US voters in Harwood, North Dakota rejected a ballot measure that opposed Applied Digital's $3B data center, set to open in 2027, bucking a nationwide backlash
THE SO WHAT
Local resistance is now a gating factor for AI-scale data centers—Harwood’s $3B greenlight is the exception that proves the rule. If your roadmap depends on new megawatt-scale sites, treat community engagement and ballot risk as core project work, not PR.
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