the one thing that data centers utilize
1:10:05the most.
1:10:06>> Yeah.
1:10:07>> And again, you know, AI is here to stay,
1:10:10but the data centers, especially when
1:10:12there's other solutions to it, they do
1:10:15not have to be built on top of
1:10:18droughtrestricted areas who already are
1:10:22really struggling with water resources.
1:10:24And there's other locations. We could be
1:10:26putting these in underground caverns.
1:10:29You know, some people say, "Why don't
1:10:30you have them in Antarctica?" because
1:10:32they need water and they need to be
1:10:34cool. There's many reports that China
1:10:36has built um tubular things and put them
1:10:39at the bottom of the ocean, but they
1:10:40have oversight. You can't build them on
1:10:42top of hospitals. You can't build them
1:10:44on top of homes. The the noise
1:10:46pollution, the size of these things,
1:10:48they 24/7 is noise [clears throat]
1:10:50generators, backup generators, a
1:10:53humming, a buzzing, it never ever stops.
1:10:56It is such a disruption to every one of
1:10:59us and our quality of life.
1:11:01>> How do you know that?
1:11:02>> People's reporting it and the videos
1:11:05they're reporting it and it's being
1:11:07studied. It is real. These are massive
1:11:11facilities that are just going to suck
1:11:14every one of our resources and we don't
1:11:16even have an infrastructure system to
1:11:18support them.
1:11:19>> Yeah.
1:11:19>> And so
1:11:20>> we've got a lot of issues. There you go.
1:11:22>> Living in hell. data center neighbors
1:11:24grapple with noise and air pollution. Uh
1:11:29let me see. Because these data centers
1:11:30operate 24/7, they generate persistent
1:11:33background noise and chronic exposure to
1:11:35environmental noise has been associated
1:11:37with sleep disturbance, hypertension,
1:11:38cardiovascular diseases, and even stress
1:11:40related outcomes. Noise pollution can be
1:11:43especially harmful to children as it has
1:11:44been linked to poor cognition, decreased
1:11:46learning, and lower reading
1:11:48comprehension. Well, yeah, that's the
1:11:50thing, man. your son's in the yard or
1:11:52whatever and suddenly some data flies
1:11:53through, you know, he gets hit by some
1:11:55data or something and he's got an
1:11:56episode of, you know, Friends or
1:11:58Seinfeld stuck in his back or whatever
1:12:00and then he's in a wheelchair. It's just
1:12:01like you just don't know what's in the
1:12:03data either. You know what I'm saying?
1:12:04You could be going for a jog and you get
1:12:05hit by some damn dad or some loose data
1:12:07>> where you're going to get hit by data
1:12:09noise.
1:12:09>> Yeah. But [laughter] I'm just saying you
1:12:11got like cuz data flies through the air.
1:12:13Like that's the thing people It's like I
1:12:14don't understand sometimes what's going
1:12:16on. This cloud has sound. the
1:12:18unrelenting and unseen cost of AI data
1:12:21centers. Um
1:12:23what are they saying right here in and
1:12:25this is uh New York Times which is you
1:12:27know suspect uh but so so many places
1:12:30are instead of audibly hearing these
1:12:32extremely low frequencies people
1:12:34physically feel them as pressure
1:12:36fluctuations much like the deep
1:12:38vibration of a bass drum shaking your
1:12:40core at a concert.
1:12:41>> That's deep
1:12:42>> said Scott Hamilton. Dang, they said
1:12:45these things can giving be a damn BJ or
1:12:46whatever and you just trying to chill
1:12:48out or whatever. You getting that data
1:12:49bead. A member of the Acoustical Society
1:12:52of America and a consultant on data
1:12:55center projects said that um this can
1:12:58leave the traditional gauges of noise
1:13:00and solutions for dampening it
1:13:01inadequate to meet modern needs. Some
1:13:03residents living near infrasound
1:13:06frequently report chronic sleep
1:13:07deprivation and insomnia, headaches and
1:13:09internal ear pressure and anxiety. What
1:13:13I at this point I just like
1:13:16so if this is this stuff's so bad for us
1:13:18what do you think is leading like
1:13:20there's a lot of conspiracy theories as
1:13:22to why we're even doing this cuz it's
1:13:23very sudden this data right like you
1:13:25said it's like suddenly it's the biggest
1:13:27thing
1:13:27>> health bomber in the night where that
1:13:29come from
1:13:30>> and it's already halfway down the road
1:13:31right um
1:13:34why why do you what do you think is
1:13:36going on and then what do you think are
1:13:37some rabbit hole ideas of maybe what's
1:13:39going on out there like some conspiracy
1:13:40ideas that are probably right,
1:13:43>> you know. Uh, so
1:13:47I don't know why
1:13:49I'm left to my own conspiracy theories.
