Higher voltage, higher current, higher power: More means greater effects. More energy into the datacenters but also inescapably more energy into the ill side-effects: Childhood leukemia, “stray voltage”, greater ground-currents and other tectonic effects including toxic rumble, toxic hum, toxic power-line harmonics, heat-island / weather modification. EVERY CAUTION / CLAIM SOURCED 5X BELOW.
“Take all of the sunlight from the county and focus it into a few LASER beams aimed at a Datacenter. Think that way of the massive energy concentration and possible power flow redistribution; just imagine the possibilities gone wrong: Eminent Domain focused into Profound Disdain where an egregiously unequal burden is set upon a few unluckies.”
Electrical Gluttony. Water Consumption. Noise Pollution. Ground Vibration. Powerline Harmonics. Exploring the Web of Land-Grabby, Depopulative, Anti-Meat, Anti-Farm and Anti-Human Incessant Toxic Badness.
Sourced Series deeply explores the Many Serious Ill-Effects of Datacenters.
Every statement is sourced by scientific studies, published anecdotes, harmed victims.
Learn from others’ mistakes, or suffer similarly.
“A 2026 power-engineering study found that hyperscale data centers behave not merely as electrical loads, but as vast power-electronics systems whose rapidly fluctuating server demands can excite grid oscillations and propagate disturbances across interconnected networks. Far from a fringe “dirty electricity” claim, the research suggests data centers may interact with the power grid in ways fundamentally different from traditional industrial facilities, raising serious new concerns about resonance, stability, reliability.”
1) Childhood leukemia / ELF magnetic fields
ELF magnetic fields from power systems are classified by IARC as “possibly carcinogenic,” mainly due to childhood leukemia epidemiology.
- IARC Monograph Vol. 80 — ELF magnetic fields classified Group 2B, “possibly carcinogenic to humans.”
https://publications.iarc.who.int/99 - WHO Fact Sheet: Extremely low frequency fields — summarizes IARC classification and childhood leukemia evidence.
https://www.who.int/teams/environment-climate-change-and-health/radiation-and-health/non-ionizing/exposure - National Cancer Institute: Electromagnetic Fields and Cancer — explains studies on power lines, magnetic fields, childhood leukemia.
https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/radiation/electromagnetic-fields-fact-sheet - Amoon et al., British Journal of Cancer, 2018 — pooled analysis of proximity to overhead power lines and childhood leukemia.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41416-018-0097-7 - Zhao et al., PLOS One, 2021 — systematic review/meta-analysis of ELF magnetic fields and childhood cancer.
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0251628
2) Stray voltage / neutral-to-earth voltage
Large electrical systems can create neutral-to-earth voltage and contact voltage; recognized especially in livestock/ag settings, with shock/behavior/health/productivity effects at sufficient current.
- Wisconsin Public Service Commission — Stray Voltage Findings
https://psc.wi.gov/SiteAssets/strayvol.pdf - Minnesota PUC Science Advisors Final Report — dairy cow response to ground/earth currents.
https://mn.gov/puc/assets/dairy_cow_response_final_report_tcm14-12009.pdf - Merck Veterinary Manual: Stray Voltage in Animal Housing
https://www.merckvetmanual.com/management-and-nutrition/stray-voltage-in-animal-housing/stray-voltage-in-animal-housing - Journal of Dairy Science — Meta-analysis of stray voltage on dairy cattle
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S002203020971313X - Reinemann, Univ. of Wisconsin — “What do we know about Stray Voltage?”
https://mrec.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/302/2017/01/10-DJR-What-do-we-know-about-Stray-Voltage-2010.pdf
3) Ground currents / earth-return / infrastructure coupling
Ground currents and induced currents are real engineering hazards: corrosion, pipeline interference, transformer stress, harmonics, and safety issues: “ground-current and geoelectric infrastructure effects.”
- INGAA Foundation — Pipelines Co-Existing with Electric Power Lines
https://ingaa.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/24732.pdf - Energies, 2019 — UHVDC grounding current effects on buried pipelines
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/12/7/1279 - NERC GIC Application Guide — geomagnetically induced currents in grids; transformer heating/harmonics.
https://www.nerc.com/globalassets/standards/projects/2013-03/gic-application-guide-2013_approved.pdf - NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center — Electric Power Transmission impacts
https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/impacts/electric-power-transmission - FERC / Metatech — GIC and E3 HEMP Mitigation
https://www.ferc.gov/sites/default/files/2020-05/ferc_meta-r-322.pdf
4) Toxic rumble / toxic hum / low-frequency noise
Substations, transformers, transmission lines, cooling systems, and backup generators can create low-frequency tonal noise/hum; low-frequency noise is associated with annoyance, sleep disruption, stress, and community complaints.
