I think that perhaps your perception of the impacts of data centers is a bit over the top.

I parsed that wrong (better?) as running smack (heroin) into the center of town

And so I thought it was a reference to the overall AI psychosis, FOMO, and dopamine marketing. That is the big impact that bothers me, regardless of whether this deployment uses massive new datacenters. It is a toxic social impact even if it somehow reduced atmospheric CO2 with every token.