Millions for housing projects, billions for data centers. Subsidy spending in the name of economic development is being called into question.
The tide is turning against taxpayer handouts to the developers of data centers.
Gov. Kathy Hochul made headlines recently in stating her opposition to them in New York, and she’s not alone. Governors in Nebraska, Arizona, Illinois, Oregon and Massachusetts have also acted to nix data center subsidies.
The case for subsidizing data center construction is weak at the best of times: Data centers don’t need many permanent workers, they create no knock-on economic development effects, they are often a net negative for their neighbors because of noise and aesthetics, and they have the potential to increase costs for water and electricity across entire states and regions if not managed correctly…