What are we even doing here?
Wednesday, May 13, 2026 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Earlier this year…
After months of debate, a proposal to build what could be the largest data center in Illinois was approved by a suburban city council on Thursday afternoon.
Joliet City Council approved plans for the Joliet Technology Center, an approximately 795-acre data center that will be built on farmland near Rowell and Bernhard Roads. A site of that magnitude parallels the footprint of New York’s Central Park and is big enough to fit eight football stadiums the size of Soldier Field.
It will also apparently consume about as much electricity as St. Louis.
* This week…
Dozens of people gathered in south suburban Joliet on Tuesday to voice their concerns about a proposed solar farm project that could stretch across three townships in Will County. […]
Each question asked was on behalf of the dozens of opponents of a proposed 600-megawatt solar and battery storage farm project that would impact many southwest suburban farm and wetland areas.
“It’s just not conducive to putting tens of thousands of poles into the ground, galvanized steel, that will, in time, corrode and cause pretty severe poisoning of our water supply,” said Green Garden Township resident Melissa Tabb-Eager.
“There is no evidence, or documented evidence of steel piles from solar facilities leeching into ground water. It doesn’t exist,” said Ben Jacobi, an attorney for Earthrise Energy. […]
The Will County Planning and Zoning Commission, ending the hours long meeting, voted against the proposed development.
I just can’t with this.
- Flyin' Elvis'-Utah Chapter - Wednesday, May 13, 26 @ 10:43 am:
“It’s just not conducive to putting tens of thousands of poles into the ground, galvanized steel, that will, in time, corrode and cause pretty severe poisoning of our water supply,” said Green Garden Township resident Melissa Tabb-Eager.
…and that type of “logic” you don’t mess with.
- Oklahoma - Wednesday, May 13, 26 @ 10:46 am:
Maybe, just maybe, the machines have won.
- Dirty Red - Wednesday, May 13, 26 @ 10:54 am:
Speaking of St. Louis, did you catch the bit where a data center there will be the cure to their aging water infrastructure?
There are no more grown ups.
- That Guy - Wednesday, May 13, 26 @ 11:03 am:
It’s so disgusting how blatant it is that these people are bought off.
Regardless of the city, I simply do not buy that these city council members are stupid enough to believe that these data centers will be a boon to their economy. It employs like 3 people permanently and a couple of hundred transient workers (during the construction period). And then all the money is removed from the local economy due to few workers and the companies being out of the community, if not state itself.
- Jurist - Wednesday, May 13, 26 @ 11:03 am:
I don’t want to distract from the issue, but am I the only one taking issue with the media’s classification of Joliet as suburban? It was prominent in yesterday’s articles about I-80 trucking too, and I’m not sure I’ve noticed it before.
- Excitable Boy - Wednesday, May 13, 26 @ 11:05 am:
Melissa is going to be horrified to find out a lot of the pipes bringing water into homes are old, rusty galvanized steel.
- Ares - Wednesday, May 13, 26 @ 11:24 am:
Isn’t Joliet on the verge of water shortages, requiring a $2 billion pipeline? Will the pipeline furnish enough water now to pawer this and other future server farms?
- Matty - Wednesday, May 13, 26 @ 11:37 am:
-am I the only one taking issue with the media’s classification of Joliet as suburban?-
I believe so, because everyone recognizes Joliet as a metro suburb. It’s less than an hour away from Chicago proper.