* Politico…
Community benefit agreements are increasingly appearing in state strategies for handling the data center boom. In recent months, three Rust Belt governors — Pennsylvania’s Josh Shapiro, Illinois’ JB Pritzker and Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer — have called on project developers to enter into legal agreements with communities that can cement pollution limits, hiring commitments and local investment promises. […]
The opposition has prompted a wave of local moratoriums and restrictions: Virginia has enacted a new energy consumption tax and New York has paused new data center construction for a year. In Illinois, lawmakers have proposed the POWER Act, which would require data center developers to enter into a CBA with a coalition of community-based organizations or a community advisory board formed by the municipal government. […]
Meagan Niebler, program director at the nonprofit law firm Fair Shake Environmental Legal Services, said more communities want to stop data centers entirely instead of reaching a deal. […]
Pennsylvania’s regulations and proposed laws in Illinois and Michigan would mandate that companies negotiate with communities until both sides agree. But nonmandatory CBAs depend heavily on a developer’s good faith effort.
It’s “very hard” to get large companies to a table for open dialogue with communities, and locals often need a lot of organizing and legal leverage to even get their foot in the door, Niebler said.
* WAND…
What was intended to be a data center presentation in Decatur quickly turned into a heated shouting match. […]
“You guys don’t even know what a data center is,” said committee Chairman Jerry Stocks.
The Citizens Voluntary Advisory Committee created a presentation packed with eight weeks of research about guidelines for a potential data center. […]
Some residents think with the right regulations, a data center could benefit Decatur.
“When done right, this is a blessing for this community, in my opinion. So I’m just here tonight to speak in favor of this,” said one resident.
Not everyone is for data centers coming to Macon County. Demonstrators protested outside the Decatur Civic Center to make their opposition known. As for the presentation, it focused on the research and what data centers could mean for Macon County.
* Champaign County is trying to write the rules before its one-year moratorium expires. IPM Newsroom…
In Champaign County, discussions about these large data centers have also gained traction as residents worry about water usage and environmental impacts.
In April, the county implemented a 1-year moratorium on large data center construction. The Champaign County Data Center Activities Task Force was formed to propose guardrails for large data centers after the ban is lifted. […]
“We do not have the legal authority to ban data centers; I want to make that really clear,” said Emily Rodriguez, vice chair of the Champaign County Board who also serves on the task force, at a public task force meeting Monday, Aug. 31. […]
The ordinance would require data centers to comply with certain regulations, including the most recent International Energy Conservation Code.
It would also limit the size and geographic location of new, large data centers; for example, to avoid or mitigate the impact on wildlife to “a sustainable level of mortality.” […]
“This language is pretty broad and vague, and it begs what information will be used to make this determination and what a sustainable level of mortality is,” [Amanda Pankau of the Prairie Rivers Network] said.
* NPR Illinois…
Yorkville has approved three data center projects, although only one, CyrusOne, is currently under construction, while the other two are tangled in community-driven litigation.
Yorkville City Administrator Bart Olson says none of them are getting local tax incentives, and the city reached an agreement with the developers to give its school district money above and beyond property taxes.
Yorkville, like DeKalb, needs new schools. The district has been trying to build two new schools and renovate their high school. Voters shot down a referendum to do that this spring. […]
NIU professor Chris Goodman says community benefit agreements can guarantee investment, but they can also feel like a way to try to win over increasingly skeptical residents.
“I very much hesitate to call them a bribe,” he said, “but it could almost feel like that, right? ‘Hey, we’ll front you the money to build this new school if you just let us do what we want.’ I mean, it accomplishes the goal from the school district’s perspective, but it really doesn’t feel very good.”
The CyrusOne development is in Yorkville but falls within neighboring Plano’s school district. Luke Baughman, Plano’s chief school business official, says, unlike Yorkville, they’re not expecting to receive a lump sum.
He says they’re projecting the data center will generate almost $11 million in annual property tax revenue. The district collected around $21.6 million last year.
* The Daily Herald…
Amid continuing pushback against data centers from communities across the country, Grayslake on Tuesday announced it has granted a building permit for the first component of a massive data center campus in the Cornerstone business park.
