In recent years, residents of Bartholomew County and the City of Columbus, Indiana, have witnessed an unsettling rise in proposals for hyper scale AI data centers. These massive structures, often taking up vast land areas and consuming considerable resources, pose a significant threat to our community's well-being, environment, and autonomy.

As these data centers take root across our state in places like Hendricks County and Boone County, they bring with them a litany of issues that have not been adequately addressed. They consume vast amounts of water and energy, strain local infrastructure, and can lead to increased noise and pollution. For communities like ours, these effects are not trivial; they threaten our quality of life and the environmental health of our beloved towns. Additionally, the lack of transparency and community involvement in the decision-making processes further exacerbates the divide between developers and residents.

In Bartholomew County, where we pride ourselves on maintaining a balance between growth and preservation, the introduction of such large-scale data centers undermines our efforts to sustain a livable and prosperous community. These centers do not align with our vision for an environmentally sustainable future.

We are not against technological progress, but we demand that it comes hand-in-hand with responsible planning, transparency, and community involvement. Therefore, we are calling for an immediate moratorium on the approval and construction of all current and new data center projects, ESPECIALLY hyper scale AI data centers, in Bartholomew County and Columbus, IN until a comprehensive study on their environmental and social impacts can be conducted, reviewed, and publicly discussed.

This moratorium is essential for ensuring that any technological advancements align with the values and needs of our community, protecting both our natural resources and our quality of life. We ask for your support in sending a strong message to our city and county officials that our voices matter, and a more sustainable approach must be adopted.

Please sign this petition to demand that the City of Columbus, IN, and Bartholomew County, IN, halt any developments of current or new data center/hyper scale AI data center projects and engage in an open dialogue with the community. Together, we can safeguard the future of our community and ensure it remains a vibrant place to live and thrive for generations to come.