Pre-Approval Transparency Mechanisms

Local governments must use the application process to demand as much transparency as possible.

Specify Minimum Transparency Requirements as Part of the Application Process

The minimum transparency requirements as part of the application process include, but are not limited to:

  • water usage and mitigation;
  • noise study and mitigation;
  • energy usage and mitigation;
  • on-site emissions;
  • 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 financers;
  • jobs (short-term and permanent, hiring efforts, permanent employee wages); and
  • a displacement and holistic environmental impact report, centering environmental justice considerations (such as those emerging from redlined/fenceline communities) that establishes the data center will not exacerbate the displacement of residents and local businesses.


Note: In some cases, data center developers are applying for permits without having tenants or end users in place. This can impede a city’s ability to demand transparency measures. Cities should reject any application that cannot account for the data center’s projected resource use or does not offer transparency into economic development terms.

Who Are the “End Users” of Data Centers?

A crucial part of the pre-approval application process is the requirement that data centers disclose the names of all companies involved in the data center project, including the developer, shell companies, data center operators, and financers. 

However, many more companies are implicated in the development of data centers than those involved in the up-front development process. Once a data center is built, a data center operator sells services to many different companies. For example, a data center operated by Amazon hosts its cloud platform, Amazon Web Services (AWS). AWS sells cloud computing services to companies like Palantir1, a surveillance-technology company that has contracted with ICE since 20112. We might consider Palantir an “end user” of an Amazon data center because they use the data center’s services once it is built.

Because data centers can enable harmful use cases of AI technologies, data center ordinances, laws, and regulations should be passed hand in hand with AI regulations that ban harmful use cases and put critical accountability measures on the technology itself. See Protect Constituents from AI Harms for recommendations to ensure that data centers cannot be built in service of technology that harms communities.

Mandate Public Notice and Community Hearings

Require a minimum number of public community hearings as a central part of the approval process. Upon receipt of a data center application, the appropriate public administrator must add discussion of the data center application to the agenda of an upcoming regular meeting. 

Ensure there is adequate advertisement for the hearing, including but not limited to publication in officially designated newspapers, social media, and certified mailings to all households within the approving government’s jurisdiction. Jurisdictions that depend on key resources (e.g., watershed and energy infrastructure) planning to be used by the data center should also be notified. Clearly display the time and place of the hearing in all communications. 

Ensure that educational information is provided to residents well in advance of any hearing, with materials from independent assessments rather than developers. Engage in proactive outreach to community leaders, community groups, and residents of areas both next to the proposed site and that would be impacted more broadly by rate increases, pollution, or resource use.

Strong example

Tucson, Arizona, requires all documents related to data center projects to be public 90 days before any public meeting.

Reject Proposals Without Adequate Transparency Measures

Reject data center development or expansion proposals that do not have adequate transparency measures. Establish a waiting period before the rejected proposals can be submitted for reconsideration.

Strong example

Commissioners in Mooresville, North Carolina, refused to support a $30 billion data center project without knowing which company was behind it.

Strong Example

Rejected applications will not be considered within 24 months after denial in Atlanta, Georgia.

  1. “Palantir and AWS,” Palantir, https://www.palantir.com/partnerships/aws. ↩︎
  2. Caroline Haskins, “ICE Is Paying Palantir $30 Million to Build ‘ImmigrationOS’ Surveillance Platform,” Wired, April 18, 2025, https://www.wired.com/story/ice-palantir-immigrationos. ↩︎