Editor’s note: The Portager publishes letters to the editor from the community. The opinions expressed are published not because they necessarily reflect those of the publication but because we feel they contribute meaningfully to the local discourse on matters of public interest.
No matter where we look these days, the information media is overwhelming us with red flags about the impending disruption of data centers throughout our county and our state. This firehose of information is too much for any one of us to absorb, but we are a community. And as members of that community the Kent Environmental Council is preparing a position paper on the risks that these behemoths pose and what we can do to arrest their unabated development.
So unrelenting is the construction of these operational centers that Ohio is already home to over 200 with as many as 90 more in the planning stages. Over the next three weeks to a month — which probably seems like a lifetime to those of us hungry for information — KEC will be preparing as thorough a piece as possible so that all of us can better understand the risks involved. Beyond a doubt the construction and operation of these centers present liabilities that will take some study to fully understand their impact on our farming communities, our electrical grid, our tax base, our air, water and our tranquility.
Until we can offer more comprehensive information, we ask that all of you remain vigilant in pursuit of open government and the protection of our environment. Make your state and local representatives, trustees, commissioners and city council persons aware that you are counting on them to represent us and that our citizenry is demanding, at the very least, a moratorium on the construction of these centers and the disruption they bring to our way of life!
—Brad Brotje, Kent Environmental Council
Letter to the editor
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