OpenAI publishes National Community Compact and Compute Campus Policy Blueprint, pledging to pay power costs and drop NDAs
OpenAI pledged on November 5 to pay power and grid costs for its data centers and drop site-selection NDAs, after midterm voters rejected most such measures.
OpenAI published two documents on November 5 — a National Community Compact and a Compute Campus Policy Blueprint — promising that every data center campus it owns and operates will pay the full cost of its electricity and the incremental costs of the grid infrastructure needed to serve it, and that it will stop asking public officials to sign nondisclosure agreements during site-selection talks. Both files sit under a Global Affairs post titled “Setting a new standard for responsible AI infrastructure,” with the PDFs downloadable in full. The timing is exact: midterm ballots finished counting on November 4, and per 404 Media’s tally voters rejected at least 38 of the 40-plus data-center measures across 13 states — a vote we tallied yesterday.
Key points
- Money: per the Compact PDF, OpenAI pays “the full cost of the electricity we use” and “the incremental costs of the infrastructure required to serve our sites,” plus financial assurances posted before major spending so other customers are protected if a project is delayed, reduced, or canceled (November 5).
- Openness: no more NDAs with public officials — carve-outs only for security information, trade secrets, and competitively sensitive material.
- Law, not just PR: the Blueprint asks state utility commissions to create large-load tariffs that make big users pay incremental grid costs, and concedes that “those commitments are an important starting point, but voluntary measures alone don’t meet the scale of this moment or provide durable confidence to communities.”
Background
The compact lands on a backlash line this site has tracked for months. Data Center Watch put roughly $198 billion in delayed or shelved data-center projects in the first half of 2026 (our data centers as a midterm issue entry has the numbers), and on November 4 we counted the ballot results: at least 38 of 40-plus measures rejected across 13 states, six cities voting for outright bans, and Texas Governor Greg Abbott — the industry’s most prominent champion — losing his reelection bid. CNBC’s November 5 read of Ballotpedia is narrower but points the same way: 41 local measures in 10 states, and restriction backers won all but one.
The industry saw this coming. Axios reported on November 1 that OpenAI planned a post-election campaign to reframe data centers as “AI compute campuses”; Amazon and Microsoft had already dropped NDAs in local negotiations. OpenAI’s own build-up ran on the same schedule: Stargate community commitments on January 20, then the Grid Protectors peak-shaving program on November 2. The Compact is the third step on that ladder.
The facts
The Compact’s scope is precise: it covers “every campus we own and operate.” Clause by clause, checked against the official page and the Compact PDF:
| Compact clause | What it says |
|---|---|
| Power and grid | Pay the full cost of electricity used plus the incremental cost of infrastructure needed to serve campuses |
| Financial promises | Posted before major spending; protect other customers if a project is delayed, reduced, or canceled |
| NDAs | None with public officials; narrow carve-outs for security, trade secrets, competitive information |
| Water | A per-campus water plan prioritizing closed-loop or low-water cooling; site-level use published |
| Noise | Construction plans and independent noise studies published before operations, then annually |
| Community | Early resident input, a standing local point of contact, annual public progress reports |
| Jobs | Expected roles published, unions and training providers involved, annual hiring data |
Two pilots already carry numbers. In Effingham County, Georgia, the Project Camellia agreement with Georgia Power covers 3.2 GW phased from 2028 to 2032, and the utility can curtail up to 1,000 MW at peak; OpenAI has committed $80 million to the county, including a $4.8 million grant that funds free school meals for all 14,000 students. In Pike County, Ohio (the PORTS-Pike project), OpenAI and SB Energy have committed $6 million to childcare; per Reuters, the southern Ohio facility is expected to bring 2,500 long-term jobs at an average of $80,000 a year.
The Blueprint’s legislative list: state utility commissions adopt large-load tariffs that make major users pay incremental grid costs, with public cost-allocation explanations; voluntary demand-flexibility programs (curtailment, on-site generation and storage); faster federal permitting and clearer FERC authority to expedite grid connections for ready-to-build projects; reinstated technology-neutral clean-electricity tax incentives; and discretionary tax breaks with public terms, measurable commitments, reporting, and clawbacks.
What others say
Chris Lehane, OpenAI’s chief global affairs officer, is the compact’s main narrator. “What we’re doing with this blueprint is really laying out the best lessons that we have learned and committing to applying them as they go forward,” he told CNBC, adding, “This will help ensure that there is a very high floor in terms of how people move forward.” He said the blueprint has been in the works since August, that he met dozens of lawmakers and candidates along the way, and that starting these conversations before the new Congress convenes in late January “actually helps put more energy into the momentum.” Per Reuters, he framed old-style facilities as “black boxes” in remote pastures contributing little local economic value, and argued new campuses keep creating jobs because their hardware turns over every three to five years.
Bloomberg’s headline put the framing plainly: OpenAI is changing how it handles data-center efforts “after outcry.” The opposition camp has not been won over. Local Progress, the network of local officials, said on election night — as we quoted the day after — that people “don’t want to see data centers in their backyards” and warned that tech companies would move on to “buying off and pressuring local officials.” The compact landed less than 48 hours after polls closed.
Our take
For anyone building or financing data centers, the variable that just moved is who pays for power. Grid-upgrade costs for hyperscale campuses have routinely been socialized into local rates — the single hottest point of community anger, and high on the list of voter worries CNBC cited on November 5. The biggest spender in the industry has now promised to internalize that cost, which makes the old ledger hard to defend for anyone who follows. The motive is checkable too: OpenAI told investors in February that it targets roughly $600 billion in total compute spend by 2030 (CNBC), and money on that scale needs communities to say yes.
Two reservations. First, scope: the Compact covers owned-and-operated campuses only, and a large share of OpenAI’s compute lands through leases and partners those clauses don’t touch. Second, everything here is voluntary — the Blueprint itself admits voluntary measures alone can’t provide durable confidence to communities, so the real test is legislation in a Congress that convenes in late January and in statehouses after that. The noise clause is the most direct check: SpaceX was just reported to be buying homes near its Mississippi Colossus site on the condition that owners drop out of a noise lawsuit (we covered that buyout on November 4). Whether independent noise assessments prevent the next Southaven will show up in next year’s reports.
What to watch
Three dated things. The new Congress convenes in late January — whether the first AI hearings pick up Blueprint clauses is the first signal. In 2027, the first annual community progress reports and noise studies for Effingham and Pike come due, and compliance can be checked against documents. And across state legislative sessions, whether large-load tariffs and incentive clawbacks become law decides if this compact hardens into rules or stays a press layer.