Reporting by John Lippert and Jeremy Gorner for Chicago Tribune:
Even as a political backlash against data centers mushrooms across the U.S., a broad consensus on how to regulate them is emerging in Springfield, according to key corporate, labor and environmental lobbyists.
Marc Poulos, a Springfield labor quarterback, is circulating a three-page proposal that would require data centers to use closed-loop cooling to preserve water, speed up grid connections for data centers that use renewable power, roll back some biometric privacy protections and restore data center tax incentives that Gov. JB Pritzker suspended in July.
Jen Walling, executive director of the Illinois Environmental Council, said her group is likely to support or not oppose several provisions in the Poulos document.
Broadly speaking, she said, they resemble proposals already circulating among the governor’s office and data center operators. They contain several important elements, including requiring data centers to bring their own power, which she said her coalition supported in a bill introduced this year called the POWER Act.
No formal bill-writing negotiations have occurred, although Pritzker representatives and top legislative officials are scheduled to hold a second meeting of their data center task force this month.
Around the country, more than 530 counties and municipalities have blocked or severely restricted data centers, according to Heatmap Pro, a clean energy news service. More than 200 additional towns are considering similar restrictions, Heatmap reported on July 30, as they seek to protect their land, water, electricity supplies and clean air.
These include six Illinois towns where data centers have been canceled since last year, and 13 which have enacted moratoriums or restrictive ordinances, according to Robinson Meyer, Heatmap’s executive editor. Four other Illinois towns are still debating how to proceed, he said.
Legislators return for their fall session on Nov. 17, just one day after the Illinois Commerce Commission and other agencies will formally release a plan aimed at preventing electricity shortages and even higher prices they say could plague the state by 2030.