An 800,000-square-foot building will be the first to emerge for T5@Chicago IV, as part of a planned 472-acre project along Peterson Road west of Route 83.
The village highlights it as possibly the largest economic investment in Lake County history, even as unflagging opponents continue to question the amount of power and water the campus will consume, as well as other potential impacts on the area. […]
“Secured without local municipal tax incentives, tax exemptions or TIF (tax increment financing) subsidies, the development is projected to generate $1.4 billion in property tax revenue over 20 years across local taxing bodies,” the village said in an announcement of the permit Tuesday. […]
However, opponents have filed suit alleging, among other things, that the hearings were inadequate and Open Meetings Act rules were violated. The village has responded with a motion to dismiss the suit.
* More…
* CNBC | Trump says U.S. communities opposing AI data centers could end up ‘backwards and poor’: Trump’s post comes nearly a week after a memo issued by the National Republican Senatorial Committee warned, “If voters’ perceptions of data centers are not fixed quickly, the campaign against them will expand far beyond Ohio.” The NRSC said that private polling in that state shows Republican Sen. Jon Husted in a “dead heat” with Democratic challenger Sherrod Brown in the special election to fill the remainder of the term for the seat vacated by Vice President JD Vance.
* Capitol News Illinois | PJM’s big new data center plan: Make the states figure it out: PJM Interconnection, the biggest grid operator in the U.S., has finally settled on a plan to prevent data centers from causing other customers’ utility bills to soar further in its 13-state territory. That plan relies heavily on states themselves, and the utilities they regulate, to force data centers to secure their own power supplies — or face the possibility of getting their power cut off during grid emergencies.
* Bloomberg | AI Data Center Spending to Reach $32 Trillion by 2050, PwC Says: Global data center spending is set to reach $31.6 trillion through 2050 to meet the world’s growing appetite for AI, an investment boom with no precedent in history, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. Dwarfing projects such as the railways, internet and electrification, spending on data centers could even hit $50 trillion over the next two and a half decades if AI adoption accelerates beyond PwC’s “central scenario” forecast, the firm said in a report Wednesday. For comparison: the US gross domestic product is roughly $30 trillion.
* Utah News Dispatch | Utah can’t say how much it’s losing from data center tax break: “The scale and rapid growth of data-center investment raise legitimate questions about whether our current framework, and the data available to evaluate it, remain adequate,” Rep. Jill Koford, R-Ogden, said in an email. Koford sponsored a bill passed by the Legislature earlier this year requiring transparency around data centers’ water usage. Utah isn’t alone in its opaque approach to sales and use tax exemptions for data centers. A report from Good Jobs First, a nonprofit which focuses on corporate and government accountability, found that 14 of the 37 states with such exemptions don’t publish their official revenue losses in a timely manner. Those that do reported losing between $830,000 and $1.9 billion in 2025, with larger losses projected for this year and beyond.
* The Dallas Morning News | More than half of Texas data centers broke law by not responding to water use inquiry: Information requests from state power and water regulators received responses from fewer than half of the data centers identified by the two state agencies. The dearth of information underlined a lack of transparency from data center developers that has fed growing public mistrust. Data centers’ rapid emergence in Texas has become a potent issue in this year’s election cycle, especially in rural communities that tend to be Republican strongholds.
* Illinois Answers | Data Centers Near O’Hare Win Nearly $100M in Local Tax Breaks, Leaving Suburban Homeowners to Cover the Gap: The impact lands hardest on homeowners in suburbs where the tax base leans on a handful of big businesses. In northwest suburban Northlake, the average homeowner would save more than $2,000 on their annual tax bill — a difference of almost 30% — if local data centers did not receive valuation reductions and incentives, according to the analysis. At least 18 northwest suburban data centers won multimillion-dollar breaks in their taxable value from Cook County officials — in one case landing on a valuation far below what the business originally paid to buy its site.
- Chicagonk - Wednesday, Sep 2, 26 @ 10:31 am:
The whole state should benefit from data centers through sales taxes rather than just the township or city where they are built.
- Siualum - Wednesday, Sep 2, 26 @ 10:51 am:
Let’s say we allow all these data centers to be built. I don’t know this, but let’s also say technological advances in five or ten years allow the same computing power to be achieved in much smaller structures, rendering the huge centers obsolete. Likely they’ll be abandoned or sold for pennies on the dollar. The property tax revenue will shrink, etc.
