Government can seize private land to make way for new AI data center transmission lines, report says — takeovers could be implemented using eminent domain law when private citizens refuse to sell land

Vernon data center.

A report by The Conversation has claimed that the government can seize private land to make way for new transmission lines needed to meet the surging electricity demand of data centers. According to the July 16 report by Aaron Walayat, Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Dayton, power companies can use eminent domain — the legal authority that grants the government the power to take private property and convert it to public use in exchange for compensation — to implement the takeovers.

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