Georgia Power Uses Eminent Domain to Seize Homes for AI Data Centers

Homeowners face forced sales for data center infrastructure

Georgia Power is acquiring more than 300 parcels of land, including family homes, to construct a new transmission line designed primarily to serve AI data centers. The utility estimates 70-80% of the new line's capacity will power data centers, with the remainder supporting residential and commercial growth across the state.

Homeowners who refuse to sell face eminent domain proceedings — a legal mechanism allowing the government or authorized entities to take private property for public use with compensation. For families like Ansley Brown's, the process feels less like fair negotiation and more like coercion by a utility giant with vastly superior resources.

Why it matters

The collision between AI infrastructure needs and property rights reveals a growing tension in the technology sector's physical expansion. As data centers proliferate to support AI computing demands, utilities are invoking eminent domain powers traditionally reserved for highways and public works. This case establishes precedent for how companies can leverage legal tools to acquire land for facilities that primarily serve private commercial interests, even when framed as serving broader public benefit.

A family loses generational wealth

Brown's childhood home, built when she was five or six years old, represented what her mother intended as "true generational wealth" for the family. After a year of negotiations, her mother recently agreed to sell to Georgia Power. Brown describes the alternative — eminent domain seizure — as an impossible position.

"To us it's theft. It's literally a billion dollar company stealing land from smaller people, people who can't fight back. We don't have the money to fight Georgia Power," Brown told CBS News.

Holly Lovett, a Georgia Power spokesperson, stated that eminent domain "is always a last resort for us and it's something we never want to do." The company maintains it has conducted the process responsibly.

Brown disputes this characterization. "You can't tear down 35 miles of rural Georgia and it not hurt something or somebody. And to say that you're doing it in the name of data centers is a slap in the face to us, our community, our animals," she said.

Demand outpaces existing capacity

Georgia Power says increasing power demand has exceeded its existing grid capacity, necessitating new transmission infrastructure. The company has not disclosed which data center operators will use the new capacity, citing safety and security concerns around publishing customer lists.

Brown has taken her story to TikTok, sharing experiences from other affected homeowners. While acknowledging it's too late to save her family's property, she hopes to prevent similar outcomes for others.

Her mother's request is simple: an apology from Georgia Power for what Brown describes as a year of bullying. When asked about apologizing, the utility told CBS News it has "worked hard to be transparent, negotiate in good faith" and "make the process as easy as possible."

These details were first reported by CBS News.