- Excitable Boy - Wednesday, Sep 2, 26 @ 10:59 am:
- “You guys don’t even know what a data center is,” said committee Chairman Jerry Stocks. -
As someone who regularly insults people’s intelligence when arguing, I can confidently say it is not the most effective tactic.
- Larry Bowa Jr. - Wednesday, Sep 2, 26 @ 11:03 am:
“I don’t know this, but let’s also say technological advances in five or ten years allow the same computing power to be achieved in much smaller structures, rendering the huge centers obsolete.”
You are almost certainly going to be correct but on the other hand as you can see in the links above we have Bloomberg and PWC et. al. still pumping air into a bubble that’s already deflating, so I expect most of these to get built and all of them to become problems for local governments in the not very distant future.
I’d get upset about it but this is what we do now as a country, we do financial bubbles. It would be like getting mad at baseball.
- Annon'in - Wednesday, Sep 2, 26 @ 11:13 am:
The whole data center mish mash seems almost too confusing Media reporting prop. tax “loss” The centers will pay some tax, but undeveloped land would have ZERO so it seems there is “loss”
Next the centers are unlikely to generate more children to overcrowd schools. So schools whining about not enough $$$ seems silly.
Finally much like malls the centers pay a tax locally not regionally or statewide.
- Todd - Wednesday, Sep 2, 26 @ 11:27 am:
one of the proposed Yorkville centers will be right in my back yard — literally. My concern is putting them where they butt up against residential neighborhoods. But the $$ are to attractive to the city counsel. Yorkvilles budget is about $37 mil and you’re looking at two of these bringing in an additional $22 mil so 60% of the current budget that unaccounted for , they are licking their chops over the $$.
I think we need the projects to stay ahead of others in this field, I just think the citing could be better. We already have people prepping their houses to go on the market before this goes in.
And when I say right in my back yard, at the end of my property, there is a neiborhood/HOA pond it is 89 yards across that. on the other side of that is their property. Only good thing as they are looking to put their retention pond at this end. But that put the buildings about 1000′ tot he south of us, but right behind other homes. they did get a 400′ set back on the buildings
- crow930 - Wednesday, Sep 2, 26 @ 11:27 am:
Stop debating whether data centers are good or bad. Instead, focus on making them work for the community. Planned correctly, data centers deliver billions in investment, massive property tax revenue, and school funding—all without local tax incentives. We must address power, water, and infrastructure concerns with strict standards. Yet shutting the door means rejecting the biggest economic opportunity Illinois has seen in decades. The goal should be responsible growth, not no growth.
- JB13 - Wednesday, Sep 2, 26 @ 11:31 am:
– let’s also say technological advances in five or ten years allow the same computing power to be achieved in much smaller structures –
If technology advances, we can’t build anything.
Seems sound.
- Candy Dogood - Wednesday, Sep 2, 26 @ 11:33 am:
===“You guys don’t even know what a data center is,” said committee Chairman Jerry Stocks===
Bold move, Cotton.
I don’t think I need to know a whole lot about my neighbor beyond how much noises pollution they’ll cause, how much water they’ll waste, and how much of a strain they’re going to put on basic infrastructure — like electricity.
Most of the folks that are against data centers understand that much. What more do they need to know?
- stateandlake - Wednesday, Sep 2, 26 @ 11:34 am:
The Grayslake data center has generated plenty of opposition since the extent of plans became known. The village brought police into a board meeting to escort someone out who wanted to speak after the alloted time for comment had expired.
More recently, the village scheduled a public meeting at a much larger venue, ostensibly to allow everyone a chance to hear information and have their say. A couple of days later, the village cancelled the meeting, sharing several social media threats of violence not directed any any one individual nor at the meeting. It has not been rescheduled. Since then there have been two communications from the village that have provided a QR code to reference a Q&A document, and more recently to announce the granting of a building permit. In short, the board has dug in their heels and basically said, it’s going ahead regardless of what you think.