- On the Control of Low-Frequency Audible Noise from Electrical Substations, Applied Sciences, 2020
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/10/2/637 - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2022 — Substation noise annoyance
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/14/8394 - Journal of Sound and Vibration — Load harmonics and transformer audible noise
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0022460X13010651 - EESI — Communities raising noise pollution concerns about data centers
https://www.eesi.org/articles/view/communities-are-raising-noise-pollution-concernsabout-data-centers - TechTarget — Data center noise pollution: generators, cooling, transformers
https://www.techtarget.com/searchdatacenter/tip/Understanding-the-impact-of-data-center-noise-pollution
5) Power-line harmonics / dirty power / nonlinear loads
Data centers are nonlinear electrical loads; UPSs, servers, VFDs, and power electronics can produce harmonic distortion. Harmonics cause overheating, equipment stress, neutral currents, transformer noise, and power-quality problems.
- IEEE 519-2022 — Standard for Harmonic Control in Electric Power Systems
https://standards.ieee.org/ieee/519/10209/ - IEEE IAS — Power Quality Challenges Data Centers Face Today
https://ias.ieee.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Power-Quality-Challenges-Data-Centers-Face-Today-and-How-to-Address-These-Issues-7×24-June-Ver.pdf - Eaton — Mitigating Data Center Harmonics
https://www.eaton.com/content/dam/eaton/markets/data-center/Mitigating-DC-harmonics.pdf - Fluke — What Harmonics Really Do to Data Center Uptime
https://www.fluke.com/en-us/learn/blog/power-quality/what-harmonics-really-do-to-data-center-uptime - Energies, 2021 — Harmonic currents of nonlinear loads and power quality
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/12/3665
6) Heat-island / local weather modification
Nearly all power entering a data center exits as heat. Waste heat can contribute to local heat-island effects and microclimate impacts. “Weather modification” – “local microclimate / urban heat impacts.”
- Lawrence Berkeley Lab — Avoiding Waste Heat through AI Infrastructure Thermal Integration
https://seta.lbl.gov/publications/avoiding-waste-heat-through-ai - ASU News — Data centers can raise downwind neighborhood temperatures
https://news.asu.edu/20260518-environment-and-sustainability-turning-down-heat-data-centers - “The Data Heat Island Effect” — AI data centers and land-surface temperature impacts
https://arxiv.org/html/2603.20897 - Scientific Data / Nature — Global anthropogenic heat flux dataset
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41597-021-00850-w - Greater London Authority — Optimising Data Centres in London: Heat Reuse
https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2025-06/Optimising_Data_Centres_in_London_-_Heat_Reuse_250605.pdf
Doubly intensified higher-voltage power pathways above ground (500 kv vs 230 kv power lines) will inescapably also intensify (double) ground currents and possibly cause substantial redistribution of those telluric pathways; moreover, the very extreme intensification of the power gulping to one comparatively tiny ‘white-hot spot’ (versus houses and businesses using the electricity spread across the entire county surface area) will very likely create an incredible and unpredictable intensification of the local ground currents “feeding” the Datacenter electricity black-hole — in at least one strong opinion, this hidden danger may be the overwhelming contributor to ill-feelings, upset, ill-ease, illness, disease in regards to the entire issue. “Take all of the sunlight from the county and focus it into a few LASER beams aimed at a Datacenter. Think that way of the massive energy concentration and possible power flow redistribution; just imagine the possibilities gone wrong: Eminent Domain focused into Profound Disdain where an egregiously unequal burden is set upon a few unluckies.”
PEPCO has applied to the Commission to rebuild an existing 230 kV overhead transmission line and construct a new 500 kV overhead circuit on existing right-of-way from the Dickerson H Substation in Montgomery County to the Maryland/Virginia state line.
The CPCN application has been docketed as Case No. 9883: https://webpscxb.pscmaryland.com/DMS/case/9883
This docket will contain all the filings, schedule information (including the pre-hearing conference and public comment hearings), and rulings in the case.
A Datacenter adjunct (i.e., a large fresh-water storage pool) has been proposed for the old Quarry lands. The quarry-related item is mostly about Travilah Quarry/Hunting Hill Quarry being studied as a future raw-water storage reservoir, partly because regional data centers increase Potomac Basin water demand.
Travilah Quarry is an active/long-running aggregate quarry near Rockville/Travilah. Water agencies have studied converting it after mining into emergency/backup water storage for WSSC/Washington Aqueduct. That’s connected to datacenters only indirectly: datacenters are one pressure on regional water and energy planning, not necessarily the proposed use of the quarry land itself.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/39°04’44.3″N+77°13’31.7″W/@39.0789641,-77.2280379,881m
