* Politico…

Gov. JB Pritzker’s push to pause state tax incentives for new data centers for two years is facing political pushback in Springfield, even as polling suggests a majority of Illinoisans oppose the massive, energy-intensive facilities being built in their communities. […]

This has played out at local government meetings from Joliet to Sangamon County as angry constituents push back on data center construction in their communities. This week, for example, Lockport suspended data center discussions following a community outcry, according to the Daily Southtown. […]

Environmental groups also support a pause, especially after lawmakers failed to advance the POWER Act, which addressed the industry’s electricity demand and rising consumer costs.

Unions, however, oppose freezing tax incentives because it could stall projects that create temporary construction jobs. That split has left some Democratic lawmakers in a familiar bind — weighing affordability and community concerns against union clout. And in an election year, that could make it harder for lawmakers to side with public sentiment.

Unions say pausing the incentives would mean the data centers would instead pop up across state lines while using the same electric grid, or be constructed in Illinois with non-union labor.

Considering the gerrymandered legislative map and the so-far really bad national Republican year, at least some Democratic legislators are more worried about keeping their union allies happy (and contributing to their campaigns) than upsetting their constituents by failing to do anything meaningful about a topic that polls worse than Ebola.

Also, when the enviros and the unions are split on legislation, the bills generally go nowhere. No center ground has been found on data centers as of yet.

…Adding… More than 40 legislators have signed a letter demanding a two-year moratorium. Click here to read it.

…Adding… WCBU…

Congressman Eric Sorensen, D-Ill., doesn’t want to block data centers from coming to Illinois. He also doesn’t want them arriving without conditions and he’s worried some data center developers will try to cut corners to get there.

“It scares me that some are willing to skirt the rules,” he said after a town hall in Peoria Thursday night. “I don’t support that.”

But the alternative scares him too. If Illinois says no, or makes the conditions too steep, the state might not be left out of the discussion.

“That just means that the data center is going to be built in a right-to-work state,” he said. “In Kentucky or Tennessee or Alabama or Texas.”

Sorensen said he sees a way to do it right, and laid out three conditions he wants attached to any data center in Illinois: no facility should be allowed to drive up utility costs for residents; every data center should generate its own renewable power and use gray water that would otherwise need treatment; and they should be sited in industrial corridors, away from neighborhoods.

* The Question: Should state incentives for data centers be paused for two years? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.

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