Ohio residents are proposing a ban on datacenters with a capacity greater than 25 MW, the latest sign of growing opposition to massive server farms across the US.

According to local media, residents in some areas of Ohio have organized a petition proposing to amend the state's constitution to enact a ban covering data campuses larger than 25 MW, preventing giant hyperscale sites from springing up anywhere in the Buckeye State.

The petition was organized by residents of Adams and Brown counties, not far from Cincinnati, and submitted to the Ohio Attorney General's office on Monday, according to [1]Cleveland.com . State law requires at least 1,000 valid voter signatures to begin the process. Residents managed to gather about 1,800.

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The move could have wider support, as the [3]Cincinnati Enquirer says residents of Clermont County were also involved in the petition. It reports that the current frustration is because of a planned facility in Mount Orab, in Brown County, where council members signed non-disclosure agreements that prevented them from sharing details about the project with locals.

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Such tactics are already a source of friction in other areas of the US, as The Register [6]reported in January, and is a common practice among tech companies including Amazon.

Earlier this month, St. Albans Township in the western part of Licking County effectively banned datacenters after voting to remove "data processing services" and related industries from the zoning regulations.

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According to [8]The Reporting Project , residents want to preserve the rural character of the township, which has about 2,600 locals and is mostly farmland.

[9]Jury out on whether Americans love or hate datacenters

[10]So much for power to the people – AI datacenters could jump UK grid queue

[11]AI datacenters may gulp a New York City's worth of water on hot days

[12]Munificent 7 vow to spare US households from AI's rising energy costs

All of this illustrates the growing ambivalence toward datacenters among the US public. A [13]recent survey by the Pew Research Center found that Americans believe giant server farms have a negative effect on the environment, inflate energy bills for consumers, and impact local communities, but that they may improve local employment and contribute toward tax revenue.

The major gripe is that datacenters may raise energy costs for ordinary citizens, something which caught the attention of President Trump, who wants nothing to stand in the way of AI progress. He brought together seven of the top AI companies and hyperscalers earlier this month to [14]sign the Ratepayer Protection Pledge . It isn't clear what penalties, if any, the firms will face if consumers foot the bill for higher energy prices.

Also this month, commercial real estate firm CBRE revealed that [15]new datacenter capacity under construction in primary US markets declined in the second half of 2025 due to community opposition increasingly disrupting planning approvals.

Thanks to the AI craze, the datacenter industry is experiencing a building boom, with individual sites also growing larger. Social media giant Meta [16]revealed plans last year to build several multi-gigawatt datacenter clusters, including one that would be large enough to take up most of Manhattan Island. Small wonder that the folk of Ohio want to limit these facilities to a much more modest scale. ®

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[1] https://www.cleveland.com/news/2026/03/rural-ohioans-seek-to-ban-data-centers-through-constitutional-amendment.html

[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2absuko6IazlKLgg53f2NFAAAAtc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0

[3] https://eu.cincinnati.com/story/news/politics/2026/03/17/ohio-data-center-construction-could-be-blocked-by-proposed-amendment/89191867007/

[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44absuko6IazlKLgg53f2NFAAAAtc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0

[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33absuko6IazlKLgg53f2NFAAAAtc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0

[6] https://www.theregister.com/2026/01/25/datacenters_nda/

[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44absuko6IazlKLgg53f2NFAAAAtc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0

[8] https://www.thereportingproject.org/st-albans-township-becomes-the-first-community-in-licking-county-to-ban-data-centers/

[9] https://www.theregister.com/2026/03/15/jury_out_on_whether_americans/

[10] https://www.theregister.com/2026/03/12/uk_datacenter_grid_priority/

[11] https://www.theregister.com/2026/03/10/us_datacenters_water_consumption/

[12] https://www.theregister.com/2026/03/05/munificent_7_pledge_on_energy/

[13] https://www.theregister.com/2026/03/15/jury_out_on_whether_americans/

[14] https://www.theregister.com/2026/03/05/munificent_7_pledge_on_energy/

[15] https://www.theregister.com/2026/03/04/cbre_datacenter_figures_2025/

[16] https://www.theregister.com/2025/07/15/meta_datacenter_build_plan/

[17] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/