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.
- Leatherneck - Wednesday, May 13, 26 @ 11:22 am:
=It will also apparently consume about as much electricity as St. Louis.=
So would the proposed Cyrus One DC near Lowder. If not more.
All the more reason to oppose Cyrus One and other DCs.
- 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?
- P. - Wednesday, May 13, 26 @ 11:26 am:
I have yet to see an explanation of why we seem to need an unending amount of these. The only benefits effectively verbalized are “construction jobs” then some jobs and tax dollars, none of which makes my life or shopping experience or Disney+ viewing more awesome. At least with a distribution center that we have faster deliver of goods-ish? Does no one think when tech leap forward again in five or ten years these things are going to be as desirable as 700 Randhurst Malls? Of course all of this is on top of the fact that we are baking our planet, they are drinking our freshwater milkshake, utility costs are through the roof and the grid is at or near capacity.
- MadCo disease - Wednesday, May 13, 26 @ 11:28 am:
@Dirty Red, the proposed data center is closed-loop, and the water it would require would not negatively impact the city’s water supply.
St. Louis was built for so many more people that they have TOO MUCH water that they have to periodically release from the system. The property taxes generated from the project could actually contribute to improving their aging water infrastructure.
Not sure how that’s immature logic?
- Think Again - Wednesday, May 13, 26 @ 11:30 am:
=Joliet Technology Center=
But the campus has also drawn support from members of the local building union, which will stand to benefit from the construction jobs that will be created.
https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/approval-given-to-20bn-data-center-near-chicago-illinois/
- 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.
- btowntruth from forgottonia - Wednesday, May 13, 26 @ 11:38 am:
What Excitable Boy said.
I have worked on jobs replacing water lines in rural towns.
She hasn’t seen corroded until she has seen those.
- Rich Miller - Wednesday, May 13, 26 @ 11:45 am:
===a boon to their economy. It employs like 3 people===
You are looking at it from the wrong direction.
They’re focused on the massive taxes generated, and nothing else.
- David Agnew - Wednesday, May 13, 26 @ 12:38 pm:
And no burden whatsoever on the local school district.
- Ares - Wednesday, May 13, 26 @ 12:55 pm:
If a global conflict ever shuts down the supply chain, the warehouses will go vacant like Rust Belt manufacturing plants of recent years.
- Rich Miller - Wednesday, May 13, 26 @ 1:10 pm:
===If a global conflict ever shuts down the supply chain, the warehouses===
If it comes to that, what to do with empty warehouses is gonna be the absolute least of our worries.
- btowntruth from forgottonia - Wednesday, May 13, 26 @ 1:34 pm:
“The proposed data center is closed loop,and the water it would require would not negatively impact the city’s water supply.”
Then they would have no problem putting that in writing and pay gladly for any overages….right?
- btowntruth from forgottonia - Wednesday, May 13, 26 @ 1:45 pm:
And it shows you how much she knows about solar panel farm construction and water table depths.
Spoiler alert:She doesn’t.
You can be for a solar farm.
You can be against a solar farm.
But it would be nice if people like her knew what they were talking about.
- very old soil - Wednesday, May 13, 26 @ 2:16 pm:
And what do you know about water table depths?
- gemstone - Wednesday, May 13, 26 @ 4:56 pm:
“Then they would have no problem putting that in writing and pay gladly for any overages….right?” They pay there water bill like anyone else if that’s what you’re asking? Don’t you pay for “overages”? You pay for what you use. Full stop.
- btowntruth from forgottonia - Wednesday, May 13, 26 @ 5:40 pm:
“And what do you know about water table depths?”
That they can depend on things like geology and precipitation and topography.
And that some tables are lower than others.
What do you know?
- very old soilT - Thursday, May 14, 26 @ 4:12 am:
A lot. more than half of Illinois cropland has a seasonal water table within 5 feet of land surface.