Mark Cuban publishes a 10-point checklist for US towns negotiating data centers: ‘What to require before saying yes’

Now, billionaire Mark Cuban is stepping in with his own plan to help communities level the playing field with tech giants building data centers across the country.

“A data center can bring construction employment, tax base and infrastructure investment,” he wrote on X. “It can also impose demands on electricity, water, public services and nearby neighborhoods that last for decades and outlive the equipment inside.”

In a 10-point checklist titled “A town’s first data center: what to require before saying yes,” Cuban offered a roadmap for communities to negotiate development while protecting their resources, wallets and futures.

Cuban’s playbook: get answers — and protections — before developers break ground

With worldwide data center spending projected to top $7 trillion in the coming years, Cuban’s checklist boils down to key points that fit into his stated “basic rule” that “every important promise needs a stated limit, a reliable way to check it, a responsible party with money behind it and a practical response when it is broken.”

He starts by suggesting that, prior to any agreements, each town should “retain a land use and utility lawyer, plus independent engineering, acoustical, hydrological, and financial advisers as needed,” paid for by the data center developer, if the state allows, to conduct research and deliver their findings.

As well, towns should ensure the proposed site works for the full data center buildout, including its proximity to schools, homes, hospitals, etc., and its impact on resources, utilities, farmland and emergency services before anyone breaks ground.

“A community payment cannot cure an unacceptable physical impact,” he explained. “If the site is wrong, no number fixes it.”

Cuban also advised that towns set water usage limits, “require a drought operating plan before approval” and install metering for audits of the amounts used. He also suggested employing an independent acoustical engineer to establish existing noise levels “and model the full campus under demanding operating conditions.” He adds to “require an engineered corrective plan on a deadline” if acceptable noise levels are exceeded.

As well, he offered advice on establishing safeguards related to air quality and electricity bills; negotiating public returns on taxes, costs and other financial protections; how to arrange permits, agreements, regulatory findings, land obligations and “project-specific limits”; and approving the project in stages while requiring “a closure plan covering equipment removal, hazardous materials, site stabilization and unpaid public obligations.”

Cuban closed by saying that “Before the final vote, the town should be able to tell residents in plain language: what will be built, what it will consume, what the public receives, what happens if it fails, who enforces the agreement and who pays to take it down.” Without answers to every one of those questions, he added, “resolve it before granting the approval that spends the last of the town’s leverage.”

Cuban didn’t immediately respond to Moneywise’s request for comment.

Data center backlash is spreading, putting billions under fresh scrutiny

Cuban’s list follows guidance provided by others like the Bipartisan Policy Center, which released “Key Considerations for Data Center Development” in July covering community quality of life, energy and resource protections, transparency and economic development.

Yet some locales with existing data centers are pushing back, with the Wall Street Journal reporting that “legislators or governors in more than 10 states have paused or canceled tax exemptions for data centers amid a backlash against the facilities” — including those belonging to Alphabet, Amazon and Meta. Neither of the three replied to Moneywise’s request for comment.