As many Ohio communities consider data center moratoriums, Gov. Mike DeWine urged local leaders not to completely rule out what he said could be a good deal.
DeWine called data centers the "future" — but it needs to be on local governments' terms.
"Look, data centers are important," DeWine told reporters on Tuesday. "I know it's been controversial. I think, here's my message to any community that is not, is worried about data centers: cut a good deal. The deal is in your hands."
He said data centers should "pay their own way" so consumers don't shoulder the brunt of rising energy costs.
"They’re making money. They gotta pay their own way. They should," he said. "But we can’t throw them completely out and say, ‘Oh no, we don’t – we want to close the walls of the state of Ohio, and we don’t want any data centers to come in,’ anymore than we can do that to any other business."
Last month, DeWine announced a pause to Ohio's data center tax exemption.
"We're just going to let it pause for a while and give people the chance to kind of digest where they are, but you're going to still see data centers come into Ohio without that actual incentive," he said Tuesday. "And then if we need to add the incentive later, we can push that back in. It just seemed at the time to kind take a deep breath."
He said data centers were "going to be built somewhere" and that there's an economic advantage to them being built in Ohio. He acknowledged the actual data centers do not create many jobs, but said they will "indirectly."
Data from the Brookings Institution found that the data centers do create local jobs "with caveats." A study of 770 U.S. data center facilities across 93 counties found a total private employment rise by about 4% to 5% over five to six years after the construction of a county's first data center. Construction employment rose about 11%, and information sector employment, such as software and IT services, grew 22%.
"This is where the future is," DeWine said. "This is now. And we have to be a part of it."
When asked about public pushback, DeWine said "it's democracy" and encouraged "conversations."
"Let's talk about it," DeWine said. "The only thing I'm saying is let's take a clear-eyed view of this and let's not just say it's data centers or no data centers. Let's say it's data centers under our conditions."
DeWine's comments came the same day Ohio lawmakers put forth a sweeping bill that would address public concerns over data centers and further rein in incentives. DeWine did not comment on the bill, which ultimately collapsed in the House on Wednesday.
"The House and the Senate, God love 'em, they come up with bills all the time," he told reporters. "I kind of wait and see what gets to me, and if I have comments, I'll make comments as we go."
Cleveland is considering a one-year moratorium on new data centers. Last month, officials shot down a permit for what would've been the city's first hyperscale data center. Mayor Justin Bibb has since taken a harder stance against standalone data center facilities in dense urban neighborhoods.
