LIMA, Ohio (WLIO) — Ohio lawmakers are considering the creation of a commission to study the potential impact and policies surrounding data center development across the state.
The Ohio House recently unanimously passed legislation to establish the proposed commission, which would include members representing local government, utilities, agriculture and the data center industry. The group would be tasked with examining the opportunities and challenges tied to the rapid growth of data centers in Ohio.
According to Matt Huffman, the state has become an attractive location for data center development due to its geographic position and access to water resources needed to cool large-scale server operations.
At the same time, Huffman acknowledged that residents have raised concerns about the potential environmental and economic impacts of an influx of data centers, which the commission would aim to address.
“But there are also concerns, environmental concerns, a whole number of other things. So the cure for those kinds of concerns is, let's have public dialog. Both for the folks who want to build the data centers and the people concerned about it, get everybody in a room talk about it, make sure we find out what's true and what's not. How's it going to affect your electricity bill? What are the water issues? What are the siting issues? That's why the First Amendment is a great thing, so that people can find out what's going on,” says Matt Huffman, (R) Ohio’s Speaker of the House.
The bill now heads to the Ohio Senate for consideration. If approved, it will then go to the governor, who will decide whether the commission will be formed.
