Fact vs. Fiction
We recognize that large infrastructure projects raise legitimate questions about land use, water, traffic, environmental impact, and economic fairness. Those questions deserve direct answers, enforceable commitments, and ongoing dialogue.
These are the questions and concerns communities most frequently have about data centers. Each response includes source citations.
“Data centers raise everyone's electric bills.”
Data centers have contributed only a fraction of recent rate increases, and regulators in a growing number of states now require large loads to prove they will not raise rates for others. We welcome that standard, because our design is built to exceed it: the campus brings its own capacity, backs off at peak hours, and raises the utilization of grid infrastructure customers already pay for.
“The grid can't handle this.”
A campus designed as flexible load is engineered not to add strain to the grid at peak hours: on-site batteries carry it when demand is highest, and it draws when the grid can easily supply it.
“Data centers drain local water.”
Evaporative designs can. Closed-loop cooling is filled once and recirculated, with ongoing use comparable to an office building, and no continuous draw on wells or municipal supply. Most of the water associated with a conventional data center is consumed at the power plants that supply it; renewable supply carries far lower water consumption.
“You'll hear it constantly.”
The complaint is real at facilities that put fan walls at the property edge, and walls added afterward rarely fix it, because low-frequency sound bends over barriers. Quiet has to be designed in: no bulk diesel yards, no evaporative fans, buildings placed by distance rather than parcel edge, and performance designed to meet or exceed local noise standards at the property line, verified by boundary testing. Setbacks, not screening, are the primary protection; barriers supplement distance, they do not replace it.
“It means diesel generators next door.”
Battery energy storage replaces bulk diesel backup, removing its noise and its emissions.
“The jobs numbers are always inflated.”
A campus of this scale typically supports 1,000+ construction jobs over several years and 100+ direct operations roles, alongside training pipelines, digital inclusion investments, and a property tax base that funds services regardless of headcount. Each project's tracker carries its actual figures.
“The benefits are one-time payments that disappear.”
Community benefits are secured through the strongest binding instrument each jurisdiction allows, tracked in public with status and evidence, and structured to last beyond our involvement. Each project site states exactly which instruments bind that project and who they bind.
“Farmland and open space get paved over.”
Our siting rules run the other way: master-planned sites behind natural barriers, conservation easements granted to the community, preserved and expanded wetlands, and buildings placed out of sight. Each project publishes its site plan.
“You'll sell it and the promises leave with you.”
We use the strongest binding instrument available in each jurisdiction, and where the law allows commitments to be attached to the approval itself, we do that. Each project site states which instruments bind that project and who they bind, and the public tracker continues either way.