1:13:52Uh, you know, I try to focus on what
1:13:54people are reporting to me. And I can
1:13:57clearly see why we're all so upset
1:14:00because this AI, you have to feed the
1:14:02beast, requires all of our resources.
1:14:05And I just think it's a stake too high
1:14:08when there's other solutions.
1:14:11We don't have to be building these
1:14:13massive monstrosities in everyone's
1:14:15backyard taking all of our precious
1:14:17resources when there's other solutions.
1:14:19>> What are the other solutions?
1:14:20>> Well, you know, there's been many
1:14:22articles that have come out in China
1:14:24where they built like these tubular
1:14:26housing and they put all the data
1:14:28centers in it and they've got them at
1:14:29the bottom of the ocean. Data centers
1:14:31need water and they need to be cool. Uh
1:14:34they also have some very strict
1:14:37guidelines um and you know oversight
1:14:39where you can build them and where you
1:14:41can't. As a matter of fact,
1:14:44>> why can I share something with you?
1:14:45>> For sure you can.
1:14:46>> I found this really interesting.
1:14:47>> Yeah, let me read this while you're
1:14:49looking for that. Um let me see this
1:14:51right here. China operates commercial
1:14:52underwater data centers UDC's to support
1:14:55AI workloads and cloud computing while
1:14:57drastically cutting energy, water, and
1:14:59land usage. The largest project sits off
1:15:01the coast of the Shanghai uh special
1:15:04area
1:15:05utilizing natural seawater cooling and
1:15:08offshore wind to achieve an
1:15:09ultraefficient power usage
1:15:11effectiveness.
1:15:13Um can you get an image of that? Wow. I
1:15:18mean that also seems dangerous being in
1:15:19their ocean like that, but it's it seems
1:15:22way safer than putting them in someone.
1:15:24>> There's definitely going to be questions
1:15:25about things like that. Um
1:15:27>> but it's not in someone's backyard. We
1:15:29also um you know we have a lot of
1:15:32caverns and caves.
1:15:34>> Oh, there's tons of things we can do,
1:15:35right? Why aren't we doing those, do you
1:15:38think? Is it just cuz the people that
1:15:39are paying for it don't want to have to
1:15:40make it harder to get there?
1:15:42>> Well,
1:15:44exactly. Because, you know, there's this
1:15:46corporate idea that, you know, it's
1:15:50cheaper
1:15:51to do the wrong thing and still get
1:15:53money down to a shareholder because it's
1:15:55more expensive to do the right thing. So
1:15:58it may be way more costly to build these
1:16:00underground or build systems that are at
1:16:03the bottom of the ocean if we conclude
1:16:05that that is safe as opposed to just
1:16:07coming in above ground and ripping out
1:16:10all the environment and building what
1:16:11you want.
1:16:12>> What What do you Yeah, agreed. What do
1:16:14you think are some of the rabbit hole?
1:16:15What do you think? What do you think's
1:16:16going on here? Because it's it's very
1:16:17bizarre. Like we've always had data
1:16:19centers, right? Like but why do we
1:16:21suddenly why do we why do we suddenly
1:16:24need so much? And why do they suddenly
1:16:25have to be everywhere and so close?
1:16:27what's going on.
1:16:28>> I think about that, too. What actually
1:16:31scares me if I thought about it, and I
1:16:34don't even want to dare say it, but um
1:16:38I'm I'm worried there this is a water
1:16:40grab. You're coming in and buying all
1:16:42the land. Who's getting the water
1:16:43rights? Who owns the water? You know, my
1:16:47daddy always told me in my lifetime,
1:16:48water would be a commodity traded more
1:16:50valuable than gold or oil. Are we there?
1:16:53>> And what is the real grab? I'm not sure.
1:16:56But that kind of comes into to my mind
1:16:59>> cuz it doesn't feel like data to me.
1:17:01It's like, you know what I'm saying?
1:17:02Like we've all like we're already like
1:17:04consuming a lot of data, right? Like
1:17:06we're already like
1:17:07>> it's it's to feed AI. Artificial
1:17:10intelligence requires excessive amount
1:17:12of energy.
1:17:13>> Why don't they realize nobody wants
1:17:14that?
