A data center is proposed or being built near you?
Data centers bring real tradeoffs for a community’s budget, grid, and neighborhoods. Whatever outcome you’re hoping for, you have a say. This guide provides real tools to secure benefits from buildouts, hold down utility costs, and bring transparency to the process.
01 Start Here
Every actor has different authorities and resources. Pick the role that fits you. Each opens a field guide with concrete options and real-world examples.
Most common
Get informed and weigh in. Use public records, public hearings, petitions, and the ballot box to ask questions, seek transparency, and help shape the outcome.
Open the resident guide →
Local government
Zoning, permitting, moratoriums, transparency rules, and enforceable community benefit agreements are tools available to you.
Open the county guide →
State government
Protect ratepayers through PUCs, redesign incentives, plan for stranded assets, and mandate transparency.
Open the state guide →
Civil society
Bring the technical expertise: independent analysis, PUC intervention, public records requests, and CBAs.
Open the CSO guide →
Federal
Use the levers Congress and agencies already hold, including EIA, FERC, NERC, DOE, and the EPA.
Open the federal guide → Not sure?Check out our full playbook, including an explainer, the evidence, and every guide in one place.
Read the playbook →02 For Residents
Information is a powerful tool. Most state laws let you request records, including non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) and contracts. Ask a local civil society organization for a cost-benefit analysis of what the project means for your rates.
Join a local hearing or take part in a petition. Ask for a breakdown of contract terms and tax exemptions before any vote.
Formal channels are open to you: comment in Public Utility Commission proceedings, weigh in on local ballot measures, and vote for the commissioners who set your utility rates.
03 In Practice
Across the country, residents and local officials are using these tools to different ends. Here’s where residents have secured local benefits, negotiated transparency, protected ratepayers, and put decisions to a public vote.
Officials negotiated an agreement with Microsoft that secured 100% renewable operation and more than $2 billion in tax revenue for the community.
Residents gathered roughly 1,000 signatures and passed a ballot measure giving voters a say before the city grants future data center tax incentives.
After Project Blue, the county adopted a 90-day public-review period, capped economic-development NDA terms at two years, and now discloses active NDAs quarterly.
A community group intervened before the Public Utility Commission, which directed an Amazon proposal through a full regulatory review.
04 Why It Matters
Utilities often socialize the cost of grid and transmission upgrades across all ratepayers. Abandoned projects can leave you stranded with the costs.
How the costs land on you →
AI loads spike in seconds. In 2024, a single fault dropped ~1,500 MW at once. That’s the equivalent of a nuclear plant vanishing without warning.
See the reliability risk →
Diesel backup generators, equipment above 85 dBA, and 24/7 lighting — one campus raised peak NO₂ by 79% in nearby areas.
See the local harms →
Find your role and the tools available, wherever you stand on the project.
