Former sheriff’s deputy Shannon McManus is among Boyce, Louisiana residents objecting to nondisclosure agreements that kept negotiations for a major local data center project hidden from the public, according to NPR. The data center was one of the largest economic development deals in recent local history; its terms were negotiated under NDA between local officials and the developer before the public knew the project existed. When residents learned about the terms — including land use, tax incentives, water use, and employment commitments — they had limited ability to participate in the decision.

WHY NDAS IN DATA CENTER DEALS 

The NDA-driven secrecy pattern in data center development is not unique to Boyce. ONYX covered the same pattern at the national level: AI infrastructure buildout is creating a specific incentive structure where large technology companies negotiate site selection privately, securing tax incentives and land use agreements before the host community knows what it’s agreeing to. The specific reasons companies request NDAs:

▸  Competitive intelligence: knowing where a major tech company is building its next data center is commercially valuable; NDAs prevent competitors from learning site selection before commitments are made

▸  Negotiating position: public knowledge of the deal allows community advocates to organize opposition and extract better terms; NDAs prevent this

▸  Speed: NDA-protected negotiations move faster than public processes; speed is valuable when multiple communities are competing for the same data center

THE COMMUNITY COST 

The community cost of NDA-protected data center negotiations is specific and documented in the Boyce case:

▸  Water use: large data centers consume significant water for cooling; Boyce residents who use the same water supply did not know the commitment being made to the developer

▸  Tax incentives: tax abatements for data centers reduce the local tax revenue available for schools and services; the scale of the abatement was not publicly disclosed before the agreement was reached

▸  Employment commitments: data centers are capital-intensive but not labor-intensive; the employment benefit to the community is often smaller than the economic development marketing implies

▸  Land use: the land committed to the data center may have had alternative uses the community would have preferred; the decision was made without public input

THE NATIONAL PATTERN 

Wisconsin and Ohio have both seen bipartisan data center moratorium campaigns in the current election cycle, driven by the same NDA and community transparency concerns documented in Boyce. The pattern: technology companies seek the combination of cheap land, tax incentives, and cooperative local officials that small communities often provide; they use NDAs to prevent community accountability from slowing the process; and communities learn the full terms only after commitment.

A town’s biggest economic deal in years was negotiated without the town knowing. By the time the residents found out, the deal was done. That is not a Boyce, Louisiana story. It is a national AI infrastructure story.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT 

▸  McManus and Boyce residents — whether they have legal standing to challenge any aspect of the NDA-protected agreement

▸  Louisiana state legislature — whether data center NDA transparency legislation is introduced

▸  Federal legislative action — bipartisan data center transparency bills have been introduced in several states; federal-level action is possible

▸  Data center moratoriums — whether communities in Wisconsin, Ohio, and elsewhere successfully implement moratoriums pending transparency requirements

CONFIDENCE: HIGH

Shannon McManus and Boyce Louisiana residents objecting to data center NDA, NPR reporting are from confirmed reporting. Data center NDA pattern (Wisconsin, Ohio moratoriums) is from established reporting on AI infrastructure development.

⚖️  BIAS CHECK — WHO IS SAYING WHAT
Boyce Residents (McManus)	Seeking accountability for a process that excluded community participation; their position is that the public interest requires public process
Data Center Developer	Sought NDA to protect competitive advantage and negotiating position; both are legitimate business interests, though their weight against public accountability is contested
Local Officials	Agreed to NDA as part of the negotiation; may have assessed the economic development benefit as worth the transparency cost
ONYX	Covering the transparency accountability dimension without taking a position on whether the specific data center deal is good or bad for Boyce

SOURCES

▸  NPR — Boyce Louisiana data center NDA transparency residents, August 29, 2026