Joliet lawmakers and advocates push for POWER Act to address data center impacts

Advocates and local lawmakers gathered at Joliet City Hall to urge Illinois state lawmakers to pass the POWER Act, a bill designed to impose "clear guardrails" on data center development. The proposed legislation aims to mitigate concerns about rising energy costs for residents, strain on water resources, worsening air quality, and increased greenhouse gas emissions associated with large data centers. The push for the POWER Act follows the Joliet City Council's approval in March of what will be Illinois' largest AI data center, a 795-acre facility located in a rural field near the Chicagoland Speedway. Lucy Contreras of GreenLatinos emphasized the opportunity for state lawmakers to act this spring to protect communities. While opponents raise alarms, officials from ComEd, the utility provider, have stated that the energy demands of the new data center would not result in increased electric bills for local residents or businesses. Furthermore, the unnamed developer of the Joliet project asserted that the facility would require water only for initial setup, not for ongoing cooling operations, and is expected to be operational by 2030.