Data center non-disclosure agreements broad, secretive

Nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) have become a pervasive tool in Arkansas to keep details of data center projects, including their impact on public resources, from public view. Reporters attempting to gather information on planned data centers in cities like West Memphis and Little Rock were met with refusals, citing NDAs signed by city or chamber of commerce officials. For example, West Memphis Economic Development Director Ward Wimbish signed an NDA with Google, the company developing a $4 billion data center campus in the city, which broadly defined "confidential information" and included a clause requiring the city to assert all legally relevant Freedom of Information Act exemptions. Similar agreements exist for projects involving Willowbend Capital LLC in Little Rock and Forgelight Ventures LLC in Conway. Often, these NDAs are signed by private local chambers of commerce, which then act as economic development consultants for cities, effectively circumventing state open government laws. Pat Garafalo, director of state and local policy at the American Economic Liberties Project, criticized the practice, calling it "extremely problematic" from both an economic and democratic standpoint. He argued that the immense water and electricity demands of data centers, coupled with their relatively low job creation, warrant greater public scrutiny than is afforded by these secretive pacts. Critics contend that this city-chamber arrangement is a "particularly cynical" way to avoid public disclosure on projects that significantly impact public goods.