Amazon says it has stopped using NDAs with government agencies

Amazon Web Services CEO Matt Garman says the company no longer uses nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) with government agencies on data center projects. He made the statement in a blog post defending data centers amid community opposition.

Garman said more than 100 data center moratoriums are being considered across the United States. New York has announced a one-year pause on permits for large data centers. He argued that concerns about water, electricity costs, pollution and local benefits are based on misconceptions.

Citing an Amazon report, Garman said direct data center water consumption accounts for 0.5% of U.S. industrial water use. The article notes that this figure does not include water used to generate electricity or manufacture chips. Garman also said electricity rates have risen in some states with many data centers, but fallen or grown more slowly in others. An independent watchdog recently attributed a 76% year-over-year price increase on the country’s largest electrical grid mainly to data centers.

A planned Amazon data center in Texas is permitted to emit 33 million tons of carbon dioxide per year. Garman said data center generators are idle 99.9% of the time and run roughly 10 hours per year, mostly for maintenance testing. He added that Amazon has contributed more than $1 billion to U.S. communities where it has a significant data center presence over the past three years. The claims come amid continued public skepticism about the industry.