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Comment by freediddy | Hacker News Reader

This is like the movie Chinatown, where people were fighting over water, but now it's all about electricity.

It sounds like Lake Tahoe residents kicked the can down the road and didn't care about electricity for so long that now they have to pay the piper. I think it's entire just that they have to bear the costs of their own electricity.

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What exactly am I supposed to do as a resident to change how a state government regulated utility operates? Please respond with something other than "Vote", which I already do.

Sometimes it's mostly about taking an interest, reading or understand the legislation, and making a really good case and argument to the government.

I don't think I can claim credit because I'm sure I wasn't the only one, but it took 3 or 4 emails to a couple of legislator offices to get some policy changes. In my case it might've just been small enough (no news coverage, basically only a small number of people were aware of a regulatory memo), the first time or two they just kicked the can down the road deferring the implementation, until ultimately they reversed course. And my part was just laying out a very strong case for why the particular situation was unfair, how many people would be impacted (voters), etc. Nothing confrontational, just laying out the argument.

If they are a Rural Electric Membership Corporation (REMC) you could vote for the board members, or run for office yourself.

1) Boycott the products and share the idea with others. 2) Show up to town meetings BEFORE these data centers come. 3) Organize! This is the most important. Yes, voting does not matter, but being a loud constituency does.

Boycott what products? I can't boycott my electricity. There is only one provider.

Re #2) I am a tahoe resident and these data centers aren't in my towns. They are far away. I'm not blaming the data centers for these problems, I just disagree with OP that "Tahoe residents kicked the can down the road". Many of us just go to work, take care of our families, and pay our electric bill. Just not sure how this is our fault.

Your power provider is far away from your towns as well. Your officials had agreements for power that were extended multiple times. No one in Tahoe did anything because any of the REAL solutions were "too expensive."

If you want to blame anyone blame yourselves, and the elected officials in charge of Tahoe. You collectively had decades to fix the problem, but you collectively didn't. Now, you have to pay the piper. Sorry but that's the blunt fact.

Don't try to absolve yourself of responsibility when it is your responsibility to know what is going on around you and it's your responsibility to elect officials to make sure they have your best interests at heart. And if they don't and no one steps up, then it's up to you to step up. Otherwise, move, or bear the consequences. You, unfortunately, have to the bear the consequences because nothing when done when there was plenty of time to get something done.

Blogs, newsletters, websites are nearly zero dollars per month cost. Expose their corruption via 1st amendment rights and get others to vote them out with you.

I've noticed there's a pattern of behavior with folks living in the forested parts of California where they expect everyone else to subsidize their impractical choice on where to put a house.

Extreme wildfire risks? let everyone else shoulder the cost, don't deny our fire insurance.

Power delivery infra costs (and associated risks, see wildfires)? don't make us actually pay for this, we're all in this together guys!

This is a good point when it comes to issues with "taming" the free market.

Chinatown was based on a real event: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_water_wars

That’s how I read it too. Liberty alongside constituents had 20 years to figure it out.

Data centers are just the new shock titles that people eat up.

DCs are as thristy as they are hungry. Once the lake gets low enough, they'll fight over the water supply too.

Eh, not really.

Few years ago everybody was talking about the inadequacies of our aging electricity distribution infrastructure and how it was a shame it wasn't being fixed and the risks it entails.

Now folks are wailing about the terrible AI come for our electricity and how awful the burden of the upgrades are.

When the upgrades were for solar they were good, when upgrades are for AI they're bad. It's almost like people just want to complain about anything associated with something they don't like regardless of relevance.

It's almost like people just want to complain about anything associated with something they don't like regardless of relevance.

I've noticed that we don't hear a lot about the EV boogyman taking down our electric grid now that AI has come to town.

I'd say the people complaining about AI likely see EVs as having some utility. While AI may have some utility, the amount of resources invested seems to make it more of a ponzi scheme waiting to pop.

EVs can also (at least in some cases) be charged from on-prem solar panels and not burden the public grid at all.

I mean EVs are a change in power source, with an increase in energy efficiency even. AI is a brand new massive energy draw that isn't really reducing much elsewhere, and with a huge question mark over how much value it brings to the vast majority of the population.

> When the upgrades were for solar they were good, when upgrades are for AI they're bad.

Do you look at every issue in this 50,000 foot view with no nuance or even basic details, or is just certain ones?

Is it not clear that I'm criticizing the people who have that attitude?

Why should locals be happy that someone is building AI data centers?

I can understand it for the country as a whole. AI is a last desperate gamble for the US to stay relevant and fight of China. But then maybe the federal government should start paying for it.

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