Public Disclosure Laws

Public-record and agency disclosure laws grant the public the right to inspect government records. This is a critical way for the public to learn about the industry moving into their communities. 

States can protect against workarounds data centers try to take by specifying what data center developers must reveal as a matter of public interest, and how they must do so. This includes:

Prohibit Trade Secret Exceptions to Transparency

Clearly specify that information collected during the application process does not constitute sensitive information or trade secrets and cannot be redacted or exempted from public disclosure. Such information includes:

• Noise study and mitigation 
• Projected and actual energy usage and mitigation 
• On-site energy emissions 
• Projected and actual water usage and mitigation 
• Value of tax abatements developer is receiving for the project 
• Name of all companies involved in data center project (including developer, shell companies, data center operators and/or end users, and financers) 
• Jobs (short-term and permanent, hiring efforts, permanent employee wages) 
• The results of a displacement and holistic environmental impact report, centering environmental justice considerations (such as those emerging from redlined/fenceline communities), and establishing that the data center will not exacerbate the displacement of residents and local businesses

Require Submission of Documents, Specifically Digital Copies

Require data centers to provide documents, including digital copies, for review. This protects against data centers solely providing information for review in person or during video calls, which would prevent the public from examining records.

Protect Against Anonymity

Prohibit the use of a special-purpose entity (SPE), subsidiaries, shell companies, and/or a third party to provide anonymous information. This protects against data center companies remaining anonymous.

Beware of Bad-Faith Litigation

In Oregon, Google sued a newspaper to avoid release of records detailing the amount of water the tech giant used to cool a data center, claiming that the records would reveal trade secrets.¹ This in spite of Oregon’s public-record laws, which require real trade secrets to be released when they are in the public’s interest.

1.  Seth Stern, “It’s Time for Open Records Laws to Promote Transparency,” Freedom of the Press Foundation, December 22, 2022, https://freedom.press/issues/its-time-for-open-records-laws-to-promote-transparency. ↩︎

Public-record and agency disclosure laws grant the public the right to inspect government records. This is a critical way for the public to learn about industries that are attempting to move into their communities. Congress can act to clearly specify that information collected during local, state, and federal data center application processes does not constitute sensitive information or trade secrets and cannot be redacted or exempted from public-disclosure laws. Such information includes:

• noise study and mitigation 
• projected and actual energy usage and mitigation 
• on-site energy emissions 
• projected and actual water usage and mitigation 
• value of tax abatements developer is receiving for the project 
• names of all companies involved in the data center project (including developer, shell companies, data center operators and/or end users, and financers) 
• jobs (short-term and permanent, hiring efforts, permanent employee wages) 
• the results of a displacement and holistic environmental-impact report, centering environmental justice considerations (such as those emerging from redlined/fenceline communities), and establishing that the data center will not exacerbate the displacement of residents and local businesses

Data center deals are becoming increasingly convoluted and opaque, with Big Tech firms using distinct legal entities known as special-purpose vehicles (SPVs) to fund and execute data center deals. These deals are “off-balance sheet,” meaning that the deal—and any debt the SPV has raised—is not listed on Big Tech firms’ balance sheets, thus masking a clear picture of a company’s financial health.¹ Federal policymakers should prohibit public firms from using SPVs and other financial vehicles to hide data center investments on balance sheets, or should fully investigate the terms of these deals. 

1. Advait Arun, Bubble or Nothing: Data Center Project Finance, Center for Public Enterprise, November 2025, https://publicenterprise.org/wp-content/uploads/Bubble-or-Nothing.pdf. ↩︎