OpenAI Publishes Data Center Community Compact: Pays Its Own Power Bills, Discloses Water Use, Drops NDAs

What happened

The two documents came out two days after the Nov 3 midterm elections. According to reports, 40 of 41 local data-center restriction measures passed, and the governor-elects in Texas and Georgia favor pausing new data-center construction. OpenAI's post does not mention the election, calling the compact the next step after its January Stargate Community commitments, with specific commitments already made in Georgia and Ohio. Chief global affairs officer Chris Lehane told Axios on Nov 1 that a policy push would follow the election, and that AI would be the number-one issue of the 2028 presidential election.

The compact applies only to campuses OpenAI owns and operates. Each future campus gets its own local compact, shaped with residents' input, with a local point of contact and an annual public progress report. On energy, the company pledges to pay the full cost of the electricity it uses and the grid infrastructure needed to serve it, and to provide financial assurances before major spending so other customers are not left with the bill if a project is delayed, reduced or canceled. Each campus gets a water plan, with closed-loop or low-water cooling preferred in dry areas, and site-level water and electricity use, construction plans and independent noise studies are published. The company will not require public officials to sign NDAs as a condition for discussion or negotiation, with narrow exceptions for security information, trade secrets or proprietary information; it voided its NDAs in Effingham County, Georgia, in July. On jobs, each site publishes a workforce plan and reports hiring and apprenticeship figures each year, with local hiring targets where conditions allow.

The blueprint pushes the same set of rules toward legislation. It asks state utility commissions to make large electricity users cover the grid costs they add and to protect other customers if a project falls through; to bar developers from requiring officials to sign NDAs; to require public reporting on water, energy, noise and hiring; and to make tax-incentive deals public, with measurable commitments and a way to recover benefits if a developer falls short. Congress is asked to speed up transmission upgrades and restore and expand clean-electricity tax credits. Figures for the two named counties: Effingham County gets an $80 million commitment, including a $4.8 million grant for free school meals for all 14,000 students in the county and $2 million for a park; land-sale money plus a state grant has cut property tax by about 30% on average for qualifying homeowners, and OpenAI says it will pay at the old, higher rate; its deal with Georgia Power lets the utility cut up to 1,000 megawatts of supply to the campus at peak demand. Pike County gets a $40 million commitment, including $6 million for childcare shared with SB Energy; the company expects the campus to create 2,500 long-term jobs paying $80,000 a year on average and 26,000 construction jobs.

Key facts

1. Publisher and date: OpenAI, Nov 5, 2026; the National Community Compact and the Compute Campus Policy Blueprint
2. Scope: only campuses OpenAI owns and operates; each future campus gets its own local compact shaped with residents, with a local contact and an annual public report
3. Power bills: full payment of the electricity used and the grid infrastructure needed to serve it; financial assurances before major spending, so other customers are not left with the bill if a project is delayed, reduced or canceled
4. NDAs: no longer required of public officials as a condition for discussion or negotiation, with narrow exceptions for security information, trade secrets or proprietary information; NDAs in Effingham County were voided in July
5. Public figures: site-level water and electricity use, construction plans and independent noise studies are published; each campus gets a water plan, with closed-loop or low-water cooling preferred in dry areas
6. Jobs: each site publishes a workforce plan and reports hiring and apprenticeship figures each year, with local hiring targets where conditions allow
7. Effingham County: an $80 million commitment, including $4.8 million for free school meals for 14,000 students and $2 million for a park; the Georgia Power deal allows up to 1,000 megawatts to be cut at peak demand
8. Pike County: a $40 million commitment, including $6 million for childcare shared with SB Energy; the company expects 2,500 long-term jobs at $80,000 a year on average and 26,000 construction jobs
9. Blueprint's legislative asks: state utility commissions make large users cover added grid costs; developers barred from requiring NDAs; mandatory reporting on water, energy, noise and hiring; tax-incentive deals public with clawbacks; Congress to speed transmission upgrades and restore clean-electricity tax credits
10. Limits: the commitments are voluntary, checked by the company itself in annual reports; the documents do not say which existing sites count