Humans First Data Center Policy

America First. Communities First. People First.

Humans First supports American innovation and technological leadership. But the development of AI must put Americans First, and the massive expansion of AI data centers cannot come at the expense of American families, farmers, communities, and taxpayers.

Our Principles

• Local Control

  Data centers must be sited with meaningful local input and local control. Local communities must retain the authority to welcome or reject projects through their zoning and land-use processes. We oppose federal or state efforts to strip communities of that authority, including imposing a federal data center moratorium.

• Communities Should Benefit

  Any new data centers should benefit communities that choose to have them, through local jobs and increased tax revenue that can allow tax cuts or local dividends.

• Protect Ratepayers

  Families and small businesses should not pay higher electric bills to subsidize Big Tech. Data centers should pay the full cost of the power generation, transmission, grid upgrades, and infrastructure they require, and communities should not be left holding the bill if a project walks away.

• Protect Water

  Communities have a right to know how much water data centers will use, both directly for cooling and indirectly through electricity generation. Families, farms, and existing communities must come first when water is scarce.

• Protect Farmland

  Prime agricultural land should not be unnecessarily converted into massive industrial campuses. Farmland is a strategic American resource that should be protected.

• No Eminent Domain

  Private property should never be taken primarily for the benefit of private data center development or the infrastructure built principally to serve it.

• No Corporate Welfare

  The world’s wealthiest technology companies should not receive blank-check tax breaks and subsidies while taxpayers and ratepayers shoulder the costs. Any incentives must be transparent and tied to enforceable benefits for the community.

• Full Transparency

  Before approval, communities deserve to know the project’s end user, electricity demand, water use, land requirements, infrastructure costs, tax incentives, permanent jobs, and environmental impacts. Elected officials should not sign NDAs that keep material project information from the public, and approvals should not be rushed before communities understand the impacts.

• Protect Grid Reliability

  Data centers should not jeopardize reliable, affordable electricity for existing customers. New large loads must bring or pay for the generation and infrastructure necessary to serve them.

• Protect Our Way of Life

  Data center projects should address significant noise and air-pollution impacts and preserve the quality of life of surrounding communities.

• No Mass Surveillance

  American data centers must not be used to carry out unconstitutional surveillance of the American people by companies or the government.

• No Foreign Adversaries

  America’s critical data center infrastructure must not be controlled by foreign adversaries or used to advance their interests. Data centers must know their customers and protect against data theft. American data centers should strengthen our national security, not create new vulnerabilities for our country.

• Americans Come First

  When electricity, water, land, or other essential resources are constrained, American families, farms, hospitals, and communities must take priority. Foreign labor should not be used in data center construction.