Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland opened an investigation into four big tech companies and how they use non-disclosure agreements in their proposals for data center projects. 

Raskin, the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, said in a press release that NDAs are being used by Amazon, Google, Meta and Oracle in data center planning to hide information about the projects from the public.

“Residents cannot weigh a project’s costs against its benefits, hold their officials accountable, or safeguard their own resources when the basic terms are kept secret,” Raskin said.

Raskin pointed to an August report from NPR station WWNO in New Orleans that detailed how a data center developer’s NDA prohibited public release of information about the $3.6 billion Delta Force 1 project in tiny Boyce, Louisiana (population 1,000) keeping the public largely in the dark until construction had already started. 

In his letter to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, Raskin points out that the company’s confidentiality agreements “have been shown to contain language that explicitly prevents local officials from disclosing ‘proprietary’ or ‘confidential’ information without clarifying what those terms mean.” 

He adds that language creates a “chilling effect” that makes it difficult for public officials to know what qualifies as sensitive information, essentially communicating to officials that ‘nothing is public unless we tell you it’s okay.’”

Raskin is seeking information from the companies about agreements that hide the details of data centers, including any taxpayer-funded incentives or special carveouts from tax, environmental and zoning laws. 

He also wants to know whether the companies’ NDA and confidentiality agreements with public officials have been used to block public records requests. And he wants to know why the four companies keep using NDAs even after competitor Microsoft said earlier this year that it would stop using NDAs with local governments moving forward. 

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger have both signed executive orders in recent months to ban the use of NDAs in data center development projects in their respective states. And lawmakers in several other states where data center development has skyrocketed in recent months, including Oklahoma, Kentucky and Ohio, have introduced legislation that would prohibit the use of NDAs for data center development. 

A September poll from the Pew Research Center found Americans’ views on data centers have turned more negative since the start of the year, with a majority saying they would be uncomfortable if a data center came to their neighborhood.

(Photo: Rep. Jamie Raskin, via Rep. Raskin Facebook)