Link: https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/09/the-ai-data-center-boom-is-causing-new-accountability-problems/

In early June, a fire broke out in a still-unfinished building at the Lake Mariner data center in Somerset, New York, exposing just how little the local fire department knew about what it was walking into. Firefighters reportedly found no working alarm, no suppression system, and three dead hydrants; the safety documents they’re legally entitled to see reportedly burned up in the blaze.

Steve Matisz, chief of the Barker Fire Department, said his crew went into the building “kind of blind,” facing heavy black smoke from chemicals they couldn’t identify because the safety sheets meant to inform them had apparently burned up. “It’s been a difficult situation,” Matisz said. He wasn’t sure what to think about the claim that the safety sheets had burned in the fire.

It's a boondoggle run by shell companies and we'll all pay for the losses.

We'll end up living in a one giant data center at this pace. Once known as the "blue planet".