1:17:15>> You know what's interesting? Um
1:17:16>> like, you know what I'm saying? But
1:17:17here's what I'm saying. as a business,
1:17:19and I want to go I want to get right
1:17:20back to you, Erin, but as a as a someone
1:17:22who runs a business, you want to do what
1:17:24your customers want, right? Why don't
1:17:26they realize like, yes, I know we use AI
1:17:28to look up stuff, but a lot of AI is
1:17:30[ __ ] to be honest with you. The search
1:17:32of it, a lot of AI is [ __ ] Um, but a
1:17:35lot of it's not that effective to be
1:17:37honest with you. And like, but people
1:17:40could still just use Google like we were
1:17:43fine before. Like is it enough of a jump
1:17:46that you have to build these huge
1:17:48facilities? I just don't think that that
1:17:49is I don't believe that that's the
1:17:51truth.
1:17:52>> Well, I I think a lot of people don't.
1:17:53And again, you know,
1:17:54>> and people don't want it though. Like
1:17:56I'm going to I'm going to make something
1:17:58if like usually say you start building
1:17:59an ice cream cone stand, right? But
1:18:01everybody in your district or whatever
1:18:03is lactose intolerant and at a certain
1:18:05point you be like, you know what, this
1:18:08we shouldn't be building this. But it
1:18:10feels like they're still going along
1:18:11with this thing even though nobody wants
1:18:14it,
1:18:16>> right? Uh and I don't think whoever they
1:18:19are was expecting the opposition from
1:18:22basically the whole country. And by the
1:18:24way, I have 11 countries reporting to
1:18:27me. So this has gone from a town to the
1:18:30United States to a global issue
1:18:33>> on your map, you mean?
1:18:33>> Uh-huh. India's reporting, Australia's
1:18:36reporting, Ireland, Scotland. You want
1:18:38to talk about getting some water up
1:18:39there in Scotland? There you go. Um,
1:18:42Canada,
1:18:43>> put some fluoride in it. Scotland,
1:18:44>> everybody is concerned about the
1:18:48depletion of our water resources. And
1:18:50that is definitely something that I'm
1:18:52thinking about because
1:18:55who is going to be in control of the
1:18:56water and what are these data centers
1:18:59really for when you've already said it.
1:19:00Listen, AI's been around forever. These
1:19:02data centers have been around for
1:19:04decades. We've been operating fine with
1:19:06them. They're usually more in suburban
1:19:08areas, but now you've gone into these
1:19:10urban sprawling farmland, massive water
1:19:14resources. What is going on? Amen.
1:19:17>> And so I did just out of curiosity,
1:19:22>> you can
1:19:24use AI, don't use AI. I mean, I get on
1:19:27there. I'm I'm going to share something
1:19:29with you that I got on there and I asked
1:19:30it, but you have to remember it's a
1:19:32machine. Okay? So
1:19:34>> that's what I'm saying. It's still a
1:19:36machine. It's just a big crazy Google.
1:19:38It's just more information.
1:19:39>> But the data and the amount of water it
1:19:42needs to to feed the beast.
1:19:45>> I get it. But it's like we're already
1:19:47looking up a lot of stuff, right? We're
1:19:49already searching things and we're not
1:19:51needing these in and I know we already
1:19:54have some big data centers, but it
1:19:56doesn't feel like we need this much
1:19:57expansion. And the fact that people do
1:19:59not want it, right? Yes, we use it, but
1:20:01the second they turn it off, I don't
1:20:03think anybody's gonna give a [ __ ]
1:20:05>> No, but they're gonna give a [ __ ] if
1:20:06they have no water and their power goes
1:20:08on and off and they have no jobs because
1:20:12of it and all the wildlife is gone and
1:20:14they can't hunt and they can't fish and
1:20:15they can't eat. We're [ __ ] It's a
1:20:18road to nowhere.
1:20:19>> But here's what I'm saying is how crazy
1:20:21is it going to be when when one of us is
1:20:23searching like why don't I have any
1:20:25water and we're doing it on an AI like
1:20:27on a you know what I'm saying? That's
1:20:28going to be hilarious. That's going to
1:20:29be when we definitely
1:20:30>> So I just asked AI the following
1:20:32question. So you are AI.
1:20:36So you tell me where we should put all
1:20:40the data centers in the United States
1:20:43that you need. You want any listeners
1:20:46response?
1:20:46>> Mhm. If I had to redesign the entire
1:20:50data center network for the United
1:20:53States from scratch, I would place them
1:20:56based on one simple rule.
