This is the AI data center right here. Yes, we’re coming over it right now. You see all the construction going on right here. We don’t know what kind of agreements they’re making. They won’t let us know.
Boyce, Louisiana AI Data Center Boyce, Louisiana AI Data Center
I’m in Boyce, Louisiana, and like many small towns across the country, it’s the site of a massive AI data center. Like many of those projects, the whole thing was concealed from the public through the use of non-disclosure agreements, or NDAs. At a recent town hall with local officials and the AI data center company, people asked about the NDA.
Citizen: Of the eight elected officials here that did sign the NDA, our politicians were elected to represent us, not to represent anyone.
Investigating NDAs for AI Data Center Project Deals in Louisiana
“So you mean you represent the district and they didn’t tell you anything about the project? It’s the district you represent, and it’s a very large development here. I’m just curious, you know, what… Okay. He hung up on me.”
The practice of using NDAs to conceal AI data center project deals is becoming more and more common across the country.
Citizen: So you’ve got NDAs here and NDAs in other places across the country. Evidently it’s happening all over the country. That’s not what you call an open government right there. That’s not transparency. It’s the opposite of that.
Citizen: We’re facing a crisis with corruption, not just here, but everywhere.
Lack of Transparency With Concealed AI Data Center Project
Did you know anything about it before it showed up?
Citizen: No. No one has sent a note to me telling me nothing.
Citizen: All of a sudden there’s this big white tent, bulldozers and everything.
What are your Concerns About Lack of Transparency With This Project?
Citizen: Do not give us the opportunity to voice our opinions until after everything’s signed, sealed, and delivered.
Citizen: Water use, electric use, I’m concerned about. Utility bills won out.
Citizen: If it puts out a background hum, vibrations, it would affect the bees.
Citizen: Who are they to decide that they can make these decisions in secret, of which I have no idea what informed your decision-making process, and now I have to leave the consequences.
Industrial Development Groups Signing NDA’s
Citizen: You know, I talked to the executive director of the industrial development group that negotiated the deal to get this AI data center here.
Executive Director of Industrial Development Group: NDAs are not illegal, okay? So you’re not going to change my mind on NDAs. So we’re done. If you want to keep harping on NDAs, that’s it.
How Do You React to the Comment made by the Executive Director of Industrial Development Group?
Citizen: It’s insane. Ultimately we were robbed of any input, and every single person should have a problem with that.
Gallup Poll on How Citizens Feel About AI Data Centers
A recent Gallup poll shows 70% of Americans are against AI data centers in their communities. That’s why tech companies like Amazon, Meta, XAI, and Anthropic are using NDAs to hide information about the projects from the public, projects that will directly affect their communities, until the deal is already done, and there’s nothing the community can do about it.
What does it say to you, this moment, where you have so many people with different views who maybe wouldn’t agree on anything else, coming together and really being on the same team when it comes to this project and the NDAs around it? All of us have to deal with these things.
This is where we have to live. This is where our children are. This is where our families are buried.
Where we are probably going to be buried. This is our home.
