A massive new AI datacenter is coming to Piketon, Ohio, backed by OpenAI, Nvidia, and Japanese investors with a $500 billion price tag. To power it, developers plan to build one of the largest natural gas plants in the country right next to it, and construction could require up to 2 million gallons of water for waste needs.

Pike County has already lived through decades of pollution from a nuclear enrichment site that ran for nearly 60 years. Now a huge new gas plant threatens to add fresh air pollution on top of that legacy. Carol Kauffman, chief executive officer of the Ohio Environmental Council, warns that a facility this size "represents an astronomical contribution to climate change," and comes with real public health risks tied to burning natural gas.

Construction on this scale could bring badly needed jobs to a county where poverty runs far above the national average. But economic opportunity should not have to come at the cost of clean air and safe water for the people who already live here. Independent environmental review, public water testing, and real pollution limits need to be part of this deal before construction moves forward, not an afterthought decided later.

Pike County residents deserve a say in how this project affects their air, their water, and their health. Local and state officials should require binding environmental safeguards, not just promises, before this datacenter and its gas plant go online.

Sign the petition to demand real environmental protections for Pike County before this datacenter project moves forward.