Rural Ohio shouldn't be forced to power Silicon Valley | Opinion

In an opinion piece for The Columbus Dispatch, Thomas Suddes, a former legislative reporter and writer from Ohio University, argues against forcing rural Ohio to power Silicon Valley, emphasizing the state's tradition of community home rule. Suddes contends that while constitutional home rule primarily applies to cities and villages, the principle should extend to allow voters in suburban and rural Ohio to forbid or permit data centers within their localities. He highlights concerns from Ohioans about irreversible land spoiling and pollution caused by 'kilowatt-glutton' and 'water-guzzling' data centers, viewing them as a form of 'economic colonialism' offering few long-term jobs for local residents. Suddes questions why Ohioans should risk their land for 'coastal fat-cats' and suggests that data centers, like public utilities, might eventually seek to appropriate private property for their sites and massive power lines, or even on-site nuclear power packs. The article notes that proposals to allow communities to ban data centers are generating debate, with some Ohio General Assembly members musing about establishing a state Department of Energy. Suddes points out that Ohio previously had such a department until 1983, and its re-establishment could be favored by the oil-and-gas lobby seeking a single executive branch regulator. He warns that if an anti-data-center proposal reaches the statewide ballot, it could become a national story, reflecting similar concerns among landowners elsewhere. Suddes concludes by rejecting the notion that sacrificing Ohio's natural beauty for data centers represents progress, instead seeing it as a 'Tomorrow Land of blighted beauty' and an Ohio 'owned out of state by the speculators of casino capitalism.'