We have a choice — lose out or power the future with data centers

Last month, with great fanfare, construction of what could be the nation’s largest combined data center and electrical power-generating facility broke ground in Southern Ohio’s Pike County. If completed as planned, the project will bring tens of thousands of construction jobs and thousands of full-time jobs to an area that could really use them.

A few weeks later, this newspaper’s reporting raised reasonable questions about the project’s political, financial, and environmental viability. Whether the answers will be reasonable is another question entirely.

Thomas Sowell, one of our nation’s greatest living public intellectuals, wrote in his book A Conflict of Visions that in public policy, “There are no solutions. There are only tradeoffs.” 

There’s hardly a better example of Sowell’s thesis than this $33 billion Pike County venture.

The project is the result of a Trump administration deal with Japan to ease tariff threats. With the Supreme Court invalidating administration tariffs imposed on other nations, some of the questions about the viability of the project will be decided by national and international politics.

Much of the rest will be in the hands of Ohioans. Or is it?

Some of those concerned about environmental impacts object to the proposed 9.2 gigawatt natural gas fueled power plant that’ll provide reliable electricity for the data center and other users.

One group seeks to pass a new constitutional amendment to ban all new large data centers. To be on the ballot in November, they’ll need to 413,487 valid signatures before August. 

But are these objections truly grassroots concerns or are they part of a coordinated effort by foreign interests to damage American competitiveness? 

A recent article documents at least $39 million in foreign funding for anti data center and power plant initiatives across the country. And another report notes a congressional investigation into how China, Russia and other global competitors are actively working to shape U.S. public opinion on these and other issues for their benefit. 

That doesn’t mean data centers have no drawbacks. They use enormous amounts of electricity to power the computers and water to cool them. The cooling systems and back-up diesel generators can be noisy. For the size of the buildings, they have few full-time employees. They are often sited on what used to be productive farmland.

Some of these problems can be mitigated and additional regulation is probably warranted to require it. But the build-out of the computing power is going to happen regardless. The demand is insatiable for the product of these facilities to be instantly available on our phones and other devices. We might not want to see these buildings in our back yards but the same has been said about every significant economic development and the energy sources that power them.

There are always tradeoffs.

Inexpensive, plentiful, and reliable energy is inextricably connected to widespread economic prosperity. 

Twenty years ago, coal generated almost 90% of Ohio’s electricity needs. Today, it’s less than 25%, largely replaced by natural gas. Much of that coal came from mines and miners in Southeast Ohio. Most of those jobs were never replaced.

Unemployment in SE Ohio, including Pike county, is 50% higher than statewide and national averages. Good-paying, long-term jobs are almost priceless to those without them.

When coal was king, manufacturing was Ohio’s largest electricity user. Today it’s flowing to commercial operators, dominated by data centers. Our nation’s prosperity is now directly connected to our ability to lead the development and deployment of artificial intelligence (AI), which is enabled by these data centers. 

So-called renewable power from wind turbines and solar photovoltaics are growing rapidly but only supply about six percent of our current needs. Central Ohio is surprisingly home to two of the nation’s largest solar panel manufacturers and the jobs they provide. 

But of course, let’s not forget the tradeoffs. 

One of those companies is 49% owned by Chinese interests, though the U.S. investor recently announced an unspecified ownership increase.

We hearty Buckeyes are only now emerging from our annual five months of grey skies. Year round, we average fewer than 80 sunny days. Massive battery storage — and the mining to make them — is required to overcome the intermittency of wind and sun here. Even accounting for fuel extraction and distribution, natural gas requires far less of Ohio’s landscape than wind and solar. 

Whether carbon dioxide emissions are an existential threat is a topic for another day. But if they are, nuclear power is the only current, continuous, and zero carbon source of utility-scale electricity in Ohio. Fortunately, Meta, parent company of Facebook, recently announced plans for significant nuclear power investment across our state, including in Pike county.

I’ve only barely scratched the surface of the complexity and tradeoffs inherent in the choices we face to power our future. Data centers and the electricity needed to power them are as critical to American prosperity tomorrow as coal used to be. 

And it’s prosperity that enables environmental protection. 

That’s because, for most people, saving the planet barely registers on the list of priorities when they’re focused on having a good job to feed, clothe, and house their families.

Data centers are coming. Energy demand is growing. Our state and national prosperity are at stake. Building that prosperous future requires trade-offs and a clear understanding of the consequences of each. Ohioans must decide whether to power that future or watch someone else — foreign or domestic — do it first.

This debate is bigger than one project in Pike County. It’s about whether Ohioans still believe economic growth is worth building, defending, and powering. I think it is. 

New Albany resident Philip Derrow is a retired business owner. He was a two-term member of the New Albany-Plain Local Board of Education. He is a regular Columbus Dispatch contributor. Reach him at philderrowdispatch@gmail.com.