Image: Former sheriff’s deputy Shannon McManus looks out over the data center project construction site in Boyce, La., last month. He’s one of the local residents who has objected to nondisclosure agreements that kept negotiations for the project from the public. Jay Marcano for NPR

Drew Hawkins of NPR reports: “Eric Bonds is a professor and environmental sociologist at the University of Mary Washington in Virginia. He and his research partner found that NDAs were used in at least 25 of 31 data center projects they surveyed there last year. He said NDAs seem to be “standard practice.”

“After we published our research,” Bonds said, “we heard back from reporters and activists kind of around the country from Arizona, Indiana, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania.”

Companies and local officials who sign nondisclosure agreements say they’re needed to protect corporate secrets and to negotiate freely. But experts say they also give data center developers an edge as they move from county to county — in this case, parish to parish — seeking the best deals…”

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