Anti-data center ballot measures on track to go 40-1 in sign of backlash

Voters across the country overwhelmingly passed ballot measures to restrict data center development, a sign of the strength of the backlash against the industry.As of Tuesday morning, all 41 ballot measures across 10 states to restrict data center development were on track to pass, except for one measure in Harwood, North Dakota.In Ohio, where 21 data center-related measures were on ballots in jurisdictions across the state, voters clearly signaled disapproval of development. Several municipalities approved measures that outright ban data center development, such as Urbana, Trenton, Upper Sandusky, and the village of Granville. Measures to prohibit data centers that exceed 25 megawatts of power usage passed in the cities of Conneaut, Defiance, and Sunbury, and were leading in votes in the city of Oregon. For the past year, public disapproval of data centers has been rising because of fears they will raise local energy prices, water consumption, and noise pollution.Data centers played a central role in the Ohio Senate race between former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown and Sen. Jon Husted (R-OH). Brown defeated Husted on Tuesday evening, gaining 50.01% of the vote against Husted’s 45.15%. Brown spent millions on attack ads against Husted’s record of promoting data centers as lieutenant governor.In September, Husted sponsored the Ratepayer Protection Act, a bill that would require states to consider standards for new data centers to cover the costs of new generation, transmission, and infrastructure upgrades. But it was not enough to save him.The National Republican Senatorial Committee warned tech companies over the summer that data centers were becoming increasingly unpopular, and Democrats have made it a “centerpiece” of their campaigns, specifically calling out the Ohio Senate race.Voters in Alhambra, California, are also poised to ban data centers in their town. As of Wednesday morning, nearly 81.84% of votes support the ban. Alhambra will become the second city in California to outright ban data centers, following Monterey Park, which passed such a measure this summer.Of the 41 ballot measures, three would temporarily pause data center development. Bloomington, Illinois, passed an initiative that would advise the city to impose a moratorium on large-scale data centers.Measures in York County and Wiscasset, Maine, have also imposed temporary moratoriums on data centers. The York County measure would call for a 180-day pause, while Wiscasset’s measure would impose a six-month moratorium on new or expanded data centers.GAS PRICES IN TRUMP’S SECOND TERM HIT RECORD HIGH FOR ANY PRESIDENCYMoratoriums in the past year have become popular among local governments as a way to slow down development to provide additional time to set guardrails on data centers.Some lawmakers in Congress have also called for a federal moratorium, including House Energy and Commerce Committee ranking member Frank Pallone (D-NJ), Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT).