Viral Video Defending Data Centers DEBUNKED! w/ Tony Heller (Jimmy Dore)

In this segment Geologist and climate change critic Tony Heller argues that the massive data center proposed for Box Elder County, Utah—which will require 9 gigawatts of power (equivalent to New York City's peak summer usage) and raise local nighttime temperatures by up to 26°F—will have devastating environmental consequences, including water depletion in a region already suffering historic drought, increased natural gas prices nationwide due to competition for finite resources, and a heat island effect that existing studies show reaches 10°C within one kilometer of smaller data centers.

He dismisses a pro-data center video as "misinformation" and "catastrophizing," noting that the project's on-site power generation only increases heat output and pollution, while claims about water rights ignore that the Colorado River Compact was based on unrealistic assumptions and that Lake Mead is running dry. Heller reveals that a data scientist told him the only plausible explanation for these massive data centers is "mass 24-hour surveillance on everybody in the country," since China's AI models already cost one-tenth as much to operate without centralized mega-centers. He tells Jimmy that the US approach to AI "may be doomed to fail" because it is based on a fundamentally flawed model, and that the "big beautiful bill" Trump passed prohibits states from regulating AI, locking in this destructive path.



Notice that 'climate change deniers', such as Tony Heller, are actually pro environment. They're fundamentally pro-truth when it comes to pollution, climate history, and how our modern economy actually works.

[Posted at the SpookyWeather2 blog, June 1, 2026.]