The Largest Data Centers Planned in Rural Counties

In this edition of the Rural Index, I wanted to explore a hypothesis that my colleague Julia Tilton and I have been throwing around over the last few weeks: Are data center developers targeting vulnerable and marginalized communities, where they know residents are not as likely to have the power to fight back? As is the case with most good hypotheses, I wasn’t able to come to a definitive conclusion. But I did uncover some trends that seem to confirm our suspicions. Although some small towns have successfully fought off data center developers, our reporting at the Yonder suggests that rural communities often have fewer resources to negotiate deals or manage the consequences of a data center closure.