Understand the evidence behind the view.

Different records answer different questions.

Facility catalog records, mapped buildings, reviewed reports and resource disclosures have different units, dates and coverage. Their counts must not be added together or interpreted as a complete census.

Facility catalog

1,748 data-center records from the Compute Atlas snapshot dated 2026-09-26, plus 4 separately attributed Eco TerraVault reviewed supplements. A record may describe a site, project or campus; campus and individual-site records can overlap. These are not unique physical-facility totals. Supplemental records preserve their identified premises, historical aliases and primary-source lifecycle evidence; they are not attributed to Compute Atlas.

Mapped buildings

1,237 mapped building records from the February 9, 2026 PNNL-led IM3 / OpenStreetMap snapshot, including one Puerto Rico record. The separate About-page map covers 1,236 buildings across the 50 states and D.C. Both are incomplete inventories, not verified operating-facility totals.

Reviewed reports

Selected evidence retains its date, geographic scope, source and limitations. A regional service event is not an individual building incident. Historical reports do not establish current unresolved problems, legal fault or comparative reliability.

The explorer covers 50 states, Washington, D.C., and five inhabited U.S. territories. U.S. Minor Outlying Islands are outside these source inventories. A zero means no matching record in the stated source and scope, not a verified absence. Generalized maps are not parcel, engineering or navigation data.

National context and public-record milestones.

The national context view compares dated inventories, pilot surveys and resource models by scope. These sources measure different quantities and do not form one combined national count.

The permitting and public-records view presents selected agency milestones. An application, permit, proposed order or accessibility review is not evidence of operating completion, measured emissions, available IT capacity or health effects. Its records are separate from catalog and community totals.

Above ground and underground: classify the evidence.

Above ground

A facility-specific source documents above-ground data-center space. Ancillary utilities may have a different setting.

Underground

A facility-specific source documents data-center space below grade, including a mine, cavern or bunker. Buried utilities alone are insufficient.

Mixed

Evidence explicitly documents both settings within the same record’s scope. Conflicting evidence alone does not justify this category.

Not classified

The record is unreviewed, ambiguous or insufficiently documented. Missing evidence never defaults to above ground.

Classified examples are a targeted research sample, not a representative census. Setting is separate from lifecycle, safety, sustainability and performance. A proposed design is not a completed facility; a review date is not a site inspection.

Operational, under construction, permitted, proposed and cancelled retain their source-reported meaning. Status unconfirmed preserves cases where the evidence does not establish present operations. None is a live operational verification. Closure does not establish decommissioning, dismantling or remediation. There is no verified dormant-site example in this release. Confidence and source links are not Eco TerraVault certifications.

Community evidence: context before conclusions.

The U.S. Data Center Intelligence Dashboard presents selected evidence, not a risk score, health assessment, compliance certificate or ranking of communities.

Red — Formal action documented

A dated authority or municipal source documents a formal action requiring follow-up. Proposed action remains proposed; it is not a final finding or proof of injury.

Amber — Concern documented

A source documents a concern, review or incomplete response. Allegations and operator statements retain their attribution; they do not establish measured exposure or causation.

Green — Response documented

A public authority documents a specific resolution or mitigation milestone within the reviewed scope. This is not a finding of overall safety, compliance or environmental benefit. Operator claims alone do not qualify.

Gray — Current status unconfirmed

Status evidence is missing, inconclusive or more than 365 days old. A source-specific deadline can require an earlier recheck. This editorial freshness rule is not a scientific risk threshold; gray does not mean a case is closed.

Development types distinguish a reported concern, environmental-review finding, reported benefit, mitigation or safeguard, and regulatory milestone. A reported benefit is not an independently verified outcome; a proposed safeguard is not an implemented improvement; a permit is not proof of benefit. A finding may concern a projected impact rather than measured harm.

Each record separates its specific event or milestone date, primary report publication date and Eco TerraVault review date. Unknown dates remain “Date not established.” A dated decision or memorandum does not establish online publication; an announcement is not an unknown physical completion day. The timeline and date filters use the documented milestone. Counts describe this selected register, not incident frequency or a national trend; one record may cover several themes.

Map shading indicates evidence coverage, not environmental severity. Municipal and regional records retain their scope. Proximity alone cannot establish health effects, and no matching record is not proof that no concern exists.

Resource quantities: compare the same thing.

Power and electricity

MW describes power capacity or demand; MWh describes electricity use over time. A proposed connection or ultimate buildout is not measured consumption. Grid, IT and backup-generator capacities have separate boundaries.

Water

Water withdrawal is drawn or supplied water; consumption is the portion not returned under the source’s accounting definition. Site totals are not necessarily cooling-only, potable or freshwater. Replenishment is separate.

Emissions

tCO₂e means metric tonnes of carbon-dioxide equivalent. Location-based Scope 2 covers purchased-energy emissions; it is not total Scope 1, 2 and 3 or a local air-pollutant measurement. Market-based and location-based Scope 2 must not be added together. Quantities alone do not establish efficiency or health effects.

Agricultural land and water

Project area, land converted, farmland classification and agricultural production loss are distinct. Required mitigation does not establish completed mitigation or a resolved impact.

Disclosed-subset totals cover only the reporting entities shown, with compatible metrics, periods and boundaries. They are not state-wide or national totals or a representative statistical sample. Missing values remain unavailable, not zero. National model estimates remain separate from site disclosures. The LBNL electricity estimates exclude cryptocurrency mining. Resource filters are independent of concern filters; annual disclosures retain their original reporting periods.

Values are attributed to Google’s 2026 Environmental Report, Meta’s 2025 Environmental Data Index, and the primary records linked with each observation; operator reporting can include estimates. National electricity context uses the June 2026 LBNL update for 2024. The separately dated 2023 water and electricity-related emissions estimates use the December 2024 LBNL report.

Reviewed weekly. Grounded in dated evidence.

Community and resource evidence is scheduled for weekly review on Mondays at 8 a.m. Chicago time. Verified additions and corrections are published after review; a weekly review can produce no qualifying change. Source snapshots, reporting periods and review dates stay distinct. This is not real-time monitoring, and a recent review does not make an older observation current.

Suggest a public source or correction with the record name, claim, source link and date. Please do not submit confidential facility information or credentials.

Commission intelligence for your decision.

For detailed evidence dossiers, analytical methods, geospatial studies, scenario work or tailored datasets, discuss your requirements with Eco TerraVault. Research scope, deliverables, fees and use rights are agreed for each engagement.

Our original analytical work and tools are distinct from public facts, standard methods, client materials and third-party licensed data. We do not claim exclusive rights over those sources. Attribution and existing reuse rights remain in place.

Source credits and licensing.

The imported facility records are adapted from Compute Atlas v1.34.0 by Edward Kubiak, © 2026 Edward Kubiak, under CC BY 4.0. Eco TerraVault selects data-center records, omits optional fields, presents jurisdiction summaries and adds a separately reviewed physical-setting layer. The 4 independent Eco TerraVault supplement records retain their own citations and premises scope; they are not part of the imported Compute Atlas source. No source-author endorsement is implied. The source is supplied as is; its copyright, license and warranty notices remain available.

Building records contain information from the PNNL-led IM3 Open Source Data Center Atlas, derived from © OpenStreetMap contributors, under the Open Database License (ODbL) 1.0. Eco TerraVault presents distinct building IDs by jurisdiction, excluding separate campus and point layers. Map boundaries use U.S. Census data via us-atlas; boundary license notices remain embedded in the maps.

Licensed building data

Machine-readable building derivatives remain freely available under their source license. This source-license access is separate from commissioned Eco TerraVault analysis.