To beat China in AI, America must work with communities — not around them

To preserve America’s national security and economic competitiveness against foreign adversaries, the United States must lead the artificial intelligence (AI) era.

But, the infrastructure necessary to maintain that edge is increasingly being questioned. More than 200 communities have enacted data center moratoriums or similar restrictions, a growing number of states are imposing or considering pauses, and dozens of high-profile data center projects have slowed or stopped across the country.

Certainly, local communities have legitimate questions about this buildout. Who pays for the new electricity and infrastructure? What happens to local water supplies? How will noise, light and large industrial facilities affect nearby neighborhoods? And what will communities receive in return? Those questions deserve and must have honest answers.

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But at the same time, America must keep building its data center infrastructure. AI is the most transformative technology of the past 100 years, one that is already driving roughly a third of U.S. economic growth. What we build, or don’t build, today will help determine whether America leads the AI era or falls behind China.

We need a better way forward. An “American AI Infrastructure Compact” can protect communities while giving responsible projects a predictable path to construction. Four key protections include:

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• Protection for ratepayers and taxpayers. Developers agree to pay their energy costs and the project-driven infrastructure costs required to serve them, rather than shifting those costs to families and businesses.
• Protection for local resources. Projects responsibly manage water use, siting, noise, light, and other local impacts while planning for or bringing the power they require.
• Transparency and accountability. Communities get meaningful information about energy and water use, a voice early enough for their input to matter and assurance that commitments can be measured and enforced.
• Measurable local benefits. Major investments should expand local tax bases, create workforce and career opportunities, and deliver tangible benefits where they are built.

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Communities have every right to demand responsible development from companies making enormous investments. The goal should be to secure those protections without turning away the jobs, investment, and tax revenue responsible projects can bring.

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These commitments are not merely aspirational. One central element of this compact — protecting ratepayers — is already taking shape. In March 2026, America’s largest data center developers signed the national Ratepayer Protection Pledge, committing to build, bring or buy the power their data centers need and cover the cost of the infrastructure required to deliver it. Since then, hundreds of utilities, developers and states have joined them in this pledge.

These arrangements can do more than shield existing customers from new costs. They can also spread fixed grid costs across a larger customer base and lower rates. In Indiana, a utility has proposed a rate reduction that would save the average household roughly $100 a year, citing revenue from data centers and other large customers. In Louisiana, agreements connected to Meta’s data center will return roughly $2.6 billion to customers over two decades. And NextEra Energy has proposed $2.25 billion in bill credits for customers in Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina as it prepares to meet a pipeline of more than 130 gigawatts of large-load demand, including data centers.

But a compact has two sides. These four protections above define what communities should expect from developers. When a project meets those standards, government owes something in return: a clear and predictable path to approval and construction.

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That path requires government to set the rules before an application arrives, keep the goalposts in place, and approve projects that meet the standards after adequate review. That is how trust runs both ways. Communities know their protections will be enforced, and builders know that meeting the requirements allows them to move forward.

America has done this before. The interstate highway system stalled for years over disagreements about who paid for what. Progress came when the country settled on a durable cost-sharing framework that gave every party certainty. Big national ambitions require clear responsibilities and dependable rules.

That is the bargain America needs now: Communities get enforceable protections and measurable local benefits. Responsible builders get clear rules and a predictable path to construction. America gets the infrastructure it needs to lead the AI era. That is a win-win-win.