About a dozen area Democrats rallied Tuesday to criticize U.S. Sen. Jon Husted over comments about rising electric rates and the impact of artificial intelligence and data centers. The group accused Husted of supporting data center development without enough transparency and said Ohio communities need more say in the process.
Ohio Democratic gubernatorial candidates Amy Acton and David Pepper are proposing a conditional moratorium on new data center construction, citing concerns about energy costs, transparency and farmland preservation.
Ohio lawmakers have launched a bipartisan review of data center development, examining its economic benefits, energy demands and tax incentives before considering future policies.
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine announced today that he has directed the chair of the Ohio Tax Credit Authority to pause consideration of any new data center tax exemption requests while the Ohio General Assembly's Joint Data Center Committee studies the growth of data centers in Ohio.
Ohio voters may decide on restricting large, energy-intensive data centers after a proposed constitutional amendment cleared its first step toward the statewide ballot.
Ohio lawmakers are advancing a bill to create a commission that would study the benefits and concerns surrounding data center development, with the proposal now heading to the state Senate.
An Ohio House-approved bill to create a commission studying the impact of data centers now heads to the Senate, with lawmakers aiming to guide future policy.