SYDNEY, June 29 — A furious backlash is building against the rapid expansion of data centres, with residents in Australia’s Blue Mountains mounting a campaign against what they describe as a “threat to peace” from a proposed facility on a residential street. The account indicates that the pushback is part of a wider pattern. In the United States, eerie videos have emerged showing what residents living near data centres face, as some reportedly emit a constant high-pitched droning noise at all times of the day.
Three US cities are now even suing the AI companies behind the data centres in their backyards, officials said. New York state this month passed a one-year moratorium on large data centres.
At least four other areas in the US have brought in temporary bans on construction. But as the power-hungry AI industry expands at a rapid rate, Australia is emerging as a hot destination for new centres, and Australians across the nation are pushing back against them. Over the weekend, a Sydney-based civil engineering and construction company, MAK Urban Group, was knocked back in its plans to erect a $4.8 million development in the heart of the Blue Mountains.
MAK’s application proposes the facility on a residential street in north Katoomba, a block from a school and bordering a park. It’s about an eight-minute drive from one of Australia’s most iconic sights, the Three Sisters mountains.
The centre is expected to employ two to five members of staff. Furious residents started the Stop Data Centres Blue Mountains campaign. The group described the development as a “threat to peace”, citing 24/7 low-frequency noise intrusion, concern for pressures on electricity and water supplies, potential PFAS exposure and insufficient bushfire protections.
The concerns of a 24/7 noise coming from the site would be a stark contrast to what residents experience now. Katoomba at night is known for its quiet mountain air. Australia currently has at least 162 operational data centres, with another 90 or more in the planning and development pipeline, according to state and international reports.
The vast majority are heavily clustered along the eastern seaboard in Sydney and Melbourne. This is not a new tension in the region.
The Blue Mountains have long been a place where conservation-minded residents have pushed back against industrial development that threatens the natural quiet and the watershed. The Three Sisters formation is a major draw for international tourism, and the area sits atop a fragile sandstone plateau with limited water resources. The Katoomba proposal, though modest in scale — an estimated two to five staff — has become a flashpoint.
Residents argue that the low-frequency hum from cooling systems and backup generators would be inescapable in a residential neighbourhood bordered by a school and a park. New York’s one-year moratorium on large data centres, passed this month, signals that lawmakers in other countries are beginning to take the issue seriously.
In the US, at least four other areas have brought in temporary bans on construction, officials said. The three cities suing AI companies over the noise represent a growing willingness to use the courts. What comes next in the Blue Mountains remains to be seen.
The MAK Urban Group application has been knocked back for now, but with more than 90 data centres in the planning pipeline across Australia, the pressure on residential areas is unlikely to ease. The Stop Data Centres Blue Mountains campaign is watching closely.
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