Washington, D.C. – The national environmental organization Food & Water Watch has issued a call for a ban on all usage of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) between government officials – local, state and federal – and private companies. These undemocratic secret agreements are increasingly being adopted by corporations and local governments to approve the construction of highly controversial AI data centers without public knowledge or input. NDAs have also been frequently used in matters of selling off public property and infrastructure, such as water and sewer systems, to profit-driven companies.

Fundamentally, NDAs are a highly problematic legal tool meant to shield the details of deals between governments and companies from public scrutiny. They often involve deals that include public subsidies and/or tax breaks for private developers. These deals prevent the public from knowing how their taxes are being spent, and what and where new private development is being approved – regardless of any potentially harmful health, environmental or economic impacts of such development.

“There are a thousand reasons to oppose AI data centers, but one of the biggest should be the likelihood that any new project will receive unconscionable tax breaks and taxpayer-funded subsidies thanks to secret nondisclosure agreements made between manipulative developers and local public officials,” said Mitch Jones, managing director of policy and litigation at Food & Water Watch. “But the issue is broader. No private company should be entering into NDAs with our government officials, keeping valuable information about our communities from us – whether a data center, a private water company, or any other business. By banning these NDAs, communities will at least have a clear picture of what these aggressive corporations are angling for, and where their local leaders stand.”

Amid the deeply unpopular nationwide boom in construction of new hyperscale data centers, NDAs have been used on many occasions by local officials to approve new data centers with little or no public knowledge. Examples of this exist throughout the country, from Pennsylvania to Virginia to Arizona.