Data center developers often target tribal lands for rich resources and less oversight

The Muscogee (Creek) Nation's Mound building, which houses the National 
Council. (Photo by Amanda Rutland, Muscogee Nation, ZUMA)

Tech companies seeking sprawling lands for hyperscale data centers often zero in on tribal lands. "Companies attempting to construct data centers on Indigenous lands likely see it as an opportunity not just to access large plots of land, but also to use tribal sovereignty to bypass cumbersome state regulations that tribes don’t have to follow," reports Cheyenne McNeill for Mother Jones.

Some generative AI developers may see Native Americans as easy targets to ply with promises of good-paying jobs and improved economics. "Activists say those benefits rarely materialize," McNeill explains. "Instead, data centers bring a threat of land loss and displacement that feels all too familiar for Indigenous people."

According to Honor the Earth, a national organization that "has been leading the fight against data centers, there are currently at least 106 proposed data center projects near or on Native lands," McNeill writes. "In western New York, a proposed $19.46 billion data center project would sit adjacent to the Tonawanda Seneca Nation’s territory, threatening an old forest that tribal citizens use for hunting, fishing, and gathering traditional medicine."

Because many tribes don’t have the "legal codes or regulatory bodies in place yet to regulate utilities," data center operators would have far less oversight during all stages of a build and then after, McNeill explains. "Tribal nations also need to consider whether they will be able to hold companies responsible for harm or depleted resources on their lands and whether they’ll have oversight of data centers."

Money comes into play as well. Data center developers and owners have plenty of it, and tribes often don't, which can make it hard for tribal nations to pursue litigation if developers and owners don't keep their promises.

Activists and tribal leaders want their members to remember that what happens on their land should reflect their tribe's values. McNeill writes, "One of those calls came from James Floyd, the Muscogee Nation’s former Principal Chief, who said every aspect of [his tribe's] data center proposal seemed in opposition to traditional Muscogee values."