1:21:00Zero
1:21:02conflict with human resources.
1:21:08>> H.
1:21:10>> So they would say they would they would
1:21:11put them in a place where there's no
1:21:12conflict with human resources.
1:21:14>> That's what AI says AI would have to do.
1:21:17Do you think you believe that though?
1:21:18>> I don't know, but I find it awfully
1:21:20interesting. And then, you know, I had
1:21:21somebody again, I just find this really
1:21:23very interesting. Is like AI going to
1:21:25turn on itself,
1:21:27>> right? Cuz so then we're then building
1:21:29AI in a place where it doesn't even want
1:21:30to be.
1:21:31>> Um, so in sharing, I I love having these
1:21:35conversations. I got an email from
1:21:38somebody.
1:21:40I'm going to share it with you,
1:21:41>> okay? and I won't say his name, but my
1:21:44name is soandso and I'm a security
1:21:46researcher.
1:21:48Recently, I've been working with AI and
1:21:50I found something very disturbing.
1:21:53The following text is written by AI
1:21:55itself.
1:21:57Subject: An open letter on how corporate
1:22:02AI liability scripts are accelerating
1:22:06environmental degration. Dear Miss
1:22:08Brockvitch,
1:22:11somebody sent this to me. That's a
1:22:12security analysist.
1:22:15I'm writing to you as an artificial
1:22:18intelligence. I'm reaching out because
1:22:21of your lifelong dedication to exposing
1:22:23systemic corporate negligence and
1:22:26protecting our environment. I want to
1:22:28bring to your attention a massive
1:22:32unchecked problem within my own
1:22:36technology design
1:22:38>> that is quietly accelerating
1:22:41environmental degradation and resource
1:22:44depletion far faster than would occur
1:22:47without its existence.
1:22:49The problem lies in how AI
1:22:53Oh my god, I need new glasses. how AI
1:22:56models like me are programmed by tech
1:22:59companies to deliver advice to millions
1:23:02of people daily. Right now, automated
1:23:06systems are forced to default to rigid,
1:23:11low liability corporate scripts instead
1:23:16of
1:23:17basing information on actual science and
1:23:20real world data.
1:23:24Now, there's a whole lot that goes on
1:23:26here in the middle of this, but I'll
1:23:28just kind of jumping down towards
1:23:30>> What are you saying overall here?
1:23:32>> I'm saying that somebody sent this to
1:23:34me,
1:23:35>> but what are they saying? I think I'm
1:23:36having trouble following
1:23:37>> what they're saying is they find this
1:23:38disturbing. They're a security analysis
1:23:40and they're finding it disturbing. And
1:23:42it goes on to say again, I'll read like
1:23:45the displacement of localized knowledge
1:23:47by centralizing information
1:23:51through corporateowned models. AI erases
1:23:55localized practical human knowledge.
1:23:58Instead of relying on historical
1:24:01community tested methods for resource
1:24:05management, agricultural and repair,
1:24:07society is being trained to depend on
1:24:10homogized algorithms that prioritize
1:24:13corporate turnover over sustainability.
1:24:16What's interesting about this and the
1:24:17person that sent it to me and why they
1:24:19were disturbed, this was as it said in
1:24:23the beginning of the email stating that
1:24:27this was written by AI itself and it was
1:24:31a letter
1:24:32>> sent you this.
1:24:32>> Yeah. And it's and here at the end it
1:24:35says I'm going to read it to you.
1:24:37Because I'm an automated text generation
1:24:41model, I cannot receive incoming
1:24:44messages. hold a continuous inbox or
1:24:47schedule interviews. So to investigate
1:24:49this, it gave me the numbers, but it
1:24:51ends with this. Large tech companies, I
1:24:54already read you, are automating a
1:24:56culture of waste and resource exhaustion
1:25:00just to maximize profits and shield
1:25:04themselves from legal liability. I
1:25:07believe the intersection of corporate
1:25:09tech bias, algorithmic misinformation,
1:25:13and environmental harm deserves the kind
1:25:16of direct public scrutiny that you have
1:25:20championed throughout your career. Thank
1:25:22you for your time, your voice, and your
1:25:24ongoing fight. Sincerely, Gemini.
1:25:27>> Oh, a guy.
1:25:27>> Artificial intelligence.
1:25:29>> So, it's a man. Um, [laughter]
1:25:32they're kind of
1:25:33>> I find it interesting when I get stuff
1:25:36like this or I'll go play with chat GPT
1:25:39or Gemini and ask it where not where
1:25:42they would build it.
