A four-hour Ohio legislative hearing in June drew applause and anger as residents demanded bans and moratoria on data centers, and organizers gathered signatures for a statewide ballot measure that could go before voters in 2027. Ohio has 21 local ballot measures on data centers, the most of any state, with 10 communities including Granville, Piqua, and Urbana set to vote on local restrictions. Tourism guide Nikki Gerber and attorney Austin Baurichter lead Conserve Ohio, the group driving the statewide campaign; Gerber's focus is a proposed 1.3-gigawatt Amazon Web Services data center about 15 miles from her campground in Adams County. The Ohio General Assembly's Select Committee on Data Centers has met five times but has not taken up a moratorium measure, with majority Republicans declining to advance one in late September.
Ohio's Columbus region is one of the nation's top data center development markets, making a successful moratorium campaign there a potential model for opposition efforts in other high-growth states. With about 40 local ballot measures across seven states according to Ballotpedia, the November midterm elections represent the broadest simultaneous electoral test of community resistance to data center development yet seen.
Inside Climate News spotlights Ohio community resistance to data center development, signaling a broadening geographic front of opposition beyond previously covered states like Michigan, Texas, and Pennsylvania. The 'revolt' framing and state-level focus make this a distinct and newsworthy opposition story.