Data center developers are using lawsuits, cash offers to ‘overwhelm’ rural America

The excess land in rural communities makes them ideal locations for data centers — and if small towns try to turn away developers, they often “won’t take no for an answer,” Mike Rogoway writes for The Oregonian. Reporters in newsrooms across five states — Oregon, Pennsylvania, Michigan, New Jersey and Alabama — joined forces to uncover the strategies developers are using to purchase land from reluctant communities. Reporters found that money, lawsuits and secrecy are at the heart of how data centers are "overwhelming" rural America. 

Developers for an Oracle and Open AI data center sued a Michigan farming town of 3,000 people when it declined to sell its land, leading to the town’s leadership accepting the project. At least four towns in New Jersey are also facing legal threats for declining data center developments. On the other end of the spectrum, a developer offered every household in Hazle, Pennsylvania $10,000 if they agreed to have a data center in their community.  

“Elsewhere in Michigan, officials say nondisclosure agreements are preventing them from telling their own citizens what data centers have planned in their communities. In another case, a small city sued The Oregonian newspaper in an unsuccessful effort to keep details of Google’s water use secret,” The Oregonian reports.