- Google is Your Friend - Wednesday, Sep 2, 26 @ 12:01 pm:
==- stateandlake - Wednesday, Sep 2, 26 @ 11:34 am:==
They should be happy there’s not recall.
Anger over planned AI data center drives Missouri city’s voters to recall council member
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/recall-vote-missouri-ai-data-center-rcna595690
and in Independence, MO two other council members lost in the regular election earlier this year. And in Utah, the Senate President backed a giant hyperscale data center and lost his primary.
- Rich Miller - Wednesday, Sep 2, 26 @ 12:03 pm:
===I don’t know this, but let’s also say===
Let’s not. This is not a sophomore dorm room.
- levivoted4judy - Wednesday, Sep 2, 26 @ 12:04 pm:
If ever there was a need for the GA/JB to form a work group of subject matter experts and the IL Municipal League to figure out what a responsible CBA would be, this is it. If you get past AI, we use data centers to email, text, bank, watch movies, order ride shares, purchase goods and food for home delivery, you name it. No need for incentives either, they seem to have high profit margins (but I’m not sure what they are). Also, come up with an excessive electricity usage rate and figure out the best places to locate them factoring in environmental responsibility and where the demand is.
- Rich Miller - Wednesday, Sep 2, 26 @ 12:05 pm:
crow930, are you quite finished copying and pasting your talking points?
Try harder not to look like such a patsy. It’s unbecoming.
- Ducky LaMoore - Wednesday, Sep 2, 26 @ 12:12 pm:
As someone who was raised and has lived most of my life in a place that is backwards and poor, let me say… we’re content. And if we wanted to live somewhere else, and be someone else, we would.
- Benniefly2 - Wednesday, Sep 2, 26 @ 12:16 pm:
=”…the development is projected to generate $1.4 billion in property tax revenue over 20 years across local taxing bodies,” the village said in an announcement of the permit Tuesday.=
Hoo Boy… I have some prime investment opportunities in a bridge or three that I would like to introduce to the village.
Perhaps the Bears should offer Grayslake an opportunity of a lifetime to fully fund a brand new NFL stadium that will totally pay itself off within 25 years. I think the village might just buy it.
- Da big bad wolf - Wednesday, Sep 2, 26 @ 12:29 pm:
=== The centers will pay some tax, but undeveloped land would have ZERO so it seems there is “loss”===
Undeveloped land pays property taxes.
- Jocko - Wednesday, Sep 2, 26 @ 12:38 pm:
==Undeveloped land pays property taxes.==
Once they get their tax breaks.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/08/23/special-report-data-centers-taxes/
- JS Mill - Wednesday, Sep 2, 26 @ 12:49 pm:
=Undeveloped land pays property taxes.=
Yes, and farm land pays taxes which, long term will likely be more than a data center. Farm land, which accounts for a lot of what is being turned into data centers outside of Chicago is not “undeveloped”.
Based on my experience, the property tax windfall will be short lived. Data centers, with the exception of the building, are mostly untaxed personal property. The buildings will probably not increase in value at a rate any faster than a house. The se companies are investing billions and almost certainly have legal teams that are savvy to the property taxs rules in Illinois. It won’t take much time for them to start heading to your local county assessor’s office with a demand to lower their property assessment values. Data centers also do not produce many permanent jobs.
That said, I am not opposed to them but it needs to be done in a sustainable manner with a plan to meet energy and water needs that don’t cut communities short or jack up electric rates.
- Retired School Board Member - Wednesday, Sep 2, 26 @ 12:53 pm:
Maybe, just maybe, local folks are so against data centers because the thought of our elected officials governing in a fashion that puts the well being of people over the profit making of Big Tech just preposterous. Government has plenty of power to legislate and enforce regulations on this necessary digital infrastructure but due to decades of corporate appeasement (bootlicking) lack the will to do so.
I have yet to see anyone talking about the inevitable need for a Universal Basic Income fund because Moore’s Law tells us that the capacity of this technology is going to increase at astounding rates and will eliminate more and more work.
There is less than zero faith in our elected representatives to protect the populus from Big Tech, (Big Ag, Big Pharma, Big Engergy too) and thats why there is sooo much resistance.
