Companies racing to build data centers face a growing reputational problem: communities are asking tougher questions about the resources those facilities consume and what residents get in return.

Concerns about electricity demand, water use, land, utility costs and noise have turned data center projects into reputational decisions, according to Gallup polling. The push-and-pull reflects a problem developers face across the United States.

For communicators, the answer is not explaining AI infrastructure better to avoid backlash, said Gregg Feistman, professor of practice in public relations at Temple University.

"The problem is the execution," he said. "Companies haven't invested enough in relationships with the communities where they are building data centers."

If communications teams join the conversation only after a project moves toward approval, they may have little ability to address the issues driving opposition, he said.

Get comms involved before plans are set in stone

Feistman said pushback grows when organizations do not understand what residents care about.

"It comes down to the developers and the AI labs planting a building on a lot of land without asking the local communities, 'What are your concerns?'" he said.

Shrita Hernandez, a communications executive focused on crisis communications, public trust and institutional reputation — and a speaker at Ragan's Future of Communications Conference this fall — said communications needs to be involved before a company reaches that point.

Communicators can help balance the business case with community concerns. Their role is not to make the project seem more appealing.

"Their job is not to persuade a community to accept the business case," Hernandez said. "It's to help the leaders understand that the business case is incomplete if it ignores the conditions under which the project must operate."

That means comms teams need to bring stakeholder questions into planning meetings. How much water will the facility use? What will its electricity demand be? Could residents pay more for power? What infrastructure will need upgrading? How will land use change? What happens during a drought or power shortage? How many permanent jobs will remain after construction?

"Those are substantive concerns," she said. "They're not messaging problems."

If a project creates a legitimate cost or risk for residents, PR cannot solve it with a stronger narrative, Hernandez said. Comms can, however, make sure leadership understands the concern while there is still time to change the plan.

Map the people who can affect the project

Hernandez said teams should scenario plan before opposition becomes organized. For a data center, this means examining how the project could unfold and identifying the groups that could influence the outcome.

"Who are the influencers?" she said. "Who are the people that you're going to have to have structured, clear, direct, open and ongoing conversations with?"

Those groups might include residents, elected officials, utilities, environmental organizations, business groups and employees who live nearby, she said.

Communicators should work with these groups or other front-facing teams to identify who has already built trust and who holds the most influence. A stakeholder map should exist before the company needs public support, Hernandez said.

A town hall needs to involve actual listening

Companies also need more direct engagement with residents, Feistman said.

"If you want to reduce (their) concern, be open and honest with it," he said. "Have the town hall meetings, have more than one, and listen to the communities and what their concerns are."

Pennsylvania now requires community outreach early enough to allow meaningful public input on major design decisions, under an executive order signed by Governor Shapiro. That differs from holding a meeting after decisions have already been made, Feistman said.

A comms team should also be able to show what happens after residents raise concerns, he said. Did the company change how it will handle water? Did it add noise mitigation? Can it explain who will pay for grid improvements?

Use feedback to determine where transparency or mitigation is needed and what the company is genuinely willing to change, Hernandez said.

"And if the answer is nothing, communicators shouldn't manufacture community trust or the perfect message," she said.

Give leadership the information it may not have

This is where communications can have the most influence, Feistman said. Comms teams often have access to information that engineers, developers or executives lack: local sentiment, media coverage, community history, stakeholder relationships and the language people use to describe the project. Use these insights to help leaders connect the dots for their communities in language that shows understanding and transparency.

"I think our job (as communicators) is still to speak truth to power," Feistman said. "Let's just not announce that we can do it. Let's announce why, what it's for, what the concerns are. Give the whole context to whatever it is you're talking about."

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Source: PR Daily (https://www.prdaily.com/the-problem-is-the-execution-the-role-of-comms-in-the-data-center-controversy/) / Source: news.gallup.com (https://news.gallup.com/poll/709772/americans-oppose-data-centers-area.aspx)