06/02/2026
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Statement from Don Kissick and James Mills on Data Centers, Rising Utility Costs, Water Consumption, and the Protection of Ohio Communities
Ohio families, farmers, and small businesses are increasingly being asked to shoulder the burden of an unchecked expansion of massive data centers across the country.
While residents struggle with rising electric bills, increasing housing costs, and aging infrastructure, giant technology corporations are consuming extraordinary amounts of electricity and water- often while receiving taxpayer subsidies, preferential utility agreements, and political favors negotiated outside of public view.
These facilities require enormous amounts of power to operate and cool their servers, placing additional strain on already stressed electric grids. As demand skyrockets, utility providers are investing billions into new transmission lines, substations, and generation capacity- costs that too often get pushed onto everyday consumers through higher utility bills.
Ohioans should not be forced to subsidize the infrastructure needs of multinational corporations while families are cutting back on groceries, medicine, and basic necessities just to afford monthly utilities.
The environmental impact is equally alarming.
Many large data centers consume millions of gallons of water per day for cooling systems. In regions already facing drought concerns, groundwater depletion, or agricultural pressure, this creates serious long-term risks for local communities and ecosystems.
Ohio’s farming communities could be especially vulnerable.
Farmers already face increasing pressure from volatile weather, rising fuel and fertilizer costs, corporate land consolidation, and water management challenges. Large-scale data center expansion threatens to intensify these pressures by competing for water resources, driving up land values and utility costs, and accelerating the conversion of agricultural land into industrial infrastructure.
Family farms should not have to compete with billion-dollar technology companies for access to affordable water, affordable land, and reliable energy.
I am also deeply concerned by reports of non-disclosure agreements and secrecy arrangements between technology companies and local governments surrounding these projects. Ohioans deserve transparency when public resources, zoning decisions, tax incentives, utility infrastructure, or land acquisition are involved.
No corporation should be allowed to negotiate massive development deals behind closed doors while the public is kept in the dark about the long-term costs and consequences.
I strongly oppose the use of eminent domain or coercive land acquisition practices for private corporate development projects tied to data centers or AI infrastructure. Government should never seize family land, pressure rural communities, or distort local markets in order to benefit politically connected corporations.
Private property rights are fundamental to a free society.
Beyond the environmental and economic concerns, Ohioans also deserve honest conversations about privacy and surveillance. Many of these facilities support systems tied to mass data collection, AI training, behavioral tracking, and centralized digital infrastructure. Citizens deserve transparency about how their information is collected, stored, and shared- and safeguards that protect civil liberties in an increasingly data-driven society.
I believe in innovation and technological progress. But innovation must remain accountable to the people it impacts.
Ohio should pursue policies that:
• Protect residential consumers from utility cost increases tied to large-scale corporate energy demand
• Require transparent environmental and water-use impact studies before approving major data center projects
• Prohibit secretive NDA arrangements that prevent public oversight of government-tech partnerships
• Ban the use of eminent domain for private data center or AI infrastructure development
• Protect farmland and agricultural communities from aggressive industrial expansion
• End sweetheart subsidy deals negotiated behind closed doors
• Strengthen digital privacy protections and transparency around data collection practices
• Ensure local communities- not just corporations and lobbyists- have a voice in major development decisions
Technology should serve our communities, not drain their resources, raise their bills, erode their privacy, or displace the people who built this state.
Ohio’s future must prioritize people over monopolistic consolidation, local resilience over corporate dependency, and liberty over surveillance.
Don Kissick and James Mills
Candidate for Governor and Lieutenant Governor of Ohio
