Monroe Township Trustees Unanimously Block Data Centers, Nuclear Reactors for One Year

Monroe Township trustees unanimously passed a 12-month moratorium last week on new proposals to develop data centers and small modular nuclear reactors, making the 27-square-mile township the second locality in Adams County to hit the brakes on such development in a matter of weeks.

The vote follows a similar action by Sprigg Township, which passed a one-year moratorium on data centers in late February. Sprigg trustees also passed a separate March 2 resolution establishing a zoning commission to regulate development across the township's jurisdiction, which includes the former Killen power plant site. Sprigg's moratorium has been described as "voluntary" in nature, a distinction that township records would need to clarify.

The twin moratoria reflect mounting local resistance to a wave of data center proposals targeting Adams County's former power plant sites. Ben Murray, a senior researcher at Food & Water Watch, said the townships' actions are part of a national pattern. "From New York to Georgia to Ohio, local governments around the nation are waking up to the AI-driven data center boom that stands to hurt communities while making Big Tech rich," Murray said. "Rural communities have been inundated with proposals for multi-billion dollar projects that would use many times more energy than the entire county while asking for tax breaks and not providing any real benefits. As Monroe and Sprigg Townships hit the brakes on this development, Ohio must consider a statewide moratorium to protect all residents from the abundance of harms data centers bring."

Local government action alone has not slowed federal permitting. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has already issued Nationwide Permit No. 39 to enable a data center project near the former Stuart power plant in Sprigg Township. That permit includes special conditions to protect endangered bats, mussels and butterflies, and establishes a 100-foot buffer zone to keep construction crews from disturbing three cemeteries near the site.

Residents are not waiting on elected officials to act. Petition circulators have been gathering signatures at locations including the West Union Walmart, where Emily Harper staffed a station this week. Three separate petitions are currently in circulation: one calling for an Ohio constitutional amendment to ban data centers statewide, one asking Adams County commissioners to establish rural zoning that would make data centers harder to build, and a third directing Sprigg Township trustees to rescind a January 26 resolution that signaled no intent to change zoning at the former Stuart plant site. "So many people have said, 'Oh, this has been in the making for three years now, four years now. It's a done deal,'" Harper said. "When you have commissioners saying, 'It's not a done deal,' it offers hope that maybe we can channel this in a certain way that benefits our community the most."

The debate over land use near the former Killen plant has taken on additional dimension with the recent opening of a new tourist attraction on a 900-acre site nearby. Dieter Moeller spent millions to bring state-of-the-art telescopes to the property. "What concerns me is not data centers. It's how they're implemented," Moeller said, a position that captures a thread of local sentiment that stops short of outright opposition but demands more community control over how development proceeds.

Whether Monroe Township's moratorium and the ongoing petition drives can hold off projects that have already cleared federal permitting hurdles remains the central question hanging over Adams County's former power corridor.