Before You Approve a Data Center: 26 Questions Every Community Should Ask

Half a dozen advocacy groups have published "questions to ask a data center developer" guides in the last six months. They mostly agree with each other — and that consensus is the point. When RFD-TV's rural readers, Public Knowledge's D.C. tech-policy shop, EDF's environmental lawyers, the AI Now Institute, and the Alliance for the Great Lakes all converge on the same questions, a community that walks into a hearing with those 26 questions is walking in with the current professional consensus of what a diligent local official is supposed to ask.

This is that combined list. Each question has a why it matters line and a what a good answer looks like line — because a question you can't interpret is easy for a developer to deflect. Nothing here is exotic. What's exotic is asking them all before the ink is dry.

Sources synthesized: RFD-TV (Tony St. James, Jul 2026), Public Knowledge (Nat Purser, Apr 2026), EDF Energy Exchange (Benson & Calhoun, Jul 2026), AI Now Institute community toolkit, and the Alliance for the Great Lakes Community Checklist for Evaluating Data Center Impacts.

1. Who pays for the infrastructure this facility demands?

This is the single most important question and the one developers try hardest to compress into a soundbite. A hyperscale campus routinely requires new substations, new transmission lines, water main upgrades, road improvements, and often new generation capacity. All five sources agree that communities must ask, in writing, who pays for each of those.

1. Will the developer cover the cost of the new substation and any distribution upgrades — or will the utility recover them from all ratepayers? Why it matters: Most large-load tariffs make the developer pay for "direct" upgrades but silently place "shared" upgrades into the general rate base. That's how a single tenant can raise everyone's bill. What a good answer looks like: A dollar figure, a cost-allocation clause in the tariff filing, and a public commitment to a minimum bill floor or exit fee if the tenant leaves early.

2. Who pays for new transmission lines built to serve the load? Why it matters: Transmission is the biggest hidden subsidy in the current buildout. Louisiana's Meta deal put a $470M+ 60-mile line into Entergy's general rate base — costs shared across every household in the state (Alliance for Affordable Energy). What a good answer looks like: A signed cost-allocation agreement that names the developer as the sole beneficiary and assigns them the incremental cost.

3. What is the term of the developer's power contract vs. the payback period of the infrastructure being built? Why it matters: A 15-year contract that requires 30 years of infrastructure means ratepayers own the second half. Meta/Entergy is the current textbook case. What a good answer looks like: Matched terms, or explicit stranded-asset protection paid for by the developer.

4. Has the developer signed a Large Load Interconnection Agreement, and can we see the tariff? Why it matters: The public tariff is the enforceable document. Everything in press releases is marketing. What a good answer looks like: A publicly filed tariff and a link to the Public Utility Commission docket.

2. Water

5. What is the projected annual and peak-summer water consumption, and in what units? Why it matters: Peak summer draw is the number that stresses drought-year supplies. Annual averages hide it. What a good answer looks like: Gallons per day at peak, an independent hydrologist's review, and a commitment to publish actual consumption quarterly.

6. What is the water source — groundwater, municipal, surface, or recycled? Why it matters: Groundwater draw depletes aquifers permanently in some basins; municipal draw competes with residential supply during shortages. What a good answer looks like: A signed water-supply agreement naming the source, volume, and priority tier during drought restrictions.

7. What cooling technology will be used — evaporative, closed-loop, dry cooling, or hybrid? Why it matters: Cooling choice is the single biggest lever on water use. Dry cooling uses ~1% of the water of evaporative cooling but costs more capex. What a good answer looks like: Named technology, PUE and WUE (Water Usage Effectiveness) commitments, and a design review shared with the local water utility.

8. During declared drought restrictions, does the facility comply — or is it exempt? Why it matters: Several state deals exempt data centers from local watering restrictions. Residents cutting lawn watering while a facility draws millions of gallons is a political flashpoint. What a good answer looks like: Explicit inclusion under existing drought ordinances with no carve-outs.

3. Power, emissions, and backup generation

9. What is the peak electrical demand in megawatts, and over what ramp-up period? Why it matters: The MW number determines everything downstream — grid upgrades, gas plants, capacity charges. What a good answer looks like: A single, unqualified number and a commissioning schedule.

10. How many backup generators, what fuel, how much on-site fuel storage, and how many hours per year of testing? Why it matters: Backup generators are usually diesel or natural gas. Their testing schedule determines local air quality — and in some cases, they operate as "non-emergency" peakers that skip air-permit review entirely. xAI's Memphis facility ran gas turbines without air permits in a predominantly Black community with the region's highest pollution-related illness rates (Public Knowledge). What a good answer looks like: Named generator count, fuel type, testing hours capped in the permit, and full air-permit compliance before turn-on.

11. Will the facility meet or exceed carbon-intensity benchmarks (hourly matching, 24/7 CFE), or only annual RECs? Why it matters: Annual renewable energy credits let a developer claim "100% renewable" while running on gas at night. Hourly matching or 24/7 carbon-free energy is the real test. What a good answer looks like: A public 24/7 CFE commitment with transparent reporting.

