More than a hundred Ohioans submitted testimony ahead of state lawmakers’ Select Committee on Data Centers’ single hearing for public comment.

Lawmakers heard an array of concerns about the proliferation of data centers around the state — the environmental impact, the cost of tax breaks, and the use of nondisclosure agreements to avoid public scrutiny.

Lawmakers also received pointed critiques from Ohioans who say elected officials have been too slow to respond to their frustrations, and their response thus far has been inadequate.

Many pressed lawmakers for a data center moratorium — a step lawmakers have so far been unwilling to take.

“The citizens are going to continue working to ban them if the legislative body doesn’t take action,” Stephanie Stock, the president of Ohio Advocates for Medical Freedom, warned.

Organizers are currently gathering signatures for a constitutional amendment prohibiting construction of data centers that consume more than 25 megawatts a month.

Broken trust

Many speakers made the drive from Adams County in Appalachian Ohio. They described a familiar pattern of new industries showing up in Appalachian communities to extract resources and leave residents with little if any benefit.

“I understand the importance of jobs; I understand economic development. I am not opposed to progress,” Emily Young told lawmakers. “I am opposed to communities being asked to accept risk before they have been given honest answers.”

No industry, she said, has asked local communities “to surrender the amount of land, water, energy, and local control” as hyperscale data centers have.

To many speakers, the epitome of those demands is the industry’s use of nondisclosure agreements to shield new developments from public input.

Jessica Baker from Williamsburg brought in 16 NDAs from a data center project in a nearby town.

She recited the officials — councilmembers, the mayor, fire chief, village engineer, and more — as she flipped through the documents.

Like Young, Baker insisted she doesn’t oppose technology or progress, she opposes the secrecy. And she expressed frustration that it fell to her to dig up answers.

Ohio data center ban advocates are trying to get 413,000 signatures by July 1

“Everyday Ohioans should not have to spend their evenings submitting records requests and digging through utility filings just to understand what is happening around their homes,” she said. “That is why people elect leaders in the first place.”

Carl Setzer is uniquely qualified to talk about data centers, he shared. After working for a firm testing tech companies’ security systems, he started a company that grew into what he described as China’s largest craft brewery.

“I have dealt with private equity, I’ve dealt with cooling systems, I’ve dealt with wastewater management, I’ve dealt with IT,” he said.

Setzer said we’re in the midst of a speculative bubble, and “the reason why we need to build so many data centers yesterday,” is so private investors can cash out before the broader public realizes “there’s no there there.”

“Ohio residents are not in the way of progress,” he said. “We’re just anxious, and we’re afraid that we’re going to lose the little that we have left, to things that we never even asked for.”

Environmental concerns

Research scientist Stephen Petty worries about what’s in the water data centers use to cool their facilities.

Ohio state Sen. Shane Wilkin, R-Hillsboro, asked why state regulators’ permitting systems aren’t enough to protect residents.

“They’re effective for chemicals that are regulated,” Petty said. “They’re not effective for chemicals that are not regulated.”

Currently, he said, many materials including PFAS — microplastics known as forever chemicals — fall outside state regulations.

That discharge could present health concerns, but it could cost local governments, too, Petty warned.

Ohioans are getting fed up with data centers, state lawmakers are starting to notice

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently announced plans to rollback PFAS drinking water limits that were set to take effect in 2029.

But if PFAS eventually face regulation, and the chemicals have already been discharged into water systems, local governments could be on the hook for the cleanup.

Petty described a city in New Jersey that spent more than $30 million on technology to filter the chemicals from its municipal water system.

In addition to concerns about water contaminants, speakers voiced concerns about the scope of water use generally.

Nikki Gerber works for a canoe and kayak rental company in Adams County and she explained the region’s aquifers are some of the slowest in the state to recharge.

“We have many people with private residential wells,” Gerber said. “Well, are those wells gonna go dry? That’s their source of life.”

“Cows can’t drink bottled water,” she added. “Crops can’t grow off of bottled water.”

Other speakers complained about air emissions — particularly from backup generators.

Cathy Cowan Becker from Save Ohio Parks pointed to a Hilliard data center that will use a fuel cell system for backup power.

“It’s going to emit 1.5 million pounds of carbon dioxide per day,” she said. “The equivalent of if you took 66,000 cars, parked them on site, and let them run 24/7 next to hundreds of homes, an elementary school, a park, and the county’s largest animal shelter.”

Co-chairs’ thoughts

The committee’s Ohio House co-chair, state Rep. Adam Holmes, R-Nashport, acknowledged most speakers showed up to voice opposition to data centers.

“From the ground level, they’re all opponents, but I did pick up various different concerns,” Holmes said.

“That was really the intent of this whole process,” he added. “(To) understand specific concerns and specific areas that really don’t have oversight at the state level.”

Senate co-chair, state Sen. Brian Chavez, R-Marietta, said the process is working.

“I love the fact that we’re having the public come in and give their point of view and their opinions,” he said. “I just want to make sure that we’re not giving our own facts.”

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