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The new price of a data center moving in

Data centers are facing growing opposition, but new community deals could give residents a bigger share of the economic benefits

Brandon Bell/Getty Images

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People really hate AI data centers. A recent poll found two-thirds of Americans don’t want them in their communities. Moratoriums are happening from New York to Texas. Tech leaders like Elon Musk are suggesting putting them in space, which, while possible, is a very expensive hassle.

The communities that continue to allow them, if they play their cards right, are about to get a payday.

The tool doing that work is the community benefit agreement, a negotiated deal that directs some of a project's economic benefits back into the community hosting it.

Community benefit agreements have been used for years in renewable energy development, and community benefits plans became a required part of major Department of Energy funding under the Biden administration, according to Lauren Keeler, an Arizona State University professor who studies innovation policy. Data centers, though, were mostly built without them until public opposition caught up with the industry's........

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