Anna Kavanaugh joins Gaslit: The Power of Story to talk about the fight over a proposed data center in Decatur Township, Indiana. What began with a community open house grew into a larger battle over zoning, tax abatements, energy use, environmental concerns, political accountability, and whether residents should have a meaningful voice in what gets built around them.

Anna explains how Protect Decatur Township brought together people across the political spectrum, raised money, challenged the approval process in court, and kept organizing even as the odds seemed stacked against them.

Her message is simple: show up, get involved, and keep fighting.

What happens when ordinary people discover that a massive data center may be coming to their community?

Tommy talks with Protect Posey County organizers Kristen Trombley and Jason Nab about how they became involved, what they have learned about data centers, and their concerns about farmland, water, electricity, utility costs, transparency and AI. They also explain how residents organized, learned the local-government process, demanded records and helped push for stronger protections.

At its core, this episode asks a larger question: when powerful technologies and enormous investments can reshape a community, who gets to decide what the future looks like?

In the Season Two premiere of Gaslit: The Power of Story, Tommy J. Hausman speaks with Citizens Action Coalition executive director Kerwin Olson about Indiana’s rapid expansion of AI data centers and what it could mean for Southern Indiana.

They examine Project Raider, an unidentified proposed 600-megawatt load in CenterPoint territory, and ask whether the grid can supply projects of this scale without shifting infrastructure, energy, and stranded-asset costs onto existing customers. The conversation explores utility regulation, water and pollution, aging coal plants, closed-door development agreements, voluntary consumer protections, and the promises of jobs and economic growth.

At the center of the episode is a fundamental question: Before communities surrender land, water, electricity, tax revenue, and public money, what must residents be allowed to know—and what power do they still have to say no?