Gubernatorial candidates highlight data center plans. Next Ohio governor will select regulators.
Ohio's gubernatorial candidates, Amy Acton and Vivek Ramaswamy, hold contrasting views on data center development, making it a key issue in the upcoming November election. Acton proposes a conditional moratorium on data centers if specific requirements are not met, while Ramaswamy suggests data centers should fund residents' electricity and property tax reductions. Meanwhile, a grassroots organization, Conserve Ohio, is working to get a constitutional amendment to ban new data centers on the 2027 ballot.
Ohio's upcoming gubernatorial election features Dr. Amy Acton, the Democratic candidate, and Vivek Ramaswamy, the Republican candidate, with starkly different visions for the future of data center development in the state. The next governor will be responsible for appointing the five members of the Public Utilities Commission, which is crucial for setting utility rates and establishing operational parameters for data centers across Ohio.
On July 27, Dr. Amy Acton declared her support for a conditional moratorium on data centers. This moratorium would be enacted if data centers fail to meet specific criteria related to costs, the use of union labor, transparency, environmental standards, community benefit agreements, and development practices. Innovation Ohio, a progressive advocacy group, has expressed strong support for Acton's proposal, emphasizing the importance of data centers shouldering their own financial and environmental burdens.
Conversely, Vivek Ramaswamy unveiled his three-pronged data center plan on August 6. His proposal includes provisions where communities hosting a data center would receive free home electricity, lower property taxes, and a strict requirement for data centers to adhere to all air and water quality standards, with additional measures to protect Ohio's agricultural land. Ramaswamy stated that if any of these three conditions are not met, the data center would not be built. However, Innovation Ohio President Michael McGovern criticized Ramaswamy's plan as