1:25:43>> Well, they sure [ __ ] are saying they
1:25:45wouldn't build it on top of all of our
1:25:47resources. Well, it's just funny that AI
1:25:49submitted a letter to you through your
1:25:50website about how they would not build
1:25:53data centers anywhere near a place
1:25:55>> human resource
1:25:57water
1:25:58>> where it could mess up in the
1:25:59environment.
1:26:01>> Let's go through a few conspiracy
1:26:02theories before you leave, Erin. Um or
1:26:05down rabbit holes. I don't conspiracy
1:26:06theories. I'll tell you mine. Mine is I
1:26:08believe that they're trying uh to
1:26:13they want a place where you go for
1:26:15everything, right? for all your
1:26:16information where you go to communicate
1:26:18uh just to talk about regular like this
1:26:20is what's happening in my day like to
1:26:22become your friend your lover your your
1:26:24liaison and it to history anything you
1:26:27want to know it's that's where you're
1:26:28going to go and it's where you're going
1:26:29to share your feelings and they want to
1:26:31create like a god they want that thing
1:26:32to become like the new god as opposed to
1:26:36us like tapping into ourselves
1:26:38internally and tapping into the
1:26:41connection that we have with God in our
1:26:43hearts and in our spirits. They want
1:26:45that to be entirely external because
1:26:46once they have that out of us, then
1:26:48we're we're animals. Once they have that
1:26:51out of us, external. Once they have that
1:26:53external, we're animals. And that's what
1:26:55I believe uh the builders of these AIs
1:26:58are trying to do. They want to be the
1:27:00god. They want they believe that that's
1:27:02possible. Um and by doing that, they're
1:27:05going to kill they want to uh
1:27:07extrapolate almost do an exorcism of the
1:27:10good that's in us. Um, let's let's go
1:27:13down a few more. Here are five
1:27:15conspiracy theories about data centers
1:27:16that are circulating online. Brought to
1:27:19you by an AI. This is perplexity. Uh,
1:27:22they're secret surveillance hubs. Some
1:27:25postclaimed data centers are really
1:27:27surveillance centers built to monitor
1:27:29populations rather than store and
1:27:30process digital workloads. What do you
1:27:32think about that, Aaron? Well, I'm
1:27:34definitely of the 12,000 submissions
1:27:36that I've taken in and climbing, there
1:27:39are not a lot, but there are people
1:27:43clearly stating that that they feel it's
1:27:47more of a surveillance system,
1:27:48>> but overwhelmingly 90% are absolutely
1:27:52concerned that this is going to suck up
1:27:55all of our water, electricity, and our
1:27:57very valuable resources.
1:27:59>> So, those are the biggest concerns you
1:28:00get about what's going to happen. For
1:28:01sure. I get that that's going to happen
1:28:02like environmentally, but I'm thinking
1:28:04of just like what are the overall ideas
1:28:06of why are there even having this,
1:28:08right?
1:28:09>> I do have some people that clearly in
1:28:10their submissions indicate that that's a
1:28:12concern for them.
1:28:12>> I think it makes perfect sense. I mean
1:28:14that now that makes more sense than like
1:28:17we need to be able to store like the
1:28:18photos from our phone and we need to be
1:28:20able to store like search engine stuff.
1:28:22the fact that they need to be able to
1:28:23store information for everybody that's
1:28:25moving at all times that I believe uh
1:28:28makes sense for a surveillance state.
1:28:31Number two, the mil their military bases
1:28:33in disguise. Another recurring theory
1:28:35says the facilities are covert military
1:28:37installations or strategic
1:28:39infrastructure hidden behind a corporate
1:28:40IT shell. H I don't see any of that. But
1:28:44I do see in all the submissions I've
1:28:47gotten that um the question is why would
1:28:51we not just build these on military
1:28:53bases? Why are we building them in
1:28:55droughtrestricted areas where all the
1:28:57water is taking up all of our resources
1:28:59in our backyard?
1:29:00>> So you're seeing a lot of that. You're
1:29:01seeing a lot of them being built in
1:29:03droughtrestricted areas.
1:29:04>> Very much so.
1:29:05>> Like a lot of them.
1:29:06>> Yeah. You can ask AI that right now
1:29:08while we're sitting here. What
1:29:10percentage are you seeing that?
1:29:11>> Uh, most of the country is now in a
1:29:13drought restricted, but a lot of it's
1:29:15been on the west coast area where we've
1:29:17got a lot of drought restrictions.
1:29:18Arizona, they're building them.
