Ohio’s Data-Center Revolt Is Upending the Midterms
Residents in Grove City, Ohio, have organized against Headwaters Site Development's proposed 310-acre data center campus, citing water use, noise, environmental impacts and rising electricity costs. The city council enacted a one-year moratorium on data-center construction, while residents are pursuing a November ballot measure that would require voter approval for certain large developments.
Opposition to a proposed data-center campus near Grove City has united residents across party lines. Headwaters Site Development is seeking to assemble farmland for a project that it says could cost $6.9 billion, create 250 permanent jobs and limit its energy and water impacts, but the company has not disclosed the eventual technology buyer. Residents organized as Protect Grove City and raised concerns about secrecy, land loss, electricity costs, noise, water consumption and environmental effects.
The Grove City City Council voted 6-1 in June to impose a 12-month moratorium on local data-center construction. Activists subsequently gathered enough signatures for a November charter amendment that would require voter approval for large developments exceeding specified acreage, power-use or water-use thresholds. Mayor Richard “Ike” Stage and other local officials oppose the amendment, warning that it could restrict broader economic growth, while proponents say it is necessary to give residents control over major projects. The backlash has also become a major political issue in Ohio, including around Meta’s proposed $1 billion data-center campus in Piqua, where residents petitioned for a ballot measure seeking recalls of the mayor and other officials.