- Manchester - Wednesday, Sep 2, 26 @ 1:22 pm:
I’m not against data centers per se but I do believe there need to be regulations on where they can be sited as well as requirements that they provide their own power, do not deplete the water supply and abide by noise pollution requirements. I’m not a bit ashamed to admit that I don’t want one in my backyard.
- P. - Wednesday, Sep 2, 26 @ 1:34 pm:
Universal basic income from AI and data centers is the people behind trillions in investments painting a tunnel on a solid rock face that sucker class will run into à la Wil E Coyote. At least tell me it’s going to make my Candy Crush load fastes. How big of rubes do they think we are? That said please let me know when some kind of UBI covenant is approved and signed and I’ll be the first one firing up the daiquiri machine.
- Consider this - Wednesday, Sep 2, 26 @ 1:38 pm:
Jerry Stocks is a local attorney who runs point for Dan Caulkins. So there’s that.
- H-W - Wednesday, Sep 2, 26 @ 1:43 pm:
=== Bold move, Cotton. ===
Winner, winner.
For me, the issue that needs to be resolved first is the usage and recycling of water issue. We are experiencing a decade of off and on droughts in parts of Illinois, and outright long-term droughts throughout the U.S. There is no reason to assume water shortages are trivial, and will resolve themselves in the near term.
In addition, the idea that citizen consumers of water would be required to pay more for water, because new private, for-profit technologies require a great share of the available water resources in those same places represents an unnatural “taxation” upon residents in support of private corporate profits.
Climate change is real. Water shortages are real and widespread. Unless properly regulated, data centers will only exacerbate the problems associated with climate change.
- 44 - Wednesday, Sep 2, 26 @ 1:55 pm:
Good discussion in here. Seems like as long as power and water are addressed, they would add $ to underdeveloped sites. Plenty of bombed out areas that won’t otherwise attract development. Locals have to sign off. I’m good with it. Let’s get a piece of the billions being raised. Include new power the key which I’ll bet is hard to do and expensive. Doubt these centers run on solar.
- Rich Miller - Wednesday, Sep 2, 26 @ 1:55 pm:
===Seems like as long as power and water are addressed===
lol
- Friendly Bob Adams - Wednesday, Sep 2, 26 @ 1:57 pm:
To me the big issue is water. You can make more electricity, but you can’t make more water.
- Rich Miller - Wednesday, Sep 2, 26 @ 2:08 pm:
===You can make more electricity, but you can’t make more water. ===
And unless you’re making electricity with solar or wind, you can’t do that without using massive amounts of water.
- Dotnonymous x - Wednesday, Sep 2, 26 @ 2:08 pm:
With Jerry Stocks and Dan Caulkins making the decisions…what could go wrong?
- Dotnonymous x - Wednesday, Sep 2, 26 @ 2:19 pm:
“Castles made of sand fall into the Sea…eventually.”
- harp5339 - Wednesday, Sep 2, 26 @ 2:20 pm:
== we use data centers to email, text, bank, watch movies, order ride shares, purchase goods and food for home delivery, you name it ==
Yes, but the current giant ones being proposed will be full of GPUs that are only for one purpose — AI.
- Dotnonymous x - Wednesday, Sep 2, 26 @ 2:26 pm:
I don’t get the big deal over water…humans can live between 70 to 120 hours without a sip.
- Dotnonymous x - Wednesday, Sep 2, 26 @ 2:27 pm:
Excitable Boy really made me laugh out loud.
- Dotnonymous x - Wednesday, Sep 2, 26 @ 2:42 pm:
Humans have made colossal mistakes throughout history with great conviction…need I list them?
- Three Dimensional Checkers - Wednesday, Sep 2, 26 @ 4:04 pm:
ComEd’s Transmission Security Agreements are a part of this issue. See the link below.
Hard for me to say big opinions, but I like the historical analogy the railroads in the 1840-60s. Railroads changed society in numerous ways, but a lot of people went broke building railroads to nowhere in the 1840-60s.
https://www.exeloncorp.com/grid/exelons-transmission-security-agreements-a-pioneering-model-for-customer-protection1
- Todd - Wednesday, Sep 2, 26 @ 4:10 pm:
on a sidenote, Terminator was suppose to be fiction, not a fricken blueprint. . .