What was promised.What was kept.

Promises are made in months. Data centers run for decades.

A data center's commitments are usually set in a few months of public hearings, often in a community benefits agreement or in the conditions of a zoning approval. The facility then operates for twenty years or more, and often changes owners along the way.

Few counties have the staff to check water reports, noise levels and payments for that long. When commitments go unchecked, trust erodes, and the next community is more likely to fight a project outright.

How it works

The approach we are developing is deliberately simple.

1. List every commitment

   Turn an agreement and its approval conditions into a clear list of specific commitments, each with its source, its measure and its due date.

2. Gather the evidence

   Check each commitment against public records, required reports and independent data such as utility records and noise readings.

3. Rate it plainly

   Give every commitment the same status and say how strong the evidence is: independently measured, official records, or self-reported only.

4. Publish it

   Share findings with the county and the developer first, publish their responses alongside, and make the results public for anyone to use.

One scale for every commitment

A noise limit and a school payment can't be measured the same way, but both can answer the same question: was it kept?

• MetThe commitment was kept, and the evidence shows it.
• Partly metSome of it was kept, or it was kept late.
• MissedThe evidence shows it was not kept.
• Not yet dueThe deadline or trigger hasn't arrived.
• UnverifiableThere's no reliable evidence either way. That is a finding in itself, and a sign the agreement needs clearer terms.

Principles

Verification is only useful if both sides trust it.

• We work for host communities and their local governments, never for developers or operators.
• Findings can't be bought or softened. Every finding cites its evidence.
• Developers and counties get a fair chance to respond, and their responses are published with the finding.
• We don't campaign for or against projects. We report whether commitments are kept.
• We will disclose who funds our work.

About

Plain Promise is an independent project led by Morgan Van Wely, an operator and organizer based in Washington, DC, with a long background in information technology.

We are starting with data centers in Maryland and Virginia, home to Northern Virginia, the largest data center market in the world, because the commitments being made there now will shape communities for decades.