Despite vocal opposition from the community, the Ogle County Board has given Constellation a green light to develop a data center by granting a massive rezoning of agricultural parcels to industrial.  The OCB supposedly cares about our farmers and our land; this could not be further from the truth.  With outcry from the board regarding the environmental implications of solar and wind, how on earth is a data center, let alone the possibility of a hyperscale facility, remotely acceptable?

Demand transparency from the Board.  Demand transparency from Constellation.  Protect our land.   Protect our water.  Protect our farms.   Protect our future.  
Contact the Ogle County Board Today!

Make your voices heard and attend meetings! Be sure to review: Rules of Order

The AI bubble will pop and communities like ours will be left holding the bag.  We cannot build yesterday’s technology with tomorrow’s debt.

HOW WOULD A DATA CENTER IMPACT YOU AND YOUR COMMUNITY?

The Impact of Data Centers

Data centers are critical infrastructure for the digital age, but their presence and operation can have significant impacts on local communities and environments. These facilities can take many forms, ranging from small server rooms inside of office buildings to massive, stand-alone campuses the size of hundreds of football fields. This last category, often known as “hyperscale” data centers, has drawn particular attention thanks to their size, rapid growth and substantial impacts on local communities. There were just over 3,900 data centers across the United States as of late January — nearly 37% of the world’s total. (https://www.wri.org/insights/us-data-center-growth-impacts)

Here's a summary of the potential damage and challenges associated with data centers:

Environmental and Community Impact

• Water Usage and Environmental Strain: Data centers require massive amounts of water for cooling, which can strain local water resources.  Data centers are known for the vast amount of energy they consume, but they also use a massive amount of water. “Data centers consume water directly for cooling, in some cases 57% sourced from potable water, and indirectly through the water requirements of non-renewable electricity generation,” according to a 2021 study. Data centers require huge amounts of water to keep servers cool enough to function. Mid-sized facilities can use up to 300,000 gallons of water a day, while large facilities can consume as much as 5 million gallons daily — comparable to what a small town uses. Recent estimates project that by 2028, AI-related data centers in the U.S. could require up to 32 billion gallons of water annually. This is enough to support roughly 360,000 households’ indoor water use.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Heat Generation: The operation of data centers generates significant heat, which can affect local temperatures, exacerbate drought conditions and facilitate loss of invaluable topsoil.  Some data centers house gas power on-site for day-to-day operations, creating continuous air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. One of the most visible examples is unfolding in Memphis, Tennessee, where more than 30 natural gas turbines intended for daily use are being installed at xAI’s new Colossus data center. Local residents and the NAACP filed a notice with intent to sue under the Clean Air Act, arguing that the project could worsen already dangerous air quality in a city that faces high asthma rates and longstanding environmental health disparities. Diesel-fueled backup generators also release harmful air pollutants, including fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and nitrogen oxides (NOx), linked to respiratory disease, heart disease, asthma and other serious health risks. Although these generators are only used during emergencies, they can have outsized health impacts, emitting 200 to 600 times more nitrogen oxides than natural gas plants. One analysis in Virginia estimated that even limited backup generator use could already be associated with nearly $300 million in annual public health costs and 14,000 asthma-related health impacts across multiple states.

 

• Noise Pollution: Generators, cooling systems and energy drawn from the power grid produce data center noise pollution. Data center construction also contributes to noise pollution, as it can take years to build due to the size of the facility and its specific design.  To put noise levels into perspective, safe sound levels are 70 A-weighted decibels (dBA) or lower, according to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Exposure to sounds 85 dBA and above is harmful to hearing. Data center noise pollution impacts facility staff, surrounding communities and wildlife. (https://www.techtarget.com/searchdatacenter/tip/Understanding-the-impact-of-data-center-noise-pollution)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Economic and Social Effects

• Declining Property Values: What were once farmland sites, edge-of-town industrial parcels, or low-intensity commercial corridors are now being considered or actively developed as large-scale data center projects. These facilities power cloud computing, AI, and the digital economy, but their rapid expansion has created a new set of challenges for nearby property owners. Noise from cooling systems. Increased truck traffic. Stormwater runoff. Light pollution. Business disruption. And in many cases, real, measurable impacts on property value.  One of the reasons for demanding for a moratorium on any data center buildout is clearly illustrated here: https://www.voltzrealestate.com/market-insights/how-data-center-development-is-changing-property-valuation-and-why-independent-appraisals-matter-more-than-ever.  From a property owner’s perspective, this kind of legislation is significant because it acknowledges a simple truth: not all impacts show up as physical damage. Property can remain structurally intact and still lose value due to external factors. Buyer perception changes. Risk increases. Functional utility declines. Operating costs rise. Businesses struggle with access, visibility, or disruption.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Loss of Farmlands: “Data center developers target rural areas for their projects because, like farms, they require large blocks of contiguous land as well as access to substantial supplies of water and electric power but their rapid growth has raised questions in farm country and beyond about the potential impact on those shared resources and neighboring communities.”(https://farmpolicynews.illinois.edu/2026/03/farmers-increasingly-rejecting-data-center-bids-for-land/).  
  
