Harwood backed a $3 billion data center, fearing it would go to a neighboring city

In the midterm elections, Americans backed almost every proposed restriction on data center construction: of 41 measures to curb development, only one passed. The sole exception was Harwood, North Dakota, a city of 845 people. Residents rejected, by a three-to-one margin, a requirement for additional reviews and public hearings for large industrial projects. Many still had reservations about Applied Digital’s $3 billion, 1.8-million-square-foot data center, citing noise, environmental impacts and opaque arrangements surrounding the project.