What this site is
Ohio Data Centers is an independent, non-commercial tracker of proposed hyperscale and AI data center projects across Ohio's 88 counties. The site reports facts as filed in public records and as covered by Ohio news outlets. It is not affiliated with any developer, operator, advocacy organization, political campaign, or government agency.
The editorial frame is straightforward: a hyperscale data center is a billion-dollar industrial facility with significant water, power, traffic, and noise impact, and Ohio law gives nearby residents specific civic tools to evaluate, comment on, and challenge such projects. This site documents what is being proposed, where, by whom, with what subsidies, and what those tools are.
Editorial standards
- Sources first. Every county page and project page links to the local news report, public filing, or government record it relies on. If a claim cannot be sourced, it is not published.
- Plain English. Industry jargon and statutory references are translated for general readers. The audience is the Ohio resident who is reading about data centers for the first time.
- No predictions. The risk score reflects the structural conditions hyperscale developers look for in a site (power infrastructure, water capacity, available land, regulatory environment). It is a measure of attractiveness to developers, not a prediction that a data center will be built in any specific county.
- Corrections welcome. If a county page contains an error, a correction can be submitted. Verified corrections are applied without delay; the page is updated to reflect the change.
- No legal advice. Where the site references specific Ohio statutes (Ohio Revised Code Chapter 149.43 / Sunshine Law, Section 122.175 / data center tax exemption, Chapter 4906 / Ohio Power Siting Board), the references are factual and not a substitute for advice from an Ohio-licensed attorney.
What this site does
- Tracks every public hyperscale and AI data center proposal across all 88 Ohio counties.
- Scores each county's structural risk based on power infrastructure, water capacity, land availability, and current exposure to known projects. The full scoring methodology is documented at /methodology.
- Translates state legislation (HB 706, HB 695, HB 710, HB 646, SB 374, HB 15) into plain-English summaries that explain who sponsored each bill, what it would change, and where it stands in the legislative process.
- Documents the public records, hearing, and comment processes Ohio law makes available to residents (Ohio Sunshine Law, Ohio Power Siting Board procedures, Ohio EPA permit comment windows).
- Maintains a county-by-county map and ranked list so a reader can find their situation without scrolling through state-level analysis.
- Publishes resident guides on the issues that come up most often: water usage, electric bill impact, noise, property value, and air-quality / health risks.
What this site does not do
- Does not lobby for or against data center development.
- Does not accept money from developers, operators, advocacy organizations, utilities, political campaigns, or government agencies.
- Does not provide legal, financial, environmental, or real estate advice.
- Does not pretend the issue is one-sided. Hyperscale data centers create local tax revenue, construction employment, and regional infrastructure investment alongside their power, water, and noise costs. The role of this site is to document the tradeoffs, not to resolve them.
Who runs this site
Ohio Data Centers is operated independently. The work product — county pages, risk scores, source citations, methodology — is what's important; the bylines are not. Where individual reporting requires it, contributors are identified by name. The site does not publish unsourced claims regardless of authorship.
Reader contact
If a reader has a tip about a data center proposal, public records that haven't surfaced, or a correction to a county page, the contact form reaches the editorial inbox directly. Reader tips have driven a meaningful share of the site's coverage of NDA-shielded projects.
Legal
Ohio Data Centers is registered as an independent reporting site. The site does not solicit donations, does not participate in any 501(c)(3) or political action committee structure, and does not collect personally identifying information from readers beyond email addresses voluntarily provided for the optional newsletter. The full Privacy and Terms pages document data handling and editorial liability limits.