OMITTED

What the news leaves out.

← Omitted front page

OpenAI Adjusts Data Center Plans After Midterms

11 sources · updated 2026-11-07
Left 82% Center 18% Right 0%
9 left · 2 center · 0 right

What happened

Voters this week backed restrictions or rejected pro-development proposals in 40 of 41 local ballot measures on AI data centers across 10 states, according to Ballotpedia and CNBC; Axios counted the results as 43-1, with average support for restrictions near 75 percent. On Thursday, two days after the vote, OpenAI published a Compute Campus Policy Blueprint and community commitments, saying that at facilities it owns and operates it will pay the full cost of electricity and related infrastructure, largely stop using nondisclosure agreements with public officials, solicit community input, and report water and energy use. Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, Google, and Anthropic have issued overlapping pledges on grid costs, transparency, and local investment. OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar said Friday the company will keep raising capital and building infrastructure to meet customer demand. Meta president Dina Powell McCormick said the election outcomes will make data-center construction harder and that the industry has not done enough to explain the projects' benefits.
Sourcing check · Mostly on the record · 11 articles

9 of 10 articles cite a named source for the story. It was on the record from the first report.

What these terms mean and how they're counted
On the record · names a source 9 of 10
On the record means the article cites a source by name for the story's main claim: a person, or an institution speaking officially, such as a company statement or a named agency's spokesperson. The opposite is an unnamed source. The count is how many of the counted articles cite at least one such source; the names are everyone named across them, each once however the articles spell it. Here: Shaolei Ren, Christopher Wellise, Ballotpedia, OpenAI, Chris Lehane and Sarah Friar
Primary evidence · cites a document or data 0 of 10
Primary evidence means the article cites a record you could check yourself: a court filing or ruling, a dataset or report, a recording or transcript, an official statement or press release, market data. A quote is not a document. The count is how many articles cite one. Here: None cited.
Credits another outlet 0 of 10
The article says the story comes from another outlet's reporting (“first reported by Reuters”). Those articles relay the story; they are not independent confirmation. Here: Each article presents its own reporting.
Unnamed sources 0 of 10
The main claim is attributed to people who are not identified: “people familiar with the matter”, “officials said”. The count is how many articles do this.
How it developed
When the first report landed and whether it named anyone; when the first named source and the first document appeared. Here: First report Nov 5, 10:30 UTC by Axios, naming its source.
Not counted 1
Opinion, analysis and video pieces, and articles too short to assess. Every count above is out of the counted articles. An article republished under a new headline is one article.
This is about who is cited, not whether the story is true. Each source below says what it names. How we count
ONE-SIDED THIS WEEK. Only left-leaning outlets have covered this story in the last two days; Fox Business reported it on 2026-11-05.
Omitted — what each side leaves out

Unpacked

Right-leaning outlets have not covered the story. Left-leaning coverage reports voters passed limits on AI data centers in 40 of 41 local measures and that OpenAI answered with a community-input blueprint and a promise to cover its power costs. Those outlets disagree on NDAs: CNBC describes a halt, while Business Insider says the framework would "narrow, but not eliminate" those agreements. A reader of the silent side misses the vote and that split. Left-leaning coverage also splits its lead. One CNBC account opens on how hard it is to measure a site's water use and on cooling trade-offs between water and power. The OpenAI stories open on the election result and on a policy blueprint aimed at local officials. None of the coverage says whether those pledges will be written into the restrictions voters just passed, or remain company promises.
Bottom line

CNBC presents OpenAI as halting NDAs with public officials; Business Insider presents the same blueprint as only narrowing them. Right-leaning outlets have not reported the 40-of-41 data-center votes or those pledges.

The receipts — 3 facts one side's coverage lacks
  • OpenAI's policy proposal would narrow, but not eliminate, the circumstances in which developers can require public officials to sign NDAs official statementin Business Insider · absent from right-leaning coverage
  • A 1-gigawatt AI data center can consume up to 10 million gallons of water per day numberin CNBC · absent from right-leaning coverage
  • A Senate report found major tech companies are not covering the full infrastructure costs of their data centers and continue using NDAs official statementin Axios · absent from right-leaning coverage
The Left View
Left-leaning outlets including CNBC, The Verge, and Business Insider/Politico present the vote as a broad, bipartisan rebuke of rapid AI infrastructure expansion, driven by concerns over water, electricity bills, environmental impact, jobs, and secretive deals. They highlight OpenAI's rebrand of data centers as compute campuses, its retreat from NDAs, and similar moves by Amazon and others, while CNBC reports that water-use claims are hard to verify because operators typically disclose companywide rather than site-level figures and that closed-loop cooling still requires large peak withdrawals on hot days. Axios, a center outlet, frames the industry response as a scramble to salvage a multi-trillion-dollar buildout with cash, school and city benefits, environmental concessions, and labor protections, noting that about 60 percent of planned 2028 U.S. capacity faces delay risk and that construction is expected to slow but not stop. Coverage also records that some newly elected officials campaigned on moratoriums, ending tax breaks, and requiring developers to supply their own power, and that a recent Senate report found major firms were not covering full infrastructure costs and were still seeking tax breaks and using NDAs.
Our Take (balanced)
The story is substantive: it rests on tabulated local election results, named executives speaking on the record, and published company policy documents, not a single anonymous claim. Established facts are the near-sweep of restrictive ballot measures, OpenAI's Thursday blueprint and NDA and cost pledges, parallel public commitments from other large developers, and the Friar and Powell McCormick comments. Still unproven is whether voluntary pledges will become binding law, whether firms will in practice cover full grid and water costs, and how much planned capacity will actually be delayed. No right-leaning outlet has reported this. Watch next for the full text of OpenAI's blueprint and local compact language, state bills converting pledges into statutes, utility dockets on cost allocation, site-level water and power disclosures, and official responses from incoming governors and congressional committees.

11 sources

More stories

The week's bottom lines, in your inbox

One email a week: the five stories that mattered and what they actually mean. Free.