The billionaire vandalizing America says folks who oppose data centers are Chinese dupes who want their communities to be backwards and poor. Frank Kloucek, the Democratic candidate for South Dakota’s Public Utilities Commission, says in a campaign press release that its the data centers that may impoverish rural communities like his and that instead of rushing to surrender our livelihoods to billionaires, we ought to pause data center development for one year to make sure we get full disclosure of developers’ plans and energy and water demands:
Frank Kloucek, candidate for the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission, is calling on the 2027 South Dakota Legislature and newly elected governor to enact a one-year moratorium on the approval and development of new artificial intelligence data centers in South Dakota.
“South Dakota should not become a testing ground for billion-dollar AI data centers while families, farmers and small businesses are left wondering who will pay the bill,” Kloucek said.
Kloucek said large AI data centers can require enormous amounts of electricity and water and could also create the need for costly new transmission lines, substations and other infrastructure.
“Before the contracts are signed and the concrete is poured, South Dakotans deserve to know who is going to pay for all of this,” Kloucek said. “Ratepayers should not be forced to subsidize massive private developments.”
Kloucek said a one-year pause would give lawmakers, regulators and citizens time to examine the effects of AI data centers on electric rates, grid reliability, water supplies, public safety, infrastructure costs and property rights.
“Economic development is important, but protecting South Dakota families and ratepayers must come first,” Kloucek said. “We should learn from the experiences of other states instead of rushing into projects we may regret later.”
Kloucek emphasized that he is not calling for a permanent ban.
“A one-year moratorium is not anti-technology or anti-business,” Kloucek said. “It is common sense. Slow down, get the facts, protect the ratepayers and make sure South Dakota is in control of its own future.”
Kloucek’s moratorium call echoes the Data Center Accountability Pledge that 22 Democratic Legislative candidates publicized last week (total signatory count now 23 with the addition of District 10 House candidate Adam Bair). Kloucek, a veteran of the Legislature himself, and the Democrats aspiring to that august body are reflecting the Legislative Research Council’s conclusion that good policy on data centers requires transparency from data center developers. Kloucek and his fellow Dems also reflect the widespread public opposition to data centers in their communities: a May 2026 Gallup poll found that 71% do not want artificial-intelligence data centers built near their communities. Kloucek also speaks to the three concerns about data centers most frequently cited by Gallup respondents: water usage, power usage, and utility bills.
While Donald Trump is out of touch with the majority of Americans, Frank Kloucek is keenly tuned in to the concerns regular Americans have about data centers gobbling up resources, raising prices, and ruining rural quality of life.
In Florida all the GOP ads deal with affordability. They know the Democrats are correct. It’s for sometimes just stupid, Byron Donaldson ads in particular. He’s going to lower the cost of living in so many ways. How? Who knows, but he can make the long basketball shot and that’s what counts.