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Residents urge moratorium on data centers, cite potential health risks and call for civility
Summary
During public comment, a resident urged Defiance to pause approvals for data centers over pollution concerns linked to gas-fired generators, quoting environmental advocacy material, and another resident criticized recent uncivil treatment of a commenter and said she will attend the next data-center meeting.
During the council's public-comment period, a resident addressed the council about proposed data centers and urged a moratorium so the community can study potential impacts. The commenter cited an example near Bowling Green and asserted that operations have expanded land holdings there; the speaker expressed distrust of developers’ community statements and raised concerns about power generation at the sites.
The commenter argued that gas-fired turbines "emit harmful nitrous oxide, MOX, greenhouse gases, GHGs, and hazardous air pollution" and referenced the Environmental Defense Fund and recent federal regulatory actions that the speaker said left communities unprotected. The speaker concluded by urging the council to "put a moratorium on these data centers so we can study this." No response from council to the substantive request appears in the transcript.
Rebecca Michael, another resident who identified herself during public comment, said she had emailed council members about data centers and received only one response. She also said, "Mister Hubbard should not have talked to her that way," referring to uncivil treatment of a prior commenter (Miss Wernicke), and said she would attend the next meeting on data centers. Her remarks mixed a policy request (asking about the council's stance on data centers) with a call for improved civility.
