OpenAI drops NDAs with officials as data center backlash hits midterms

The Verge keeps a hub page that collects its reporting on AI data centers, the warehouses of energy-hungry servers behind the industry's plans. The page's framing is that the rush to build them has set off fights worldwide over power grids, utility bills, nearby communities and the environment. Data centers were a major bipartisan issue ahead of the 2026 midterms, The Verge says, and voters largely opposed expansion at the polls. OpenAI and Amazon are promising to work more closely with local communities and cover their data center energy costs, but Democratic leaders are now calling for further restrictions and slowdowns that the AI companies will have to deal with.

The headline item is OpenAI's move on secrecy. Following the midterms, OpenAI announced new commitments to communities where it works on data center projects, including that it won't use non-disclosure agreements with public officials. Many projects have drawn scrutiny for using NDAs to hide talks between developers and local officials. OpenAI says it will now allow only narrow protections covering legitimate security information, trade secrets, or proprietary or competitively sensitive information. Amazon announced in October that it would no longer use NDAs with government agencies it works with on data center projects.

The election results are the backbone of the page. Under the title 'Data centers lost the midterms', The Verge reports that 76 percent of voters polled by NBC News on Election Day said they opposed data centers in their communities, and dozens of local communities voted directly to restrict development through ballot measures. Winners such as Texas Democratic Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa and Michigan's Democratic Senator-elect Abdul El-Sayed support moratoriums. Another item says NBC News projects Democrats James Talarico and Hinojosa to win the Texas Senate and governor races; Hinojosa has called for a state moratorium, while Talarico has favored ending tax incentives and creating an 'AI dividend' so Americans share in profits. In Ohio, NBC News projects Democrat Sherrod Brown will win back his former Senate seat from Republican Jon Husted, whom Brown had labeled 'the face of data centers'; a leaked August memo from the National Republican Senatorial Committee warned that if Husted lost and data centers got the blame, politicians across the country would take notice and would not go near the next one. In Maine, Republican Susan Collins conceded her Senate seat in a race the page calls tech-fueled: she counted Palantir CEO Alex Karp and venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz among her donors, while challenger Troy Jackson had some billionaire support but no obvious tech ties. Maine almost became the first state to pause data centers before the governor vetoed the moratorium. A separate piece describes an audience member shouting at Collins in the final debate that AI data centers are destroying the climate and poisoning water.

Other items cover the fights on the ground. OpenAI plans to pilot a 'Grid Protectors Program' at an upcoming data center in Effingham County, Georgia, promising to free up to 1,000 megawatts during extreme weather or emergencies, which the article says is enough to power air conditioners in around 700,000 homes. The Verge also reports that OpenAI is quietly renaming data centers 'compute campuses', and says the company seems to be gambling that a quiet rebrand could defuse the political backlash. In Utah, residents protested after Box Elder County commissioners approved a data center expected to consume more than double the state's peak electricity demand in 2025. In Florida, lifelong Republican Patti Zirhut, an organizer with No Data Center Hernando County, says she will not vote for Byron Donalds, the Republican gubernatorial nominee, who has Trump's endorsement and $148 million in campaign funds, much of it from the tech industry, and is a vocal data center supporter. In Texas, Texas NAACP president Gary Bledsoe lists local fights, including Taylor, Temple (where the mayor and council members face recall attempts) and San Marcos, which became the first city in Texas to ban data centers.

Policy and environment items round it out. A massive permitting bill advancing with bipartisan support in the lame-duck Congress could bring energy projects online faster and potentially lower utility bills, but environmental advocates fear it limits environmental reviews, stops communities from taking projects to court, and lets developers evade scrutiny and lean on fossil fuels. California's Proposition 45 would shorten timelines for state-mandated environmental assessments for eligible projects and make court challenges harder; proponents say it would help the housing shortage and meet rising electricity demand with new renewables, while environmental groups and some legal experts warn data center developers backing it could escape scrutiny. A new Sierra Club analysis says the US power sector could release 42 percent more carbon dioxide by 2030 than in 2025 as it builds fossil fuel infrastructure for data center demand, essentially wiping out 15 years of greenhouse gas reductions. If planned AI projects are built, it says, emissions from electricity generation would rise by 618 million tons by the end of the decade, roughly the carbon pollution from the electricity use of 128,788,523 homes in a year.