4. Local economics — what your community actually gets

12. How many permanent jobs after construction ends, and at what wages? Why it matters: Construction employment is real but temporary. Permanent staffing is usually 30–150 people for a hyperscale campus — often far less than the developer's talking points imply. What a good answer looks like: A contractually binding minimum, broken out by role and wage, with a local-hire clause.

13. What is the tax revenue projection AFTER all abatements, exemptions, and PILOT agreements? Why it matters: Headline tax revenue is gross. Net revenue after abatements can be a small fraction. Prince William County, VA saw data center tax revenues rise from $6.5M to $166.4M between 2012 and 2023 — but rate pressure on residents rose with it (Public Knowledge). What a good answer looks like: A ten-year net-revenue projection signed by an independent economist, not the developer.

14. Is there a Community Benefit Agreement, and is it enforceable in the permit — not a side letter? Why it matters: A CBA that lives outside the permit is a promise with no teeth. A CBA written into the permit is a legal obligation. What a good answer looks like: A CBA drafted as a permit condition, with clear remedies for breach and a named community signatory who can enforce it.

5. Noise, land use, and daily life

15. What are the noise levels at the property boundary and at the nearest residence — measured in dBA and in low-frequency dB(C)? Why it matters: dBA understates the low-frequency hum that data center cooling produces. The 24/7 low-frequency component is what triggers resident lawsuits. What a good answer looks like: Both measurements, with limits written into the permit and third-party acoustic monitoring after commissioning.

16. What are the setbacks from residences, schools, and hospitals? Why it matters: Setbacks are the cheapest and most durable community protection. They cannot be negotiated away later. What a good answer looks like: Larger than the zoning minimum, in writing.

17. Can the developer expand the site later without triggering a new public review? Why it matters: Many projects double or triple in size after approval. Language allowing "as-of-right" expansion is a trap door. What a good answer looks like: Every phase requires a fresh public hearing.

6. Transparency and process

18. Has any local official been asked to sign an NDA? Why it matters: The AI Now toolkit and every other source in this list say the same thing: local officials should not sign NDAs, and communities should adopt ordinances banning them. What a good answer looks like: No NDAs. Full disclosure of every entity in the developer's corporate structure — shell LLCs included.

19. Who exactly is the developer, and every parent, subsidiary, and tenant? Why it matters: Data-center deals routinely surface through shell LLCs that hide the ultimate tenant (Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, xAI). Communities have a right to know who they are negotiating with. What a good answer looks like: A signed disclosure identifying the LLC chain and the anchor tenant. If the tenant is "confidential," walk away.

20. Have there been public meetings advertised in advance, held at times when working people can attend? Why it matters: A 2 p.m. Tuesday hearing is engineered for low turnout. What a good answer looks like: Minimum two evening or weekend meetings before approval, with 30 days' notice.

21. Will the developer publish an annual environmental impact report to the community — water, power, emissions, noise complaints — with third-party audit? Why it matters: Without ongoing reporting, promises decay. What a good answer looks like: A binding reporting clause in the permit with a named enforcement path.

7. Closure and accountability

22. Is a decommissioning plan required, filed, and approved BEFORE construction begins? Why it matters: Data centers are built to depreciate over 10–15 years, but the buildings, transformers, batteries, and cooling infrastructure can sit derelict for decades if the operator walks. Fixing decommissioning after the fact is impossible. What a good answer looks like: A plan filed as a permit exhibit before groundbreaking.

23. Is there a financial assurance mechanism — a surety bond, escrow, or letter of credit — sized to the full removal cost? Why it matters: Bankruptcy or sale can leave the community with an abandoned facility. Financial assurance is the only thing that protects against that. What a good answer looks like: A bond sized by an independent cost estimator, updated every five years for inflation.

24. Who is liable if the parent company sells, spins off, or goes bankrupt? Why it matters: Corporate structures shift. Rights of first refusal on sale, successor-liability language, and personal guarantees from the parent are all standard tools. What a good answer looks like: Successor liability written into the CBA and land-use agreement.

25. Does the site have to be restored to its prior productive use — and who decides what "restored" means? Why it matters: "Restoration" without a definition means slab and gravel. Farmland restoration means topsoil. What a good answer looks like: A written restoration standard signed by a state agricultural or land-use agency, not the developer.

26. What's the enforcement mechanism if any commitment is broken? Why it matters: All of the above is worthless without a way to enforce it. Communities usually assume the county attorney will handle enforcement. County attorneys are usually not staffed for a multi-year fight with a Fortune 100 company. What a good answer looks like: Named enforcement authority, funded enforcement budget, and third-party arbitration.

How to use this list

You are unlikely to get 26 clean answers in one hearing. That's the point. Ask them, publish the ones the developer refuses to answer, and let the gap between the questions asked and the answers given become part of the public record.

If your community is at the beginning of a fight, GridWatch has three tools that pair with this checklist:

• Start Here wizard — pick your state, size the impact, see what similar communities have won.
• The negotiation toolkit in the app — CBA templates, model clauses, and a meeting-prep generator that produces a downloadable brief for your specific hearing.
• PUC directory — every state Public Utility Commission and where to file a comment on the tariff.

The best time to ask these questions was before the developer picked your county. The second-best time is at the next public hearing.