Sources and Background Information on Environmental Impacts of Data Centers Resolution

1. Data Center Buildout Creates Unprecedented Risks for Hoosiers https://www.citact.org/data-centers

2. Scientific Study Says Data Center Noise Would Hinder Operations at Bristow, Gainesville Schools Dr. John Lyver updates his Prince William data center sound study 

https://bristowbeat.com/stories/scientist-says-data-center-noise-levels-would-affect-bristow-gaineseville-schools,27378?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR2cNG2eODqZYQmpSx3YaJ6ExlMNgP4vPxxESdou37Jk_f_Du-szpgeRAWw_aem_AfvxydYmFpa_9OK3HAwNgCHV5YVLlBB7tvmZvX-rXH3-a11v6-Dw5WRGDBJVkDuoVj-i79I8NRlCOeia-RPfK0Us#:~:text=Data%20center%20HVAC%20systems%20produce,as%20far%20as%202.5%20miles

3. Northwest Indiana defunct coal plant is slated for massive data center.  https://energynews.us/2018/04/30/northwest-indiana-defunct-coal-plant-site-slated-for-massive-data-center/

4. Data Center Water Usage  Comprehensive Guide https://dgtlinfra.com/data-center-water-usage/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR2CwmWoHCqJQe4JoGPOk9udHRJ4JIz2WqprTb5_yBRjYsBvL3qIIa5IKTs_aem_AWiiesMuz2ObEm98kjzAvHo9SS-H98GZCe5Cg7McgA6oZiMrcm2ONFJTNsF0DFlqi1DkiADcT4w7-Ih_qFWFIv3I

5. Data Centers are Choosing Indiana:  Is the state’s energy supply ready?  https://indianacapitalchronicle.com/2024/06/10/data-centers-are-coming-to-indiana-is-the-states-electricity-supply-ready/

6. Why are data centers so noisy? Loose rules, pricey solutions, critics say. https://indianacapitalchronicle.com/2024/06/10/data-centers-are-coming-to-indiana-is-the-states-electricity-supply-ready/

7. NASA Scientist Warns Bristow-area Residents Will Hear New Data Centers https://bristowbeat.com/stories/nasa-scientist-brings-attention-to-data-center-noise-levels,11231

8. Dr. John Lyver, former NASA scientis analysis of AWS Noise Study https://www.pecva.org/wp-content/uploads/warrenton-amazon-data-center-noise-charts-maps-credit-dr-john-lyver-10-20-2022.pdf

9. Data Centers and Energy Demand https://www.pecva.org/our-work/energy-matters/data-centers-energy-demand/

10. PFAS Contamination: A Call to Action for the Data Center Industry https://submer.com/blog/pfas-contamination-a-call-to-action-for-the-datacenter-industry/

11. Engineers Often Need A lot of Water to keep data centers cool  https://www.asce.org/publications-and-news/civil-engineering-source/civil-engineering-magazine/issues/magazine-issue/article/2024/03/engineers-often-need-a-lot-of-water-to-keep-data-centers-cool

12. Noise Within a Data Center https://www.researchgate.net/publication/304079164_Noise_within_a_Data_Center

13. The Effect of Low Frequency Noises Exposure on the Precision of Human at the Mathematical Tasks  https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8980828/

14. Impacts of Low Frequency Noise Exposure on Well-Being: A Case-Study From Portugal https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6122264/

15. New developments for cloud computing could threaten civil-war era and post-emancipation historical sites in rural Virginia https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jun/05/virginia-historic-preservation-data-center-development?fbclid=IwY2xjawEbNBpleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHc_5T8Ky3jVEKME6s1LnEZMwM5QzXhSiW6epVlEroRsQATfVKVItVpL4Iw_aem_YaJXezCwYwiXb5fnA1HDig

16. General Assembly: put guidelines around data center development in Virginiahttps://act.npca.org/page/72184/action/1?ea.tracking.id=ht2hezqb&ea.url.id=2798969&forwarded=true&fbclid=IwY2xjawE8hDxleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHdrK7T4h7sgBB7MoUsmEng6LfFOzkPJfXivLlmtLn-ab6wdDeovwI-qBew_aem_ks821a_639JDxspJAPsI0A

17. Data center emissions probably 662% higher than big tech claims. Can it keep up the ruse? https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/sep/15/data-center-gas-emissions-tech?CMP=share_btn_url&fbclid=IwY2xjawFgGEpleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHdIgzs53BGPQe4SiO6OKptTSKPtuQo3Vpt9xhbX_OYxsAyqJ7kgo2lAwYA_aem_0mlwSFcDaBhBxI7kP_71Zw

18. Department of Ecology State of Washington: Diesel pollution from data centers https://ecology.wa.gov/air-climate/air-quality/data-centers#:~:text=Air%20pollution%20from%20data%20centers&text=These%20tiny%20particles%20are%20too,cause%20damage%20and%20chemical%20changes

