Champaign County officials took the first step Thursday night to enact a one-year moratorium on new data center development.
Data centers hold servers that transmit data and require large amounts of electricity and water to operate. Across the country, these facilities have transformed rural landscapes, filling them with humming buildings that use gallons of water every second.
The Champaign County Board voted unanimously in February to create a data center task force to develop zoning and permitting standards for unincorporated land in the county. At the same time, officials have also been considering a yearlong ban on construction of new large-scale facilities with at least 10,000 square feet of processing area.
“Here’s what’s coming: Two data centers near Joliet are 1,800 megawatts each,” Prairie Rivers Network Director of Climate Policy Andrew Rehn told the Zoning Board of Appeals. “Each one of those is over 10 times larger than the largest currently operating in Illinois. That is 1,800,000 homes worth of energy.”
That represents about the same amount of energy Chicago uses, he said.
The board heard from dozens of residents in favor of the idea before voting to back the moratorium.
“I think that there is potential for a great deal of harm if we proceed without adequate study of this issue and the potential harm it could have,” Board Member Cindy Cunningham said.
Residents concerned about environmental impacts, property values
Champaign County resident Sarah Nixon told the zoning board she is concerned about the noise data centers can emit — as well as the impact to wildlife.
“Land clearing destroys wildlife habitat, fragments ecosystems and undermines biodiversity,” she said.
They can also have an impact on the quality of life of residents, Nixon said.
“Nearby industrial facilities can depress home and land values, harming families who have invested in this community,” she said.
Rehn also supports the moratorium, but under the right guidelines, he said he would not be opposed to new data centers being built in the area.
“Am I concerned about a data center inherently?” he said. “No, but I am concerned about the things that it can do. And we have to put constraints on those.”
Urbana resident John Marlin said he wants county officials and the data center task force to have more time to research the facilities and shape future regulations.
“What the moratorium should do is give the county board members and whatever local experts they want to utilize a chance to take a careful look at what’s proposed, what the implications are and get a little feedback on how some of these facilities have performed other places,” he said.
He said he worries about the massive amounts of water data centers use.
“I would also point out that our rivers have been extremely low this year. You can call it weather, climate or whatever you want, but the [Mahomet Aquifer] locally has got a lot of its recharge come from the Sangamon River locally,” Marlin said. “And the Sangamon has been way below average for most of this year, and I don’t know if it’s going to get any better.”
Several union leaders submitted letters to the zoning board opposing a one-year pause on new data centers, citing the potential economic benefits.
“A moratorium would jeopardize thousands of high-quality jobs, millions in tax revenue and Illinois’ competitiveness in the [artificial intelligence] driven economy, while failing to address regional growth trends,” Jordan Mueller with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 601 wrote.
The moratorium now heads to the Champaign County Environment and Land Use Committee before going to the full board for a final vote.