By SUZANNE DOWNING
May 26, 2026 – As opposition to large-scale data centers grows across parts of the Lower 48, Alaska may find itself in the middle of a political and environmental debate over artificial intelligence infrastructure, energy use, and the future of the state’s stranded natural gas reserves.
And just as quickly as Americans became overnight experts on the Strait of Hormuz during recent Middle East tensions, social media and activist circles are now full of self-appointed data center experts, warning about electricity use, water consumption, and “AI monopolies.”
But Alaska’s emerging projects are different from many of the controversial urban and suburban developments drawing protests elsewhere in the country.
The centerpiece is the proposed STAK Energy Campus on Alaska’s North Slope, a roughly $500 million project that would place a massive high-performance computing and AI data center complex on state land near Milepost 390 of the Dalton Highway, about 25 miles south of existing North Slope infrastructure.
According to the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, the project could ultimately use between 1 and 3 gigawatts of power generated from North Slope natural gas through dedicated on-site infrastructure, rather than drawing electricity from residential grids in Anchorage, Fairbanks, or the Railbelt.
The state issued a preliminary best-interest finding this month supporting a proposed 50-year lease for the project.
In its decision, DNR wrote that the project represents “a productive use of State land consistent with the State’s interest in maximizing the economic and public benefit of its natural resources,” adding that it could generate jobs, state revenue, and potential regional energy benefits.
The public comment period runs through mid-June.
The proposed campus would reportedly occupy about 640 acres and rely heavily on Arctic air cooling rather than the water-intensive cooling systems commonly criticized in other states. That gives Alaska an advantage at a time when data centers in Arizona, Texas, and parts of the Midwest are increasingly under scrutiny for massive water consumption and strain on electric grids.
Gov. Mike Dunleavy has been promoting Alaska as a future global hub for AI infrastructure, because the state has abundant land, cold weather, and vast untapped natural gas resources that can support the exploding demand for artificial intelligence computing power.
The governor and project supporters also see data centers as a possible anchor customer for North Slope gas development and eventually the Alaska LNG pipeline project.
Smaller pilot projects have already appeared in Alaska’s oil fields. Hilcorp and TA Infrastructure previously tested a container-sized bitcoin mining operation powered by existing oil field generators, while other proposals have floated using “stranded” North Slope gas for off-grid computing operations.
So far, organized local opposition on the North Slope itself appears limited.
Unlike suburban battles unfolding in Virginia, Georgia, or Arizona, where residents complain about noise, transmission lines, land use, and water demand, the North Slope project sits in a remote industrial corridor on the edge of the continent.
The North Slope Borough itself has explored potential economic opportunities tied to data infrastructure, and no major protests or organized local campaigns targeting the STAK proposal have yet emerged publicly.
But broader national activist networks have begun paying attention.
A growing coalition of environmental and anti-fossil-fuel organizations has increasingly targeted data centers nationwide.
In December, multiple national activist organizations signed onto calls for a national moratorium on new data center construction. Among the groups involved were organizations linked to billionaire-funded climate and political networks associated with Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss and British hedge fund billionaire Chris Hohn.
Wyss-backed funding networks have supported groups including the Sierra Club, Greenpeace USA, Indivisible Project, of of which are active in Alaska, and Americans for Financial Reform, while Hohn has funded groups tied to Extinction Rebellion and related climate activism efforts.
Alaska-specific opposition has largely come from advocacy groups such as The Alaska Center and Alaska Public Interest Research Group, which have raised concerns about energy policy, environmental impacts, and whether large industrial users could eventually affect Alaska consumers.
Meanwhile, Climate Defiance, a radical climate protest group aligned with Extinction Rebellion-style tactics, has directly attacked the STAK proposal online, calling it a “monstrosity” tied to fossil fuel expansion.
