Woman Says Big Tech Is Suing Tiny Ohio Town After Residents Rejected $1 Billion AI Data Center: “They Voted No”

A viral video on X is drawing attention after a woman shared how residents of Urbana, Ohio, pushed back against plans to build a data center in their small town. In the clip, she explains that after hearing concerns from constituents, the city council voted against the proposal, arguing it would do more harm than good for the community of fewer than 12,000 people. However, she says the tech company behind the project is challenging the decision in court.

Data centers are popping up all over the country. These buildings house IT operations and equipment. They require a lot of power and can strain the natural resources of small communities. In addition, some data centers produce a constant humming noise that residents say becomes a nuisance.

With these factors, it's not surprising that many towns are pushing back against the construction of data centers in their communities. Urbana, Ohio, recently went viral for the steps residents took to keep one out of their town, highlighting both how far communities are willing to go to stop these projects and the measures major corporations may take to move them forward.

Ohio Town's Data Center Rejection Sparks Lawsuit From Developer

“Big Tech is suing a tiny Ohio town of Urbana after its city council listened to the residents and voted no on a massive AI data center,” the X post reads. “Urbana only has a population of about 11,000, but they’re going up against a $20 billion company”

The post continues, “The company wants to put in a data center so massive it will use eight times the entire town’s current annual electricity usage. The data center project would claim 565 acres. The $1 billion AI data center would likely use an enormous amount of water, up to hundreds of millions of gallons per year,” adding, “For a project of this scale, the Thor Equities’ proposed annual usage could easily reach 300–1,800+ million gallons per year in water usage.”

The town later approved a 12-month moratorium on the project, prompting developer Thor Equities to file a lawsuit. This shows the lengths these mega corporations are willing to go to and how their behavior impacts local residents. It’s important to mention that a small town like Urbana likely doesn’t have the resources to challenge such a big organization.

In the comment section, not everyone agreed with the city’s position. Some people thought that in a few years, the data center will cause a raise in their property value. Others believed that it would lower the cost of homes in their area, and make it more difficult to sell if they wanted to move away from the data center. 

Not all commenters supported the town's decision. Many defended the proposed data center, arguing it could bring economic benefits despite concerns raised by local residents.

The Daily Dot was unable to independently verify the claims made in the X post or the projected electricity and water usage cited in the video.