Salem Protest Sends Clear Message to Data Center Developers
Residents in Salem, Oregon, opposed Verrus’s plan for a $5.1 billion data center, turning up at a public hearing with a guillotine prop to voice their concerns. Company reps left early citing safety fears, while locals pressed questions about NDA secrecy and the project’s lack of details on water and power use. The city council responded with measures to ban non-disclosure agreements with developers, form a data center task force, and implement a 120-day moratorium on new data center projects, signaling increased community influence over such developments.