About Data Center Fights
Data centers are some of the biggest industrial projects in America, and the decisions often get made with little public notice. We think the people who live next door, drink the water and pay the electric bills deserve to see them coming.
Data Center Fights is an independent public tracker of proposed US data center projects, the local fights over them, the moratoriums communities have adopted, and the utility deals that power them. We're skeptical of secrecy, not of technology. We report approvals and completions as carefully as denials, and we don't take sides on individual projects.
Methodology & sourcing standards
- Every entry is sourced. Each project, moratorium and deal links to the public records or published reporting it's based on: county agendas and minutes, utility commission dockets, company filings, and news reports.
- We don't fill gaps with guesses. If capacity, investment, developer or utility isn't in the sources, we say "not reported."
- Statuses: proposed (publicly pending), approved, under construction, delayed, blocked (denied or halted by a government body or court), withdrawn (developer pulled out).
- Locations are approximate — typically the town or county centroid — unless a site is precisely documented.
- Tips are leads, not facts. Nothing from a tip is published until confirmed by public records or independent reporting.
How "chatter" works
Chatter is a separate layer of unconfirmed early signals: codenames, NDAs, land assemblies, rezonings, large-load utility requests, state filings and local reporting that point to a possible data center that nobody has confirmed. It is never mixed into the confirmed project list, and it's drawn on maps as hollow, dashed markers.
- Source type. Each entry is labeled research (found by us in public records or reporting), tip (began as a reader tip), or unverified project listing (a site from a project list we have not yet checked against local records; always low confidence until verified). Tip-based entries are published only once at least one public source backs up the signal, and every entry links at least one source.
- Confidence. High: a formal filing or vote exists and mainly the end user or use is unknown. Medium: credible reporting or filings exist, but the data center use or operator is unconfirmed. Low: a rumor, an inquiry, or something the company has denied. We give the reason for each rating.
- Language. Rumored developers or end users are labeled "rumored." We don't present rumors as fact, and we don't name private individuals.
- Promotion. An entry becomes a confirmed project when there's an official filing that names data center use, a public announcement, or a named operator, backed by a public source.
- Removal. We remove entries that are ruled out (withdrawn, denied, a different use, or credibly debunked), or that go stale after about 12 months with no corroboration.
- Corrections. If you can confirm or debunk an entry, use the "Confirm or debunk" link on it or see the corrections policy below.
Corrections policy
If we got something wrong, we want to fix it fast. Email [email protected] with the page, the error, and a source. Developers, officials and advocates are all welcome to send corrections. We correct factual errors promptly and note significant changes.
Independence
We are not funded by developers, utilities or opposition groups, and no advertiser or funder has any say over what we cover or how. Any future advertising will be clearly labeled and kept separate from the data.
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Data Center Fights is not legal advice. Data is compiled from public sources and may be incomplete.