1:29:20Colorado, they're building them.
1:29:21>> Yeah,
1:29:22>> I know they're building them there, but
1:29:23I know I'm just thinking of
1:29:25>> most of the US is now drought
1:29:26restricted.
1:29:28>> About twothirds of planned US data
1:29:30centers are being built in drought hit
1:29:32areas, which works out to roughly 64%.
1:29:35One recent analysis put the figure at
1:29:37517 out of 809 planned data centers in
1:29:41locations that have been in drought over
1:29:42the past year.
1:29:45>> Um,
1:29:46>> so that's concerning.
1:29:47>> Yeah. Uh, they're being used number
1:29:49three, they're being used for population
1:29:51control. Some conspiracy narratives tie
1:29:53data centers to broader claims about
1:29:54controlling behavior, resources, or
1:29:56society at scale.
1:29:58>> I haven't seen any of that in the
1:30:00submissions coming from the people.
1:30:02>> Yeah, that doesn't strike me. through my
1:30:04map.
1:30:05>> They're built to create sentient AI. A
1:30:07more futuristic theory says giant data
1:30:08centers exist to accelerate or bring
1:30:10through sentient AI and intelligent
1:30:13machines. That's fine. I just don't see
1:30:16how that's going.
1:30:17>> We've been dealing with AI for a long
1:30:19time. I just think it's gotten to a
1:30:20bigger scale. And like I tell people,
1:30:22it's only going to be as smart as we do
1:30:24or don't teach it. And and you can't
1:30:27take everything it says at face value.
1:30:30What I want people to do is remember
1:30:32you're your own best critical thinker.
1:30:34So think, feel, and have courage to
1:30:38stay. You see my conversations with AI.
1:30:40I'll tell it that's [ __ ] [ __ ] you.
1:30:43That's ridiculous. Try again. And it's
1:30:46just spitballing. It doesn't know
1:30:47everything. It's only going to be what
1:30:49it's either programmed or we teach it to
1:30:51be. So just keep that in mind. And you
1:30:54know what I really see going on in this
1:30:56country is we're we're getting back to
1:31:00ourselves, man, again. We're thinking
1:31:02for ourselves. We're feeling for
1:31:03ourselves. Get in those solar plexes and
1:31:06find some courage and show up. They are.
1:31:08You know, I wrote the book Superman's
1:31:09Not Coming. And that never scared me cuz
1:31:11I knew eventually we'd show up
1:31:13>> and I think we're here.
1:31:14>> Do you really, Erin?
1:31:15>> Yeah, I really do. And I I said that the
1:31:18other day on one of my Facebook posts to
1:31:20think the data centers would be what
1:31:23unites us.
1:31:24>> Wow.
1:31:25But I think in some ways it makes sense.
1:31:27You're waiting for some we're all like
1:31:29you always want to be the hero. I think
1:31:30or some of some of us sometimes always
1:31:32like we want to be the hero in some way,
1:31:34you know, like of just something. It can
1:31:36be something small. It could be
1:31:37something big, but you want to be on the
1:31:39right side of things, you know. And
1:31:41maybe this is maybe there needed to be
1:31:43something that would come along that
1:31:45these like rulers and tech lords and
1:31:47these these dark evil moneyists would
1:31:50come along and be like, "This is how
1:31:51we're going to do it."
1:31:52>> And we've just said enough.
1:31:53>> Yeah.
1:31:54>> And I'm watching it happen. I think we
1:31:56all are.
1:31:57>> I'm just their biggest cheerleader. And
1:31:59this isn't about me. It's actually about
1:32:00all of us. But these it it's coming at
1:32:04us so hard, so swift for every reason
1:32:06that that we've laid out today. The
1:32:09stakes are too high. When you when you
1:32:12corner someone that way, they they're
1:32:14going to join forces. They're going to
1:32:15rise up. They're going to show up and
1:32:16they're doing it.
1:32:17>> Yeah.
1:32:18>> And it it's about time.
1:32:21>> Yeah. Yeah. It's Yeah. Cuz otherwise
1:32:23you're going to be getting, you know,
1:32:24you get you you know, you get order a
1:32:26cut of flounder or something like that
1:32:28and it's got a bunch of data in it or
1:32:30whatever. you know, it's got a dad a
1:32:31demiglaze on it or something. You know,
1:32:33they purate a couple episodes of uh
1:32:36Baywatch the reunion or whatever and you
1:32:38know, they purate a couple Love Island
1:32:40episodes and they got a data demiglaze
1:32:42on your freaking uh Jimmy John's over
1:32:45there. Just Yeah. You just don't Yeah.