The Alaska Center receives substantial support from national progressive funding pipelines, including the Sixteen Thirty Fund, League of Conservation Voters, and Tides-affiliated entities. AKPIRG similarly has ties to national funding streams connected to the Tides Foundation, Windward Fund, New Venture Fund, and other large progressive grant-making organizations funded by dark money.
They represent coordinated outside influence campaigns designed to block petroleum development and industrial expansion projects across the country, including projects tied to AI infrastructure and energy production.
The project could monetize gas that otherwise remains stranded underground and strengthen Alaska’s position in the rapidly expanding AI economy. Instead of consuming scarce freshwater supplies or burdening existing urban electric grids, the STAK proposal would use dedicated natural gas generation in one of the most remote industrial areas in North America while taking advantage of naturally cold temperatures to reduce cooling demands.
Artificial intelligence infrastructure has become one of the fastest-growing sectors in the global economy, with companies racing to build massive computing campuses capable of supporting AI training, cloud computing, and large-scale data processing.
That explosive growth has brought a political backlash among environmental groups concerned about energy demand and petroleum.
The state’s public notice and preliminary best-interest finding for the STAK project can be viewed through the Alaska Department of Natural Resources public notice page
9 thoughts on “Will North Slope data center proposal get targeted by dark-money protests? Public comment period open”
People saying they don’t like data centers is like saying want a car without doing its maintenance.
If you want your phones and internet with better and faster use Then you have to have Data Centers; and Data Centers need to be built somewhere. Consumers just don’t want it built in their backyard like 1980’s suburban Shoppers wanted a giant mall but not in their neighborhood.
The alternative to having less Data centers built is Can people unplug and disconnect themselves from their IPhones and Samsungs and internet? I doubt it. So the Data Centers will be built.
Although American families with children should throw out All the IPads, computers, gaming consoles, and televisions; while disconnecting their children’s phone lines if they gave a phone to their child. If all American families did that it definitely dramatically decrease our consumption of internet and Ai use reducing need of DataCenters. However Millennial and GenZ parents though don’t want to endure a small discomfort after just unplugging their screaming brat kid without their iPad, games, phone; even if it’ll be good for their child; despite that screaming fits don’t last forever (eventhough it feels like it), their child will eventually get over their tantrum and get used to having less dopamine like a person eating less to lose weight will eventually get used to eating less.
Tell that to the next complaining idiot it protestor against DataCenters being built. That argument will end their complaints dead in its tracks. But then the idiot will just look at you like you are an uncaring big meany person who wants data centers when you just gave them reality.
May as well productively use the gas up there since it isn’t likely to be transported anywhere else.
Perfect conditions for a data center. Abundant natural gas available. Remote area. Jobs. A win for Alaska. However, if you are Democrat/leftist…..no good. And here I thought they were all pro technology.
We also have an abundance of water too, key to keeping these Data Centers cool, and does not conflict with water usage with the general public. Data Centers in AK907 makes a lot of sense. Git-R-Done!
The Say No / BANANA (Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anybody) Coalition is cranking up to destroy yet another privately owned commercial business, just like they have done to mining, timber, fish farming, oil and natural gas, Dunleavy’s gambling proposal, and a hundred other things over the years. Add the kneejerk, reflex opposition to every single infrastructure project, and you get a real picture why this state is sliding downhill at accelerating speed despite near heroic action by Governor Dunleavy to mitigate the slide.
It is important to identify the threat, which am the political left, and their bought and paid for lackeys democrats, unions, RINOs and the Outside funded NGO complex. At least they are predictable. Cheers –
The thought of a surveillance center is disgusting. I think we need to have some extreme data protections put in place first. And that includes pixel limit on all public cameras and surveillance cameras you can identify a person without capturing their Iris scans or being clear enough to capture facial recognitions data mapping. And there should be no traffic camera that records sound. We need that First
Clicks all the right boxes except the “Screw that project, I’m a democrat” or “Screw that project, I’m a Rhino”
Never fear, the democrats and rhinos will do everything possible to shut this down!