Resident confronts officials about signing data center NDAs. They refuse to answer.

Our Take

Credit to More Perfect Union for capturing something that plays out in township halls and county chambers all over the country: a resident asks a plain yes-or-no question — did you sign an NDA — and elected officials suddenly can't find their words. That non-answer is an answer. When public servants won't say whether they've bound themselves to secrecy with a private company, residents are left to assume the worst, and history keeps proving that assumption right.

NDAs are how this industry buys silence before a shovel ever hits dirt. By the time locals hear the words "data center," the site is picked, the water and power asks are drafted, and the tax abatement is halfway through the approval pipeline. The Tyrone Township resident who declared "there's not gonna be a data center" is really saying: we were never asked. That's the pattern — decisions about a community's substation capacity, well tables, and land use get made behind closed doors, and the public finds out after the fact, if at all.

This is exactly why we built our facility map — to track where these deals are landing before residents get steamrolled by a done deal. If your township is getting cagey about meetings, records requests, or sudden zoning changes, don't wait for a leak. Check our take-action page for how to file public records requests and push for disclosure before the ink dries.