Deep dives into the data-center projects reshaping American communities. Who owns the land, who's paid for the politics, who's filing the permits, who's fighting back.
A Kansas town of 6,000 people authorized up to 50 billion dollars in tax-exempt spending for a data center whose tenant is still secret -- 71 times more than the developer has committed to actually spend.
A 750 MW facility proposed on former game commission land in Limerick Township, shielded by NDAs and a state land swap nobody voted for. The Planning Commission has now recommended it be denied unless a list of conditions are met.
A 16 billion dollar data center proposed on 500 acres in Pacific, MO -- where the county planning commissioner owns the land and the town's own engineering firm works for the developer.
A developer submitted 1.9 million square feet of revised plans one business day before the hearing at a former institution known for decades of abuse.
A 600 MW expansion -- 61 percent larger than approved -- proposed on contaminated land in Chester County, PA.
Rick Perry's Fermi America plans the largest private power grid in US history on a 99-year Texas Tech lease next to a nuclear weapons plant.
From Abilene to the Permian Basin, Texas is becoming the data center capital of the world. Here is every major project, every tax break, and every community pushing back.
In March 2026, Illinois approved two of the largest data center campuses in American history. Not everyone is celebrating.
A 3-2 vote overruled the planning board, rezoned farms and sacred sites for heavy industry, and sparked a lawsuit. Then the commissioners who voted yes lost their primaries.
Loudoun County hosts more data centers than anywhere on Earth. The power grid cannot keep up, so data centers run thousands of diesel generators next to schools and homes while collecting the largest tax break in Virginia history.
Ohio gave data centers 2.5 billion dollars in tax incentives since 2017. Now at least 18 communities have enacted or considered moratoriums as residents question who actually benefits.
Founded by Rob Roy, acquired by DigitalBridge for 11 billion dollars, and operating campuses from Las Vegas to Atlanta -- Switch is one of the largest data center companies most people have never heard of.
Meta is building some of the largest data centers in the world. From El Paso's desert to Louisiana's bayou country, communities are questioning who pays the real cost.
In The Dalles, Oregon, Google uses a third of the city's water supply. Now the city wants to tap Mount Hood's forest to keep up -- and residents' water bills are projected to double.
Microsoft is building 15 data centers on the site where Foxconn promised 13,000 jobs and delivered 1,000. One Wisconsin town approved it. The one next door said no.
At least 25 Michigan communities have passed moratoriums on data centers as DTE and Consumers Energy negotiate 6.4 gigawatts of new power contracts. Governor Whitmer signed a 90 million dollar tax break. Secretary of State Benson wants to ban them from using state water.
22 Super PACs have raised over 450 million dollars in FEC-verified receipts to elect politicians who support AI and data center expansion. They spent 20 million in Illinois alone -- and mostly lost. Here is who is funding whom.
Amazon, Microsoft, Oracle, and Meta collectively cut at least 60,000 confirmed jobs between May 2025 and March 2026 while citing AI and automation -- with credible estimates pushing the total past 90,000. In the same window, the same four companies had 108 data center projects in our database seeking or receiving tax breaks from state and local governments. Nobody has put these two ledgers side by side -- until now.
Blue Owl Capital, a 307 billion dollar asset manager under acute financial stress, finances data center projects across Kansas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana through special-purpose LLCs. The towns that granted tax exemptions are not parties to any agreement with Blue Owl. No ordinance we reviewed requires disclosure of the financier's condition or includes a clawback if the money dries up.
Blue Rose Research polled 6,265 voters. The findings explain why 140+ communities have blocked or delayed $60 billion in data center projects.
A FOIA document reveals STACK Infrastructure secured rights to 2 million gallons of Culpeper's reclaimed wastewater per day for a data center campus -- while the county next door denied Amazon for the same reasons.
The council voted 6-2 to approve a development agreement with CRG Acquisition LLC. Seven days later, every incumbent on the ballot was voted out. A petition to recall the mayor followed.
We pulled twelve years of Redfin data for the Wisconsin city next to America's largest data center and three control cities 7 to 15 miles away. Home prices went up everywhere. Port Washington sellers are the ones giving back the most at the negotiating table.
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Know when a new data center deal gets cut, who profits, and who signed off on it.