> Transmission lines are straight up good, with approximately zero downsides.

> Transmission lines polling remarkably close to coal plants, when the coal plants actively not only cook the planet but poison the people around them, is crazy.

I agree that transmission lines are innocuous when compared to coal plants, but to say they have approximately zero downsides is just plain wrong. They create environmental challenges because they slice through countryside, as an example. But, speaking as someone who lived near transmission lines for quite a while, there's no way I'd be willing to live near them again because the hum they produce (which varies according to humidity) can get so loud that it interferes with sleeping at night.

As to the point of the article, I oppose data centers for, essentially, one reason: I've seen a number of them get built and operated around my state, and in the vast majority of cases, their presence has directly and materially harmed the communities they were built in.

That's it. Mitigate the real harm they cause (rather than just telling everyone it doesn't exist) and you'll see a lot of the opposition go away.