* From Gov. JB Pritzker’s State of the State address in February…

We need to think critically about our future energy usage with the needs of Illinois households at the forefront. So, in the face of rising demand and surging prices, I’m proposing a two year pause on authorization of new data center tax credits. With the shifting energy landscape, it is imperative that our growth does not undermine affordability and stability for our families.

He cannot unilaterally impose a two-year moratorium. That will require legislative action, although his administration can slow-walk the approval process.

* Gov. Pritzker today…

Reporter: I’ll start on data centers. What sort of regulations would you support on that? And are you worried that any sort of regulations, including maybe suspending the tax incentives for it, could prevent more companies from wanting to come to Illinois to build data centers?

Pritzker: Well, I think the whole purpose here is we want to slow down and take an assessment of what it is that we need to accomplish in order to grow the data center industry in the future. Very importantly, we need electricity in order to make sure that we’re feeding our homes, our businesses that are already here in Illinois, and then, of course, the data center companies need to be able to provide their own energy for their needs. And so from my perspective, very important that we put some regulation on data centers coming to Illinois and just slow down while we’re trying to build up our capacity in the state.

Whether those “very important” regulations will actually pass this spring is unknown at the moment, but it’s not looking all that likely. If he wants this done, he needs to put his shoulder to the wheel.

* Back to the governor…

One last thing, as you recall, we lifted the moratorium on nuclear plants that has a specific purpose of increasing the amount of electricity in our state, which will be an important precursor to us allowing back the tax credits for data centers. Doesn’t mean we have to have opened a nuclear plant, but we need to be able to see what electricity capacity will look like in the state before we can provide the kinds of incentives we used to on data centers. […]

Reporter: Back to data centers, there’s been concerns from the community about the resources it takes to run the data centers [garbled audio]

Pritzker: I think it’s perfectly rational in this moment to have concerns about building new data centers. Data centers serve an important role in our newly AI-driven society, and whether we like that or not, we are going to see more and more technology available to people in their daily lives, in their work, and so on. It will increase productivity, and I think importantly, we need to focus on generating more electricity across the United States, here in Illinois, too. It’s what I’ve been doing. It’s why we passed the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act, which is increased solar. I talked about that a little bit in my remarks about the fact that we now have, well, it’s more than 35 times the amount of solar as we were producing before I took office, so we’ve got to continue on that path with nuclear. It’s why we lifted the nuclear moratorium, and we’re going to continue to look at all the sources of electricity that we can build over the next 15 years, because that’s the time in which we’re going to have this significant increase in need, even if you put data centers aside. By the way, we would still need more electricity, and so data centers just add to the pressure on all of us to make sure that there’s energy, and particularly clean energy, available to serve the needs of job creation as well as people’s living standards.

We’re gonna need lots more electricity way before his “next 15 years” claim. From earlier this year…

A recent study published by three state agencies warns electricity shortages are coming to Illinois.

The shortages will start in PJM Interconnection’s regional transmission system by 2029, with the shortage hitting Illinois’ ComEd territory (which is within PJM) beginning in 2030, and then kicks in hard by 2032.

Capacity shortages in downstate Ameren’s territory are expected to begin in 2031 and escalate through 2035, when the stuff hits the fan. Ameren is in the Midcontinent Independent System Operator’s, or MISO’s, regional transmission network.

* Back to Pritzker…

So, I mean, we’re an attractive place for companies to move to that need water, in whether it’s manufacturing or data centers or anything else. My job, our job is to make sure that we protect the fresh water that we have here. I want to remind you that here in Illinois, we are on the shores of and sitting on top of 80 percent of the United States fresh water, 80 percent. 20 percent of the world’s fresh water. So that’s a resource that more and more people are recognizing as a highly valuable resource, again, we have to protect it from an environmental perspective. We have to protect it in terms of the needs of the people of Illinois. And then it’s a resource that also, again, is attractive for industry, many of them in need of fresh water, not to mention if you look at all the studies, residents around the United States, just families who live across the United States, more and more are going to be seen moving to the Midwest, because you can’t have - there isn’t enough water in Arizona, there isn’t enough water in Wyoming, there isn’t enough water in Colorado, or California, and there is an abundance of water here, and we should make sure that we are taking full advantage of the resource that is part of what Illinois.

From Fox Chicago this week…

“The real concern here in Illinois is the fact that we have this limit on how much water we’re allowed to use from Lake Michigan. So the limit in this case isn’t being made by the level of Lake Michigan, it’s being made by the fact that Illinois has to keep itself under this limit that’s been imposed by the Supreme Court,” [Joel Brammeier, CEO of the Alliance for the Great Lakes] said.

From the Chicago Reader…

Data center developers are also seeking out the midwest for its plentiful fresh water and cool climate. But [Helena Volzer, senior source water policy manager at the Alliance for the Great Lakes] cautioned that water conservation is important even in places with abundant water and said the region’s local water systems are still at risk from data centers. “I think that [data centers] have ignited a conversation in a water-rich region. [That] conservation is still important, it still matters. Managing those water resources sustainably is important,” she said. […]

Volzer mentioned that many data centers claim to use very little or no water, “and I think that’s very much not true.” Water usage can’t just be boiled down to a single facility. Instead, the entire lifecycle of water usage involved in operating that facility must be taken into account. “These are large, energy-using facilities, regardless of whether or not they’re using a closed loop system or immersive cooling or whatever the cooling method is,” Volzer said. Because data centers require computers that tend to heat up very quickly, cooling is a key component in helping a data center function—particularly one that’s being used to run generative AI.

“Most of our energy is generated through fossil fuels, oil, gas, [and] nuclear, and that requires water for cooling, too. So, water is going to be involved no matter what,” she said. The indirect water usage from power generation is often not included in projects presented to the community or to local politicians.

Of course, this goes far beyond Lake Michigan. Data centers have been popping up all over the state.