19. Indiana utility customer advocates call for data center moratorium https://www.wthitv.com/news/indiana-utility-customer-advocates-call-for-data-center-moratorium/article_b1786a50-8c7a-11ef-9b60-13892709

20.  Stop Duneland Data Center Radius of areas affected by Low Frequency Noise https://www.facebook.com/groups/1140964983716757/posts/1144285146718074/?_rdr 

21.  The Power to Act: The State must Study Data Centers’ Full Impact https://www.journalgazette.net/opinion/columnists/the-power-to-act-state-must-study-data-centers-full-impact/article_06b7df4e-a04b-11ef-ae13-73ae61864dd7.html

Is Your Town Safe From Hyperscale Data Centers?

September, 2025 by Annette Hansen, Executive Director (and NWI resident) of IWLA-Porter County Chapter Indiana 

As the resident of a sleepy little steel town on Lake Michigan by the Dunes State Park and Dunes National Park, when you hear that a data center is petitioning to set up shop, you want to know more. I’d never heard of a Data Center before. When you Google it, you ironically find information about communities whose lives have been changed for the worse by them. You learn that they’ve broken ground already in the next county, so you worry for them and yourself.  This is an already industry-saturated, yet ecologically-diverse piece of America.

Typically, a Hyperscale Data Center is used for developing AI and sometimes stores our buying patterns, bank and medical records, social media photos, etc. The facility itself can take up hundreds of acres (mostly agricultural land), it draws more power than a million homes could use annually, pulls hundreds of thousands of gallons of water from any resource daily and emits a 24/7 buzzing. That’s just what we understand today, being a new industry, the long-term damage to humans, wildlife and natural resources is mostly unknown.

By now, many of you have heard about this crisis in Indiana near the Great Lake, but what if it came knocking on your town council’s door? Would they invite developers and secret investors in to give proposals or to try to change your zoning to meet their needs?

Chesterton, IN was the sight developers first were interested in that we heard of. An old golf course, closed in 2020. Left to go wild, it had become a safe haven for wildlife displaced by habitat loss elsewhere. The space was surrounded by single-family dwelling neighborhoods. The vague description of their proposed data center did call for a 50’ easement from the street; generous? No, considering the buzz from such an industrial structure can carry for up to 2 miles.

As an organization with a reputation for advocating for clean practices and promoting conservation throughout Porter County, our IWLA Porter County Chapter was contacted by nearby residents about the new issue and we got involved. A citizen group, led by one of the golfcourse’s neighbors, called a focus group meeting and invited locals to learn and discuss what this could mean for their community. Gary Brown, PCC President, myself and other members made a point to attend the meetings and spread the word via phone calls, Action Alert emailed newsletters and social media. PCC members had yard signs made so their opinions would be known by anyone driving through town. In a few short weeks, hundreds of those “No Data Center” signs emerged everywhere. The concerned spoke long in protest against data centers for their town at their council’s meetings. Long story, short...they did not build a Hyperscale Data Center in Chesterton.

Instead, developers set their sights on the next town to the north, Burns Harbor, IN; closer to Lake Michigan, in fact. They want water, lots of it, and a strong power grid. Burns Harbor had both. Residents rallied the same way, with some of the same leading the charge. Their numbers wrapped around the building at their town council meeting and a banquet hall had to be employed for following meetings concerning the potential data center. Lots of yard signs popped up, thousands of emails were sent to tell decision-makers that citizens did not want this, hours of folks at the microphone begging not to have to endure this for their town...and then, the developer pulled out.

Next it was Valparaiso, IN and again further south in Wheeler, IN. When people stood up and spoke, the developer would eventually slip away into the night. It seems that the communities that rise up and let their voices be heard are the ones that win. Those who don’t see it coming, get a data center. You see, Indiana law-makers have made it easy for this new industry to thrive by lowering or removing taxes for them as bonuses for bringing business to their state. Citizens now watch-dog rezoning policies and proposals, then share what we find with other concerned neighbors so that their opinions might be heard by those in authority. We want to keep our rights and communities safe.  Most recently Hobart and Michigan City, IN are looking at data center proposals and we’re all pitching in to help where we can; educating, engaging and communicating our reasoning.

Porter County Chapter wrote and submitted a National IWLA Resolution on the preferred placement and power source usage by Data Centers and such industry. It was passed unanimously at the 2025 National IWLA Convention at Green Bay, WI this July. The policy can be found on PCC’s website NWIconservation.org and of course, among IWLA’s Policies.

It is our hope, that when faced with a proposed data center, any citizens might try the following:

1. Look at the area in a 2 mile radius from the proposed building location.

Are there schools, hospitals, or wildlife preserves? Make them aware of the proposal.

Do the local fire departments have equipment tall enough to handle an electrical fire

as overwhelming as a data center fire might be capable of?

