CONNEAUT – Data centers have spurred a lot of discussion nationwide in recent months.
That discussion has made its way to Conneaut after the mention of a possibility of a data center being built in the city.
Several residents brought their questions and concerns to city council during the public commentary portion of a regular meeting on Monday, April 13.
Charlotte Houston asked council if any chemicals were going to be released into Lake Erie and what the noise level of a facility near the lake would be. She also requested any information on the topic that might be helpful.
“At this point in time, we have absolutely no information on anything coming in,” City Manager Nick Sanford said. “There’s been no proposal. However, Ohio Municipal League and the National League of Cities are resources that we’ve consulted with on advisory matters and regulatory matters for any such proposal. Certainly, as this subject continues, we’re all ears on the public’s concerns and the community’s concerns with these types of regulations, with environmental matters and noise and the like.”
Ward 2 Councilman Chris Castrilla suggested searching for data centers on Google.
“They’ll start giving all kinds of information, kind of how they operate, so you can pull it up that way, as well,” Castrilla said.
In digging into the topic, Joel Specht uncovered a company that might be interested in building a facility in the city.
“Mr. Sanford, I want to thank you for your prompt response on what I requested about N2S,” Specht said. “Has anybody looked online at that company? Because, honestly, when I went and looked it up, it seems to be a broker for something bigger. The question is, do you really know who you were trying to work with because what I see from that company is, really, they work with whoever’s behind them, the billionaire technology companies.”
Specht expressed concern over who is responsible if the environment is damaged.
“When we were presented with information at a (No Data Centers in Conneaut) meeting at the library, if there comes a point where creating legal discourse (is necessary), who do you sue,” Specht said. “Do you sue this shell company or who’s behind it?”
Specht also questioned where the company is headquartered.
“Also, where’s this company from, UAE (United Arab Emirates), China, Saudi Arabia,” Specht said. “We don’t know that. Do you know that? Really, I keep saying this, I’m going to keep saying it, I really think you should do a moratorium for at least a year, potentially two, and just do more research. They have fleets of lawyers, endless money, and they’re going to get us if we keep up with this.”
A young resident, Parker Turner, urged council to choose land other than farmland to build a data center.
“It is important to take care of land, water and air,” Parker said. “Please do not put a data center on farm ground. There is a lot of ground that is vacant but already developed. Please do not let data centers use the lake water, because we swim in the lake and we rely on that water to drink.”
Julia Barton suggested that a town hall discussion on the matter might be beneficial.
“We had a number of people that were interested in the issue and we’re continuing to learn, and the more we learn, the more concerns we have,” Barton said. “We welcome an opportunity to meet all together.”
Gary Pagenkopf noted that the state legislature is discussing a bill, HB 706, on the matter.
“It is in committee right now, and they have enough people, I believe, that are signed on to it,” Pagenkopf said. “It should get voted on when they come back, but that does address some of our concerns. It imposes minimum requirements on data center agreements with utilities, electric companies. It seeks to ensure that the infrastructure and upgrade costs associated with these facilities are not passed on to existing Ohio customers. That would make a difference.”
Pagenkopf said HB 706 has other parameters, as well.
“It includes a 12-year minimum commitment with rules on exit payments so that the public doesn’t get stuck with expenses after they leave,” Pagenkopf said.
At that point, Pagenkopf mentioned an area of concern.
“The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency passed a general permit authorization for discharges from the data center facilities,” Pagenkopf said. “Here’s what shocked me. It has been determined that a lowering of water quality of various waters in the state associated with coverage under this permit is necessary to accommodate important social and economic development in the state. This is strictly for data centers. They’re lowering environmental protection to allow these data centers. That’s an issue for me.”
Pagenkopf said that a data center can be a source of contamination.
“On the data center waste, tapping local rivers, aquifers and municipal water, chemical runoff from these cooling systems can contaminate soil and water,” Pagenkopf said.
Air pollution might also be a problem, according to Pagenkopf.
“(Data centers) rely heavily on fossil fuels, which, the side effect is obviously air pollution due to the gas turbines they use, and it does stress the electric grid,” Pagenkopf said. “I didn’t understand this. I thought that when they’re running, they’re getting power off the grid (or behind the meter), that’s all you need, but I guess there’s big fluctuations with AI versus regular computer use. When they’re going through all the training, it uses massive amounts, and then it will drop down.”
“It fluctuates as they’re going through training processes and learning,” Pagenkopf continued. “Therefore, they require the gas turbines to kick in when the use goes up.”
The disposals of servers from a data center might also be a problem.
“The other thing is, servers are typically replaced every two to five years,” Pagenkopf said. “Eighty percent of that is discarded. The big question is, how is it recycled? The majority is discarded in the landfills. There are no federal regulations. The concern is, even with it going into landfills, contaminants include mercury, lead, cadmium and arsenic. Where’s the landfill they use? Is it local? I don’t know. Do they go to Erie, where they’ve got a huge one? I don’t know if that’s any concern or not.”
