The Value of Data Centers

In 2005, the Supreme Court told America, The case was Kelo v. New London.Justice O 'Connor dissented and she warned, Two decades later, a New Jersey utility is suing more than 200 Maryland landowners in federal court.to feed data centers 50 miles away in Virginia.The company, of course, is private.The data centers, they're private, too.The profits, private.

The land, though, it belongs to families that have farmed on it for generations.Here's the problem.When the government takes your property, you get, quote, fair market value.But that's not actually fair.Your land isn't worth market value to a data center.It's worth a whole hell of a lot more.

They're going to make billions off of it, and you get the price of your farm.Maryland wants to fix that, though.Bill would force companies to pay three and a half times the appraised value.But think about it.If a corporation is willing to pay 3 .5 times, the land is worth more than that to them.Here's the real fix.

Appraise the land from the buyer's side, not what the farmer could get on the open market to another farmer.What's the data center gonna make off this land for the next 20 years?That's what it's worth.Because if they can take your land, whether you want to sell it or not, the price should reflect what it's actually worth to them.