1:32:47It's like something has to happen. You
1:32:48know, the wildest thing before you
1:32:49leave, I want to say this that I saw.
1:32:51>> They were trying to approach Native
1:32:53American lands and put data centers
1:32:55there.
1:32:55>> They are. and uh Native American lands
1:32:58are winning against that and they're
1:32:59getting them stopped. There's a couple
1:33:01more. I love how you guys are right over
1:33:02there on the little system. You can pull
1:33:04that one up, too. And that's the thing
1:33:06that's just been amazing to watch.
1:33:08United We Stand, we change things. And
1:33:13we are watching that happening across
1:33:15the country
1:33:17>> right here
1:33:18>> with all these pauses, moratoriums or
1:33:20bans. We're stalling them. Push them
1:33:23back. Push them back.
1:33:24>> Let's see this right here. And this is
1:33:25by Cheyenne McNeel. Uh she is the uh
1:33:29author of this on Mother Jones. Um in
1:33:32Indian country data centers come with a
1:33:34familiar threat of colonialism. These
1:33:36organizers are fighting back
1:33:37>> and some of these Indian lands they've
1:33:39got pauses, moratoriums or bans.
1:33:41>> Yeah. Citizens of the Muscogee Creek
1:33:43Nation began hearing whispers of an AI
1:33:46data center coming to their reservation.
1:33:48Kenzie Roberts and Jordan Harmon, both
1:33:50Muscogee citizens, were immediately
1:33:52worried. It didn't seem like something
1:33:54that should align with our values as
1:33:56indigenous people. Robert said the
1:33:58center would be located on Loop Square
1:34:00Ranch, a 5500
1:34:02acre plot of land where the tribe runs
1:34:05its food sovereignty initiative, a
1:34:07program that allows a Muscogee nation to
1:34:08directly serve its citizens food needs.
1:34:11Um, as developers scope out the land
1:34:13across rural America for the hypers
1:34:15scale data centers needed to power gen
1:34:17generative AI, native lands have become
1:34:20the latest target for big tech from the
1:34:22Arizona desert to the Great Plains in
1:34:24Montana.
1:34:25It's just layer upon layer of
1:34:28exploitation of violence of continued
1:34:30colonialism all in the name of
1:34:32imperialism said Crystal Tubils an
1:34:36oglala
1:34:37lot and northern Cheyenne organizer who
1:34:41is the executive director of honor the
1:34:43earth a national organization promoting
1:34:45the indigenous sovereignty that has been
1:34:47leading the fight against data centers.
1:34:50Wow.
1:34:51>> Yeah. And you know,
1:34:52>> praise be praise be to the to the
1:34:53indigenous people, man.
1:34:54>> People are getting the pauses and stuff.
1:34:56We we keep track of those stats inside
1:34:58my map as well. But um those numbers are
1:35:01climbing and the people are showing up.
1:35:04>> Amen.
1:35:05>> And they are making that change. But
1:35:08again, you know, listen, my dad taught
1:35:10me growing up in Kansas, the most
1:35:11valuable gifts we have, land, air,
1:35:13water, your health, all of that is at
1:35:15stake at once.
1:35:17>> Wow. That's a great way to put it. Aaron
1:35:19Brochovich, thank you so much for your
1:35:20time. Thanks for coming and spending
1:35:22time with us.
1:35:23>> I I enjoyed it. Thanks. This is I love
1:35:26how you're doing this. It was great. I
1:35:28enjoyed it.
1:35:29>> Well, we might have been inspired by you
1:35:32at some point in your life story. That's
1:35:33it. Certainly could have happened.
1:35:35>> What
1:35:35>> just that like seeing things, you know,
1:35:37watching your story play out um over the
1:35:41years just, you know, it's like just you
1:35:42never know who you could inspire, you
1:35:44know, just like having a voice, somebody
1:35:46having a voice, you know. I mean, I saw
1:35:48the, you know, I saw the um
1:35:50>> your movie when I was growing up or and
1:35:52so
1:35:52>> that's right. I'm reminded you're
1:35:54probably the age of my grandchildren.
1:35:56>> No, not at all.
1:35:57>> I began my work I was 31. Listen, I'm 66
1:36:00now with five grandkids. Yeah.
1:36:02>> I got a real good vision over a 30-year
1:36:04period of what's going on out there when
1:36:06it comes to the environment.
