Gary forum spotlights environmental, fiscal and infrastructure risks of data centers; residents urge moratorium

Councilman Darren Washington, the at-large member of the Gary Common Council, opened a public forum on data centers and introduced Sam Carpenter, executive director of the Hoosier Environmental Council, to brief residents on the benefits and risks of such developments.

Carpenter framed data centers as rapidly evolving, large-scale energy users that now often support artificial-intelligence workloads. “A single data center…can use the same amount of electricity as an entire city,” Carpenter said, warning of a possible doubling of statewide demand tied to AI. He also cautioned that speculative financing among AI firms could leave local communities with stranded assets if projects fail.

Why it matters: speakers said state tax and regulatory changes shift costs and risks to cities. Carpenter pointed to a 2019 state sales-tax exemption on data-center electricity and equipment (expanded in 2025) and a change in property-tax depreciation rules he attributed to “Senate Bill One,” arguing those measures can erode municipal revenue. Carpenter estimated a 100-megawatt data center would have paid roughly $3.5–$5 million annually in sales tax on…