Firstly, I have noticed that many people have no idea what a data center actually is. They're like "Ummm, something to do with AI which is bad and ummm they're bad for the environment and stuff..."
A data center is simply a huge building full of tens of thousands of computers. That's all! These computers are very similar to your home computer, but often more specialized and powerful. Almost everything you do online including your TV shows/movies is hosted inside of a data center. When you read an article about how terrible data centers are, that article itself is hosted in a data center.
Data centers can be very "green". They don't need to use tons of water. They can rely heavily on solar and wind energy. Unfortunately, some data center companies use massive amounts of water and gas because it is cheaper and they don't care. But by their very nature, data centers are efficient much in the same way that huge businesses like Wal-Mart are efficient. Massive economies of scale = massive efficiency and lower costs for the users (us).
The issue isn't that data centers are by nature horrible for the environment. The issue is that they need to be properly regulated. They shouldn't be making loud, horrible noise and belching fumes into residential areas. They shouldn't be straining the power grid. They shouldn't be using insane amounts of water. Etc. None of this is necessary. The companies building these trash data centers need to be stopped and heavily fined.
We absolutely must win the data center "cold war". Otherwise, countries like China, India, and Russia will be able to "turn us off" like a light switch whenever they want to. And these countries don't care about the environment or their citizens, so they will easily outbuild us if we slow down.
It is unfortunate that data centers have become a social/political issue. We absolutely must build more data centers and do so quickly. The modern world lives in data centers. Banning data centers makes no sense.
But what we CAN do is properly regulate them to make sure they are environmentally friendly and away from residential areas!