In My Opinion - by Bob Ruth
August 1, 2026 — Bob Ruth
Here’s another reason to oppose data centers.
During a recent cable TV news show, a Michigan reporter noted that most residents in his state don’t oppose large industrial complexes. After all, the news reporter said, Michigan is known as the home of America’s auto industry.
But data centers have become a hot political issue in Michigan, he added. More and more electoral candidates are following voters’ leads and opposing these mega projects, he said.
One of the reasons: Michigan voters rightly believe data centers, in the long run, kill jobs; they don’t create them. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is expected to replace millions of blue- and white-collar jobs in the near future, the reporter noted.
And job-killing AI can’t exist without data centers, he added. Data centers – where billions of bits of digital information are stored – are the beating hearts of AI, he noted.
A proposed 310-acre data center in Grove City would create “250 permanent jobs,” according to a Project Narrative written by Headwaters Site Development, a Dallas, Texas, company promoting the mega complex.
Skeptics laugh at Headwaters’ claim. Data centers actually employ relatively few workers, mainly maintenance and security staff, skeptics note.
And Headwaters’ Project Narrative doesn’t mention anything about all the jobs that will eventually be lost because of AI, these skeptics add.
The list of reasons to oppose data centers just keeps growing, doesn’t it? Almost as fast as super-wealthy high-tech companies build these monstrosities in other unlucky central Ohio communities.
