James Branscome

The demise of the coal industry left much of Appalachia in economic tatters, with lost jobs, spoiled water, and depopulated communities across the coalfields of Kentucky, West Virginia, and Virginia. Now, in an ironic twist of the region’s energy history, tech companies and data center developers are eyeing these same rural landscapes with ambitious plans to power the Artificial Intelligence revolution. From the hollows of Tucker County (WV) to the former strip mines of Wise County (VA), proposals for massive data center complexes are sparking both hope and fierce resistance.