Smaller items: AMD CEO Lisa Su says 'We are a data center first company'. NBC News reports that the construction boom is creating new opportunities for heists of data center equipment in transit, using phishing, corporate identity theft and car-ramming, with servers, fiber-optic cable, memory chips, copper wire and bitcoin mining machines among the targets. The page also links outside coverage, including a Guardian story on a small Wisconsin city that scuttled a secretive $1.6bn datacenter project, and a KTVU story on Pittsburg approving a 45-day data center moratorium that does not stop current plans to build one.

Key facts

OpenAI says it will not use NDAs with public officials on data center projects, allowing only narrow protections for legitimate security information, trade secrets, or proprietary or competitively sensitive information; Amazon made a similar pledge in October.
The Verge reports that 76 percent of voters polled by NBC News on Election Day opposed data centers in their communities, and dozens of local communities restricted development through ballot measures.
OpenAI plans to pilot a Grid Protectors Program at a Georgia data center, promising to free up to 1,000 MW in extreme weather or emergencies, enough for air conditioners in around 700,000 homes.
A Sierra Club analysis says US power-sector CO2 could rise 42 percent by 2030 versus 2025, with emissions up 618 million tons by the end of the decade if planned AI projects are built.
A bipartisan permitting bill and California's Proposition 45 draw warnings from environmental advocates that data center developers could escape public scrutiny.

Why it matters

Data centers are the physical base of the AI industry, and The Verge's argument is that the political ground under them has shifted. Voters opposed expansion in large numbers, candidates who back moratoriums won, and the page says developers now face a more restrictive building environment, a 'stinging blow to a central pillar of the AI industry'. OpenAI's NDA pledge is a concrete first response: secrecy with local officials had been a recurring complaint about these projects, and the company now says it will keep only narrow protections.

Who it affects

AI companies and data center developers, who face moratoriums, local bans and ballot-box restrictions. Local officials and residents, who deal with projects often announced with little or no resident input. Utility customers and grid operators, given the power and bill questions the page raises. Voters and candidates in both parties, since the page treats data centers as a bipartisan issue that cut across races in Maine, Ohio, Texas and Florida. Environmental groups, who are watching the permitting bill and Proposition 45.

How to use it

Treat the page as a map of the debate rather than a product. It links the underlying articles, so a reader can follow a thread such as the NDA commitments, the Sierra Club emissions analysis, the permitting bill or a single state's fight. For anyone dealing with a local project, the NDA item shows what OpenAI now says it will and will not keep confidential: legitimate security information, trade secrets, and proprietary or competitively sensitive information.

How solid is it

The page is a Verge roundup that mixes its own reporting with summaries of outside coverage from NBC News, Bloomberg, The Guardian, NPR and others. The poll figure comes from NBC News and the emissions figures from a Sierra Club analysis, and both are attributed that way. Several election outcomes are described as projected by NBC News, while another item calls Hinojosa and El-Sayed 'Governor-elect' and 'Senator-elect', so final results are not set out on the page. The NDA announcement is dated only as following this week's midterms.

Risks and caveats

The Sierra Club's 42 percent figure is conditional: it says the sector 'could' emit that much if it builds more fossil fuel infrastructure, and the 618 million tons assumes planned AI projects are constructed. The Verge's view that OpenAI is gambling on a quiet rebrand to 'compute campuses' is its own characterization, not a company statement. The page does not say which Democratic leaders want further restrictions or what those would be, and it reports only NDA commitments from Amazon and OpenAI, not any reversal of projects. The permitting bill cuts both ways: it could speed clean energy and lower utility bills, but critics say it limits oversight.

“only narrow protections covering legitimate security information, trade secrets, or proprietary or competitively sensitive information.”

— OpenAI, describing the NDA protections it will still allow, as quoted by The Verge