  https://people.com/farmer-86-rejects-usd15-million-offer-to-sell-his-land-to-data-developers-11911310
  
  For “Silicon Valley executives,” rural areas are likely attractive due to “weak zoning protections, cheap power, and abundant water.” It likely doesn’t help to sell the farmers these deals when they tend to come out of nowhere, following a knock on the door from a middleman who doesn’t make it clear who wants to buy the land or how the land would be used.  (https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/02/im-not-for-sale-farmers-refuse-to-take-millions-in-data-center-deals/)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• “One 82-year-old Kentucky woman, Ida Huddleston, turned away a “Fortune 500 company” offering $33 million for 650 acres. NBC News reported that several of her neighbors received similar offers. Huddleston joined at least five other residents in the county who refused to move forward after learning they’d have to sign a non-disclosure agreement just to find out who they would be dealing with. Ultimately, Huddleston had to search public records to figure out that a data center was even being planned in the area, The Guardian reported. The lack of transparency is a problem, farmers have said, because what buyers want to do with the land matters.”
  
  
• Rising Energy Costs: Data centers consume vast amounts of electricity, which can lead to higher energy costs for local residents.  As technology advances and computing demand grows, data centers are becoming increasingly energy hungry. A single modern AI data center can use as much power as 100,000 homes; many of the larger ones now being built are expected to consume up to 20 times that amount This adds to concerns about rising power bills across the United States. 2025 saw over $60 billion worth of rate increases countrywide, with Americans paying almost 10% more for electricity on average compared to 2024. The reasons for these rate hikes are complex and variable. However, there’s evidence that the need to procure and build new energy infrastructure for data centers contributed to price increases in at least one region (the Mid-Atlantic). Other regions could see the same if safeguards aren’t put in place.  "Higher power rates don’t mean squat to the billion-dollar corporations building them but that can’t be said for the average homeowner who sees rate hikes with each new data center being built."(https://www.wired.com/story/the-data-center-resistance-has-arrived/)

 

Job Creation vs. Resource Consumption: While data centers can bring some economic benefits, such as job creation, these are often outweighed by the resource consumption and other negative impacts.  Data centers can generate jobs in two primary ways:

• Temporary, contracted employment opportunities during data center construction. A large facility might keep thousands of construction workers busy, at least for the year or two that it takes to build.

 

• Permanent jobs for staff inside data centers. Once a data center is up and running, it usually requires some on-site technicians to handle tasks like setting up and managing IT equipment. Typically, however, the total data center staff number is only several dozen.(https://www.datacenterknowledge.com/operations-and-management/how-many-jobs-do-data-centers-create-it-depends)

Safety and Health Concerns

• Health Risks: The environmental damage caused by data centers could be having a greater impact on people’s health than initially realized.  According to a new report, several of Amazon’s facilities in Oregon (state) have contributed to a rise in rare cancers, muscle disorders, and miscarriages among nearby residents.  Nitrate concentrations in some wells have been found as high as 73 ppm (parts per million), 10 times the state limit of 7 ppm and seven times the federal limit. It was discovered that 68 of the 70 wells in the area violated the federal limit for nitrates in the drinking water.  Jim Doherty, a cattle rancher and former county commissioner of Morrow County, told the publication that he noticed more people in the area were reporting unexplained medical conditions, including cancers that usually affected the elderly. Doherty said that of the first 30 homes he visited where residents were reliant on well water, around 25 people had recently had miscarriages, while six had lost kidneys. There was also a 60-year-old who had his voice box taken out because of a smoking-related cancer, but he'd never smoked in his life.https://www.techspot.com/news/110442-amazon-data-centers-linked-rare-cancers-miscarriages-oregon.html  
• Noise pollution also affects wildlife. Similar to how boat engines and sonar equipment affect marine life, noise pollution on land disrupts animal communication and forces them to seek new migration patterns.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Safety Hazards: Data centers can pose safety risks, including fire hazards and electrical safety issues. For fire fighters in North America, the growing presence of data centers requires specialized training, lots of planning and close cooperation with on-site security and engineering teams at these new sites.  And the first thing to know, according to IAFF experts who were interviewed for this story? You can’t respond to a datacenter fire like a typical structure fire. Instead, the massive buildings have complex floor plans, ultra-secure perimeters, and high-value equipment that reacts poorly to water — all while housing backup power systems that include dangerous lithium-ion batteries.  (https://www.iaff.org/news/data-centers-are-booming-and-fire-fighters-must-adapt-to-new-challenges/)

More Information (and Growing):

"Nobody really wants a data center in their backyard," says Microsoft attorney.

Small Towns are Rising Up Against AI Data Centers

After $6B data center plan, Festus (MO)  voters oust every incumbent council member.

Why AI Data Centers Target Small Towns

The $100 Billion AI Ghost Town: Why Rating Agencies are Betting Your Pension on Data Centers That Don’t Exist

The Current State of ChatGPT is Horrible

$80B Disaster: Zuckerberg's Metaverse Ghost Town

AI Whistleblower: We Are Being Gaslit By AI Companies, They’re Hiding The Truth! - Karen Hao

‘Sam Altman is an historic con artist’ | Ed Zitron

Why is Everyone So Wrong About AI Water Use? - Hank Green