(Photo Provided) Two coolant distribution units in a server aisle at the New Albany data center campus in central Ohio help keep servers cool to keep them operating efficiently.

Today marks the fourth meeting of the Ohio Joint Data Center Committee, which is composed of members of the Ohio Senate and House of Representatives to hear testimony and study information surrounding the influx of data centers in the state.

The Washington County Commissioners are among those who will be testifying to members of the Ohio Joint Data Center Committee today. The Ohio Farm Bureau, Laborers District Council of Ohio, the Ohio State Building Trades Council and many more will be testifying.

Ohio Senator and Chairman of the Senate Energy Committee Brian Chavez (R-Marietta) said it began as a smaller data center commission but it was a unanimous decision that they “needed to act quicker” so members of the House and the Senate are involved.

“We’ve had three very successful meetings so far that I’ve been the co-chair of,” said Chavez. “Our intention of the committee is to get our information out because what we’re finding is there’s more to the story and the issues are more complex.”

The committee consists of House Co-Chair Rep. Adam Homes (R-Nashport), Rep. Thad Claggett (R-Licking County), Rep. Heidi Workman (R-Rootstown), and Rep. Chris Glassburn (D-North Olmsted).

It also includes Senate Co-Chair Sen. Chavez, Sen. Bill Reineke (R-Tiffin), Sen. Shane Wilkin (R-Hillsboro), and Sen. Willis Blackshear Jr. (D-Dayton).

Chavez said the first meeting was over four hours and focused on the energy and environmental impacts of data centers. He said there was a data center coalition who testified and responded to questions.

The second meeting, held June 1 at the Ohio Statehouse, invited the general public to share their concerns and provide information they were aware of in regards to data centers. Chavez said the meeting lasted almost five hours.

“Yesterday (June 4) we had a six-and-a-half hour testimony with the data center developers themselves,” he said. “There were representatives with hyperscalers like Google, Meta, and Amazon, which are the really massive groups with the biggest impact.”

Chavez said those representatives were on the stand for over four hours.

“We were surprised by some of the answers and some of the companies listened to people’s concerns and decided there would be no more NDAs (non-disclosure agreements),” said Chavez. “They realized they haven’t been as transparent and would be more open.”

After the testimony, Chavez said he felt the data center developers were “forthcoming and genuine” with the detailed information they provided.

Although there has been no set deadline on when the study will end, Chavez said they purposely didn’t set a specific deadline because there might be new information that continues to come out.

“We don’t know what we don’t know,” he said.

He said these are very new, complex issues and the committee wants all of the facts they can acquire to see if any legislation needs to come from this study. He said through this process, there has been potential enhancement between the government and data center developers when it comes to transparency and information.

“I want to commend Gov. Mike DeWine for putting a pause on data center development so communities don’t have to make these decisions on their own,” he said. “Communities shouldn’t be pinned against each other.”

“This has been absolutely beneficial so far with taking a focused look at a very hot issue,” said Chavez. “The goal is to make sure folks understand there are opportunities to get information.”

He said as of now the last meeting is slated for Thursday but that is subject to change as the committee continues their study.

All of the meetings are public and can be viewed on ohiochannel.org under Ohio House and Senate Select Committees on Data Centers.

Amber Phipps can be reached at aphipps@newsandsentinel.com