Data‑center transparency gap

Local governments, journalists, and researchers lack reliable, standardized public data on how many data centers are being proposed, built, and operated — and existing sources disagree because they count different things and firms hide details for security or competitive reasons. That opacity undermines basic questions about permitting, energy and water demand, tax incentives, and whether recent regulatory pushback is targeting a real surge or speculative proposals. — If policymakers and voters can’t answer simple empirical questions about the pace and scale of data‑center growth, debates over land use, grid upgrades, and tax incentives will be driven by anecdote and politics rather than evidence.