--- title: "Fox News Instructs Viewers to Buy Plastic Christmas Trees So the Real Ones Can Be Sacrificed to Feed the Insatiable Hunger of AI Data Centers" description: "A Fox Business host railed against a humble little tree farm that's standing in the way of more AI data center construction." date: "2025-12-15" modified: "2025-12-15" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore" url: "https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/fox-news-christmas-trees-ai-data-centers" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "Computing" - "Environment" - "Finance" - "Future Society" - "Pollution" - "Robots and Machines" - "Science & Energy" --- # Fox News Instructs Viewers to Buy Plastic Christmas Trees So the Real Ones Can Be Sacrificed to Feed the Insatiable Hunger of AI Data Centers ![A Fox Business host railed against a humble little tree farm that's standing in the way of more AI data center construction.]() *Getty / Futurism* The Grinch comes in many forms: greedy businessman, bosses that won't give you the holidays off, and even *Fox News* hosts. Dagen McDowell, a co-host of the "The Big Money Show" on *Fox Business*, recently flaunted her zeal for AI — and her distaste for holiday cheer — by declaring that a beloved local Christmas tree farm should be sacrificed to make way for [data center infrastructure](). McDowell was defending a proposed plan for a 67-mile long transmission line running through Maryland that would bring more power to the booming AI data centers in northern Virginia. The $424 million Maryland Piedmont Reliability Project is facing opposition from farmers and other property owners whose land is in its path, including the owners of a Maryland Christmas tree farm. Critics argue that Maryland would be acting as an "[extension cord]()" for the AI data centers, seeing no real benefits from the infrastructure while enduring a massive eyesore. McDowell swatted these complaints aside as a bunch of hogwash, [as spotted by *HuffPost*](). "I think that the United States of America would gladly just saw off Maryland and kick it into the Atlantic Ocean if you don't like it," McDowell [said](). "If there is a need for electricity generation and a conduit like power lines to bring electricity to a densely populated area of business and growth like northern Virginia, then it's not about AI, it's actually about economic growth for the United States." "Number two, it's a tree farm! Not growing food," McDowell continued. "The alternative would be some liberal's gonna put some giant solar panels on that land, and you're not gonna be growing any Christmas trees either." Amid McDowell's Scrooge-esque screed — which seems stunningly hypocritical coming from a network that has [long accused liberals]() of waging a "war on Christmas" — the poor tree farm had at least one sympathetic voice among the *Fox* co-hosts. "This farm is going to lose all of its aesthetic appeal as a result of this," Brian Brenberg argued, saying he's seen the "gross-looking" transmission towers in person. "There will be transmission lines that have to go through developments and farms," McDowell decreed. "That's the very nature of a growing economy. Everybody needs to get on board." "You know what?" she said, eliciting groans from her co-hosts. "Buy a fake tree!" Maryland is one of many battlegrounds across the country that have sprung up over the rapid construction of AI data centers. The sprawling complexes can bring [soaring energy bills](), and [headache-inducing noise pollution](). Some have also been accused of [hoovering up their area's water](), leaving behind a [desiccated water table](). The actual construction of these colossal projects puts a massive strain on communities, too: a once-quiet Louisiana town where a Meta data center is now being built [has seen a 600 percent surge in automobile crashes]() as massive construction trucks keep barreling down its tiny roads and getting into horrific wrecks, including near a school playground. The utility company behind the proposed Maryland transmission line, Public Service Enterprise Group, [argues]() that "without these upgrades, Maryland may face severe grid congestion, threatening both affordability and reliability for ratepayers" — but this is a hard sell to locals, when it's clearly being built with a neighboring state's AI data center boom in mind. **More on AI:** [*Trump Orders States Not to Protect Children From Predatory AI*]() ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()