Columbus City Council put forth some new ideas for data center regulations, but residents responding to these ideas at a public hearing Wednesday say the city should be doing much more, with many calling for a moratorium.
City Councilmember Christopher Wyche explained to reporters before the hearing the city isn't proposing a so-called "moratorium," temporarily or permanently banning new data centers.
When it came time for public comment, Wyche and Councilmember Emmanuel Remy sat and listened as over a dozen people voiced their frustration with the direction the city is going. No data center company representative or industry expert spoke at the hearing in response to the proposed legislation.
"I would love to wake up tomorrow morning and get like a news alert from Ground News that Columbus City Council put lifetime ban on data centers. That would be awesome," Milo-Grogan resident Samantha Baker said.
Instead of a ban, the regulations put forth so far by Wyche's office target water usage, sewer discharge and rules around how one of the large facilities should be decommissioned, if it shuts down. The city is also considering ways to make money collected by the city from data centers and benefit community projects, and how Columbus Water and Power can set special rates for a specific water customer class for data centers.
Wyche explained that he isn't pushing a ban because there aren't any proposed large hyperscale data center projects in the pipeline at the moment.
"We have the benefit of time. We currently do not have any hyperscale locations that are looking to locate in the city of Columbus. And so we can be proactive on the front end to develop what a regulatory environment might look like for that type of facility," Wyche said.
Wyche added that he believes passing a moratorium does not answer or solve the other challenges that Columbus residents put forward about water usage and transparency around wastewater.
Residents who spoke up and disagreed.
Many raised more ideas at the hearing, asking that more regulations tackle electricity usage and data center impact on electric utilities; air quality monitoring; protecting environmentally sensitive areas like the Big Darby Creek watershed; and using renewable energy in place of fossil fuels.
Many criticized proposed fees and fines for noncompliance with city laws as too lax and asked for stronger penalties.
Spencer Dirrig with the Ohio Environmental Council said new laws targeting water and sewer usage are a good start, but the city needs to do much more. Adding steeper, increasing fines with no ceiling was one of his six proposals.
"Real enforcement means fines that scale to the size of the company and the profit that they are making by breaking the rule with a floor and no ceiling. Specifically, we recommend that if a company is out of compliance for consecutive months on end, it should lose its permit to operate," Dirrig said.
Central Ohio is Ohio's largest hub for hyperscale data centers. Most are located outside of Columbus city limits in areas like New Albany and Hilliard, but many still use Columbus' water systems.
One of the proposed laws would require plans to be created if a data center site is closed and needs to be decommissioned, while the other two deal with regulating water use and connecting to sewer lines.
The regulations would require data centers to provide logistical information and plans, such as lists of inventory, the estimated ranges of water use and an assessment for whether the data center could use non-potable, reclaimed water — or treated wastewater — instead of potable water.
Other communities in Ohio are passing bans or temporary moratoriums. Cleveland City Council passed a three-month ban that can be renewed, while Plain City is currently weighing a six-month ban.
Dirrig with the OEC said Columbus was ahead of the curve with these laws, but Columbus resident Josh White said he was not so impressed.
"I'm not impressed by the city of Columbus. I'm impressed by this city council. I'm now impressed by your legislative. Your legislation. It's irrelevant. Data centers need to be banned," White said.
White, who said he was a farmer, and others railed against data center companies like Meta, Google and Amazon as greedy and dangerous to the environment. The companies are building new data centers largely to power artificial intelligence technologies.
"The future over Ohio is green, not an empty shell housing servers," White said.
South Columbus resident Kelsey Colwell echoed this, saying she opposes data centers that are already in existence, opposes city government using AI and opposes all government financial support to these companies.
"I don't know who precisely allowed this to happen. But unfortunately, you all are the ones who are before me, so you have to take the brunt of our fear and our despair," Colwell said. "We do not need AI. We don't need it. We can go back. AI is brand new. Why are we already acting like it's immutable?"
There weren't any data center company representatives or industry experts at the meeting.
Wyche said the city has sat down with the industry in the past, including inviting some to the first public hearing earlier this year before any laws were proposed. Wyche said he wants to hear from them, but hasn't yet.
Wyche said another hearing is planned for September 16.
All three proposed laws could be considered by Columbus City Council at a future meeting after its summer recess ends August 24.
All three proposed laws can be read online on Councilmember Christopher's Wyche's council page.