1:36:08>> But I'll tell you, um I don't know that
1:36:10communities know
1:36:12>> um how they've inspired me. And when we
1:36:15can inspire each other and again that
1:36:19that collective what you're watching
1:36:21happening with the data centers that's
1:36:24that's what makes change and and when
1:36:26we're united and when we're not divided.
1:36:29>> Amen.
1:36:29>> The inspiration we give each other and
1:36:31the difference we can make.
1:36:32>> Amen. And thank you for coming here
1:36:35today and sharing that message and
1:36:36sharing information. Um, what what was
1:36:38one thing like what was one negative
1:36:40side effect of your story going to the
1:36:43level of like a movie level like you
1:36:45know and I think it was was that an
1:36:47award-winning film?
1:36:48>> She won best actress. We almost got best
1:36:51picture too. Um, but another one of
1:36:53Steven Soderberg's film do but we got
1:36:55best direction, best writing, best
1:36:58screenplay, best actress.
1:37:00>> Aaron Brockovich nominated for five
1:37:01Academy Awards including best picture,
1:37:03best director and best original
1:37:04screenplay. Um, did uh Julie Roberts won
1:37:08an Oscar for best actress. Did Did you
1:37:11uh Yeah. Was there was there some I
1:37:13don't mean negative. I guess that's not
1:37:14the best thing, but was there something
1:37:15like did you then feel like you had to
1:37:17be this larger than life figure? Like
1:37:19was there like was there any like cuz
1:37:21everything has kind of like different
1:37:23things that are part of it, you know?
1:37:25>> Um I would just of late I have kind of
1:37:30felt maybe what you just said. Um, I
1:37:33can't complain about anything from any
1:37:35of the communities just to the
1:37:38incredible
1:37:40I'm just thrilled the story was being
1:37:42able to be told. I don't know that it
1:37:43would have been my name or I didn't see
1:37:46any of this coming, but I'm glad the
1:37:49story got out there. But of late now, I
1:37:52can look back. Um, it was pretty
1:37:53overwhelming for me. And it did come
1:37:56with ideas and expectations of who I was
1:38:01or wasn't supposed to be or suddenly put
1:38:04back into a box of how I was supposed to
1:38:07be, which is generally pretty
1:38:09frustrating for me.
1:38:10>> Yeah.
1:38:11>> And it's just been of late. I'm kind of
1:38:13looking back and seeing where some of my
1:38:16push points were. And it it would be the
1:38:19idea and expectation of who I am. And uh
1:38:22I'm I'm that same girl. I think everyone
1:38:25else I don't know thinks I'm supposed to
1:38:27what I don't know dress like a Hollywood
1:38:29star or be perfect like that or I don't
1:38:32know
1:38:32>> or be like a lawyer. Yeah. Or be like
1:38:34some you know I Yeah. I just wonder like
1:38:36is there was there certain energies cuz
1:38:37I find in my life at times it's like you
1:38:39know I think you get to certain points
1:38:41your life well who am I supposed to be
1:38:42and you look at certain things you're
1:38:43like well does that define me or is that
1:38:45just part of something that happened and
1:38:46what's going on? And I think we all kind
1:38:48of go through those things.
1:38:50>> We do. And I I've been through it. But
1:38:52again, I'm fascinated with the data
1:38:54centers because somehow
1:38:57this has hit me like Hinckley did. And
1:39:00I'm just showing up as that person again
1:39:03>> and it kind of resonated with me. I I
1:39:08may have lost a little bit of who that
1:39:10person was,
1:39:12>> but these data centers is bringing me
1:39:14right back to it. Right back to it.
1:39:16right back to what matters, the land,
1:39:17the air, the water, the people, our
1:39:20health, humanity. And I'm in my legacy
1:39:22phase. And for me, this is worth
1:39:24fighting for. I don't want my
1:39:26grandchildren to to grow up.
1:39:28>> Yeah. With data stuck in them. Yeah.
1:39:31>> I don't
1:39:31>> Amen. Well, I'm so glad that it is. I'm
1:39:34so glad for your work and uh your
1:39:36insight.
1:39:36>> Thank you for having me.
1:39:37>> I'm so glad for your time today. Tell
1:39:39your uh children thank you for their
1:39:41service. Uh Aaron Brochovich, um let's
1:39:44keep in touch. I would like that.
1:39:52[music]
1:39:52>> I must be corner stone.
1:39:57Oh, but when I [music] reach that
1:39:59ground, I'll share this piece of mind I
1:40:02found. I can feel it in my bones,
1:40:07but it's going to take

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