#322 Erin Brockovich - Will AI Data Centers Secretly Drain America’s Water Supply?

**Shawn Ryan** (0:00)
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**SPEAKER_2** (1:33)
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**Shawn Ryan** (2:08)
Erin Brockovich, welcome to the show.

**Erin Brockovich** (2:11)
Thank you, Shawn Ryan, welcome to be here. Pretty cool.

**Shawn Ryan** (2:16)
Oh, put it on.
But so, AI data centers. Gonna have a whole episode on it today. Just, yes, I saw some of the stuff that you were uncovering. I don't know a whole lot about-

**Erin Brockovich** (2:29)
AI data centers.

**Shawn Ryan** (2:30)
The bad side of all this.

**Erin Brockovich** (2:31)
Yeah.

**Shawn Ryan** (2:32)
Because I've been talking about all the good side of all. But so we're gonna dive into all that today. It's gonna be super eye-opening.
But I want to start with just saying, I really appreciate what you're doing. So I had no idea about the water problem coming from this. Yeah. To be honest with you.

**Erin Brockovich** (2:50)
You and me both.
I found out about data centers is kind of like, I feel like I'm in such like a time warp in my life right now, and you'll find out I'm kind of that person that's, I don't know, I'm super connected and I feel energies. We are energy. This planet is energy, and I worry that we've gotten so into our phones, we've become disconnected from our natural environment, and we're missing a lot, and I feel again like I did.
It just came out of the blue, that young girl, 31 years old, starting in Hinkley, California. She was a young girl who really didn't know what she was getting into, but I could feel it, and I was compelled to want to do something, and that happened with the data centers. Yeah. And I got 30 emails from individuals from the same town with concerns about the data centers. So anytime 10, 20, 30, 40 people at once come to me, about an issue from the same town, that's generally a clue that something's going on, and I'm like, these data centers, what's going on? Let me take a look at it. So I started looking at data centers and it's water consumption, and I'm a dyslexic, so I do a lot of things backwards in that regard. For me and my work, I always have to go back to source. You know, they say dyslexics read backward. I can read fine, but I calculate, and I have to go back to source. Where did it start? What's happening? And I wanted to create a map so I could see the big picture. I'm very visual. I think a lot of us are.
And I say this with respect because I, too, have lived in my own bubble, and we get busy in our own lives. And we stop looking beyond that, and so when you see a town that's being poisoned, you might think it's just one town, and it could never be us. But when I can create the big picture, it changes the story. So with the data centers, what I thought was one town within 72 hours, I looked at all the submissions, so I created a self-reporting registry database where they could submit what was happening in their own backyard. I don't know why we wouldn't pay attention to the very people living, breathing, and experiencing these issues as to what the hell is happening in their backyard. It blew up to the whole country.