As Cheonan and Asan emerge as a concentration of data centers, concerns have been raised about environmental damage and other effects of their substantial electricity and water consumption.
At the 2026 Human Rights Tree Forum, held by the Cheonan Citizens' Human Rights Network on November 3 in a meeting room at the Ssangyong Community Welfare Center under the theme of AI and human rights, the Chungnam Federation for Environmental Movement said that three of the six AI data center projects being attracted to South Chungcheong Province are located in Cheonan and Asan, with one in Cheonan and two in Asan. The three projects in Cheonan and Asan have a combined capacity of 340 MW and investment totaling 3.55 trillion won. The federation identified their much greater electricity and water consumption compared with ordinary buildings as a problem, explaining that data centers run large numbers of computing devices and require cooling systems to remove the heat they generate. It also cited noise affecting areas far from the facilities, urban heat island effects and excessive investment as problems. The federation pointed to an increase in the number of groups opposing data centers in the United States from 188 in June 2025 to 833 in the first quarter of 2026, along with moves in the Netherlands and Singapore to halt new data center construction.
Lim Ji-seon, a Hankyoreh reporter and author of What Exactly Is Big Tech?, said, “In Santa Clara, California, 50 data centers consume 60% of the city's total electricity, and electricity prices are rising rapidly in three states with large numbers of data centers.” Lim sharply criticized the idea of environmentally friendly data centers, saying, “In an era of climate crisis, environmentally friendly data centers are an illusion.”
A representative of the Citizens' Human Rights Network, whose members include civic activists in the Cheonan area, said, “We plan to examine whether data centers are being pursued indiscriminately under the pretext of promoting the AI industry, without sufficient deliberation or public discussion, and respond accordingly.”
Original Korean article: daejonilbo.com
English brief by Korea Wind Intelligence, koreawindintel.com
