Stranded Asset Risk
A data center proposal may be presented as a long-term investment, but communities should still ask what happens if the project changes, stalls, downsizes, sells, or shuts down.
The public should not be left with unused infrastructure, damaged roads, vacant industrial buildings, unpaid obligations, or cleanup costs.
Why This Matters
Large industrial projects can require:
- Road upgrades
- Utility extensions
- Water and sewer planning
- Electrical substations
- Transmission upgrades
- Emergency-service preparation
- Site grading
- Stormwater infrastructure
- Public staff time
- Tax incentives or development agreements
If the project does not perform as promised, the community may still be left with the impacts.
Questions the Community Should Ask
- What happens if the project is never completed?
- What happens if only Phase 1 is built?
- What happens if the facility is sold?
- What happens if the operator files bankruptcy?
- What happens if the technology becomes obsolete?
- What happens if projected power demand does not materialize?
- Who removes abandoned equipment?
- Who restores the site?
- Who pays for unused infrastructure?
- Are public incentives protected by clawback provisions?
Infrastructure Risk
Communities should know whether public infrastructure is being expanded specifically to serve the project.
That includes:
- Roads
- Water lines
- Sewer connections
- Electrical infrastructure
- Emergency-response capacity
- Stormwater systems
If public resources are being committed, the developer should be financially responsible if the project fails to deliver.
Ownership Changes
Data center properties may be sold, leased, refinanced, or transferred between companies.
Approval conditions should survive ownership changes.
The town should require that all obligations apply to:
- Current owner
- Future owners
- Operators
- Tenants
- Parent companies
- Successors and assigns
Decommissioning
Before approval, the developer should provide a decommissioning plan explaining what happens when the facility closes.
That plan should address:
- Removal of servers and equipment
- Removal of batteries and fuel systems
- Removal or safe closure of cooling systems
- Disposal of chemicals
- Removal of obsolete electrical infrastructure
- Site cleanup
- Stormwater stabilization
- Building reuse or demolition
- Long-term monitoring if contamination is found
Financial Guarantees
Promises are not enough.
The community should require financial protections such as:
- Decommissioning bond
- Environmental remediation bond
- Road repair bond
- Parent-company guarantee
- Insurance requirements
- Clawback provisions for incentives
- Performance milestones
- Penalties for failure to complete agreed protections
The Core Demand
A large data center should not be approved unless the developer proves that the community will be protected if the project changes, fails, closes, or leaves.
Public risk should not outlast private profit.