Maryland landowners have rushed to the Supreme Court, asking the justices to halt a power company’s attempt to survey their property.
Residents say the transmission lines will fuel a surge of new data centers in the metropolitan region.
It could be the first in a wave of cases pitting data centers and their infrastructure needs against residents, who are increasingly antsy about what those demands will mean for their communities.
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Those data centers rely on water and power, and forces opposed to them are lining up landowners to challenge access to both.
The legal avenues include nuisance law and environmental law, but perhaps the biggest battles right now are over eminent domain, which is the power of a state or local government to force the sale of property to complete a public project.
Courts are being asked to decide whether private data centers and the power needed to run them are public goods.
In the case filed with the Supreme Court on Wednesday, PSEG Renewable Transmission LLC v. Arentz Family, a lower court granted the utility access to the property before deciding whether it could legally exercise Maryland’s eminent domain powers.
The Pacific Legal Foundation, which is handling the case for the landowners, said the lower court prematurely “authorized a physical invasion of Marylanders’ homes and businesses.”
“Courts have the responsibility to interpret the law, not invent hypotheticals that give private companies clearance to wield government powers against Americans,” said Aaron Newell, a lawyer at the foundation.
Artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency, with their massive needs, are driving a surge in demand for data centers.
Still, anger is growing.
Exit polling in the elections Tuesday showed that more than 75% of voters opposed data center construction in their communities and were not sold on AI. About 57% said AI technology “mostly hurts” society.
Given the backlash, legal fights are inevitably brewing as Americans seek ways to slow the pace of development, as the Maryland residents are trying to do.
PSEG wants to build a 67-mile high-voltage line through Baltimore, Carroll and Frederick counties. Opponents figure the line will help drive expansion of data centers in Northern Virginia and Maryland.
After landowners blocked initial survey attempts, PSEG secured a preliminary injunction granting access despite the lack of an actual condemnation order.
The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the injunction.
“Although the case involves an electric transmission project rather than the direct condemnation of property for a data center, the implications extend well beyond Maryland,” Roger A. McEowen, a professor who specializes in agricultural law and taxation at Washburn University in Kansas, said in an analysis after the court filing.
“For agricultural landowners, the case raises an important question: Can the infrastructure demands of private commercial development justify allowing private companies to intrude upon privately owned agricultural property before they have established their legal authority to do so?” Mr. McEowen wrote.
To qualify for eminent domain, a project must generally be intended for public use.
The Supreme Court, in a landmark 2005 case, Kelo v. City of New London, allowed a local government to seize property for the benefit of a private land development.
That case spurred a backlash in states, most of which rushed to tighten rules to limit what counts as public use.
Some state courts, in cases predating the data center fight, affirmed power companies’ seizures. Others have been skeptical.
PSEG declined to comment on the filing with the Supreme Court.
The high court may well take a pass on the case.
Under the injunction, PSEG carried out its survey work across the several hundred properties in question, and the survey was nearly complete. By the time the justices confront the case, they may no longer have a live issue to consider.
Other cases are emerging, though they are still in the early stages.
Additional challenges involve nuisance claims over noise, environmental lawsuits and basic zoning disputes.
The Trump administration considers data centers to be part of the infrastructure needed to prevail in an AI arms race with China — a competition it says carries national security implications.
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