New trade association wants to improve dialogue on data centers, AI

The Arkansas Connected Communities Association, or the ARCC, announced in early June its formal establishment as a trade association dedicated to advancing data center and artificial intelligence infrastructure policy in Arkansas. State Rep. Aaron Pilkington, R-Knoxville, is helping found the group.

With major data centers coming to the Delta and AI accelerating at an incredible pace, state policymakers will have a lot to process. Conversely, communities need more guidance on what questions to ask in order to protect their assets and qualities.

Pilkington, who helped land a major data center in Johnson County, in western Arkansas, joined Talk Business & Politics Editor-in-Chief Roby Brock for a conversation.

Roby Brock: Give me the backstory on how this trade association came together. We’ve been watching the debates go on for more than one session, but certainly in a lot of communities around the state. Who decided to pull all these threads together? 

Rep. Aaron Pilkington: Well, a lot of it was me. I decided to pull it together. I’ve been working on data center legislation for a long time. Obviously, there’s one in my district in Clarksville. And so I’m right in the thick of all of it. What was interesting is I’d say three years ago, four years ago, these things were not seen as controversial projects. If anything, they were seen as really spectacular economic development. We actually don’t have a single hyperscaler in Arkansas. We have a few smaller data centers. So Arkansas was really missing out on this economic boom in this new technology revolution that we’ve got going on. 

But then seeing the backlash and seeing the concern that citizens had, and, of course now with the emergence of AI and how it changes our industry, and the concerns about how it will affect workforce and our privacy and all sorts of things, I thought it was important to come together and try to bring all these different factions — the industry, the utilities, everyone — together to basically help guide the policy structure that goes forward. 

AI is not going away, data centers are not going away, but how do we do it to make sure that we capitalize as a state on these new developments and at the same time protect our citizens as well … How can Arkansas make the best policy for Arkansas? 

Brock: You mentioned some of the concerns that are out there. We see a lot of public meetings, not only at the legislature, but in local communities about concerns on data centers. You mentioned privacy and workforce, but there is land use, energy demands, environmental concerns and things like that. I’m assuming all of that will be things that you want this trade association to address.

Pilkington: Yes, that’s one of the things we want to address. Some of them are genuine concerns about land use and about electricity use. Others not so much. One you hear about a lot is water usage, but actually when you compare the amount of water that these new centers use, especially ‘closed loop cooling,’ it’s minuscule compared to some of the older ones. And when you compare it to other industries, it becomes painfully obvious that water is not an issue the way a lot of people are making it out to be. But that’s kind of one of the things we want to do with this is let’s address the real concerns and dispel myths.

Obviously, there is massive use of electricity that these things use. How do we make sure that we protect ratepayers? How do we make sure that we keep energy costs low for our system? 

Brock: You’re wanting to put some advisory boards together. What are you looking for? I’m sure it will include people who are pro data center, pro AI. Will it also include some people that have concerns? 

Pilkington: Yes. We want people from all parts of the above. I think anyone who just says ‘no’ to everything, probably it’s not a good fit for them. But we’ve got an AI policy and so obviously AI companies that are here operating Arkansas, we want them to be involved, but also people who work in the industry who are concerned about security, safety, protecting minors from AI, all those things we want them to be a part of the discussion as well so that we can create really robust policy. The same with the construction advisory committee and, of course, the same with community engagement. We want people who are skeptical to also be a part of it because that’s the only way we’re really going to address concerns is if we hear genuine feedback of what are the real concerns.

Brock: How does somebody who wants to be on one of these advisory boards, how do they connect with ARCC?

Pilkington: We have a website, Arkansasconnectedcommunitiesassociation.org. I would go there. There’s a link that will allow you to submit an email to us letting us know that you’d be interested. I’ve already received quite a few calls and emails from people looking to join the association. 

Of course, we’ve been proactive before even the launch of this going to certain different organizations and telling them that this is something we’re trying to create, something that would help them. I’ve had meetings with the Association of Counties. We’ve talked a little bit to the Municipal League. We’ve talked to obviously all the big tech end users about this as well, about getting their involvement and how do we basically come in and like I said, dispel the rumors and address the concerns because these things aren’t going away, but we need to make sure that it’s a good deal for Arkansas. 

Brock: Do you have a board of directors already? 

Pilkington: We’ve got a board right now. We’re going to announce the entire board later. We’ve got a few people still trying to work through their paperwork, but we’ll announce a board in the next few weeks hopefully.