Limited environmental assessment of data center

The Sangamon County Board in Illinois is reportedly on the verge of approving a major data center project by CyrusOne on March 23, despite strong opposition from constituents. The proposed data center campus, to be built on 280 acres of farmland, is slated to be a hyperscale facility with an unprecedented 634-megawatt capacity, significantly larger than any other data center currently operated by CyrusOne. Concerns have been raised regarding the immense electricity demands of the project, which could power between 250,000 and 570,000 homes annually—far exceeding the number of housing units in Sangamon County. While county officials and the Rural Electric Convenience Cooperative claim the project will not impact consumer electric rates, larger utility companies like PJM have voiced general concerns about data centers affecting ratepayers. Currently, CyrusOne operates smaller data centers in Aurora and Lombard, Illinois. In response to growing data center development, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker plans to propose a two-year pause on a state program that offers tax exemptions for data center projects, aiming to assess their true impact. This follows the Data Center Investment Program already granting CyrusOne $132.5 million in tax breaks for its Aurora site. Additionally, State Senator Ram Villivalam has introduced Senate Bill 4016, known as the POWER (Protect Our Water, Energy and Ratepayers) Act, which would mandate comprehensive environmental assessments for hyperscale data centers and require operators to pay fees based on peak power demand.