2. Go door-to-door in that radius and let neighbors know what might be coming.

Invite them to a planned focus group event at a local park or hall so they may learn

more about what this industry could mean for their community.

3. Offer the opportunity to stake a visible “No Data Center” yard sign at their residence.

Folks who would use them don’t mind giving a donation that covers the sign’s production cost.

4. Keep residents in the loop and support ways for them to act by communicating with

local and state government representatives. Action emails and social media channels

are ways to connect everyone who may be affected.

5. Attend all town council, development and planning commission meetings to better

understand data center proposals for your area and comment or question when appropriate.

If citizens are not allowed to speak, carry your “No Data Center” sign or agree to wear

unified clothing colors or tshirts to show your numbers.

While this is a template for dealing with proper data center placement, it also lends itself to any non-confrontational citizen action. Your voice is a powerful tool and when many speak the same truth, your representatives have no choice but to listen. I was encouraged to write this piece by IWLA chapters in Illinois because they see potential for data center developers to start rounding the horn of Lake Michigan north-westward. The potential for this issue to arise in any community in the 21st Century is inevitable. This small article only scratches the surface and there is a lot more scientific information and facts about the negative effects of data centers available online. I encourage you to dive a little deeper per your interest and share what you learn widely. This is how we can endeavor to keep a cleaner and healthier America.

Materials used during these events:

How to Tread the Hyperscale Data Center Waters with an Izaak Walton Expert

By Wendy Reigel with notes by Gary Brown

The hyperscale data center industry thrives on secrecy and predatory business tactics. While the phrase, “It’s a done deal,” has been declared by both the little fish and the big whales throughout almost every grass roots campaign against hyperscalers that we have been a part of across the Midwest, it isn’t usually true. However, you have the best chance to stop them before the land has been annexed and rezoned to some form of industrial. We believe the greatest single factor, not within the citizen’s control, is time. You should act like your hair is on fire because it is. You should also grab your local Izaak Walton water expert to help you put out the fire with scientific facts and a really good ground game.

When can you tell if a town is going to get swallowed up by hyperscale data centers before they even know what bit them? When the town hall is swimming in NDA’s because your government officials have already signed them a year ago. When your FOIA requests aren’t being fully granted and unbeknownst to the general public, variance requests and detailed site plans aren’t conforming to local ordinances. When Open Door Laws are being violated by governmental officials. Additional examples include not posting a public notice about hearings in local newspapers within the legal timeframe, and not granting a change in venue to a larger building to accommodate more robust crowds. When all of the above things happen AND the land has already been rezoned, the swim upstream is even more challenging. But the most powerful indicator of when you’re going to get swept downstream is when citizens are not willing to put in the work, to put their lives on hold for 3

months to a year, to cancel vacations and weekend plans, or to pound the pavement to deliver factual flyers that spell out when and where the Planning Commission meetings are. You must also attend those meetings, fundraise for advertisements, throw yourself into the deep waters, and show up like massive schools of fish. All of this should light a fire under your fellow citizens to fight back swiftly and thoroughly against Big Tech, Big Energy, and especially against local elected officials and the lawyer you pay taxes for who protects the government, but not regular folks like you.

So what is some sound advice on how to stop a hyperscale data center from being built too close to your homes, farms, and schools? Never underestimate the power of human connection when you put partisan politics on the back burner and find someone who has already been through it and won. Study the citizen battles in Chesterton, Burns Harbor, Valparaiso, and Union Township/Wheeler/ Porter County, IN, the last in which there was a record number of over 1,000 residents who showed up to the Planning Commission meeting. The developer sent its summer interns who were sweating and twisted up in their own neckties, and gulping for air like fish out of water, to deliver their lackluster presentation. And finally, go read the ultimate citizen comeback story in hyperscale history thus far that occurred in Peculiar, MO in 2024. One thing that all of us have in common is that we owe every hard won victory to the folks who live in Loudon County and Prince William County, VA for sounding the alarm for years against hyperscale data center industrial sprawl.

What’s the toughest case? When the land is already rezoned to light industrial, having given proper legal notice to residents and having conducted proper hearings before the Planning Commission and Council. What can you do? Prove with your town code that hyperscale data centers qualify as HEAVY industrial because of noise outside the building that travels across property boundaries into residential areas, because of onsite storage of thousands of gallons of diesel fuel for back up generators, and because of the heavy industrial scale of these buildings, thus the term hyperscale. Then go back up to the beginning and read this again. Keep swimming, and remember, it is not always a “done deal.”

Hyperscale Data Centers, Boon or Boondoggle?

by Gary Brown

There is plenty of press highlighting the AI battlefront of Data Centers as the need for the USA to race to the technological forefront ahead of China. Stopping the potential devastating effects of water, air, noise, high & low wavelength pollution from a local public Data Center is an entirely different matter. An existential threat to the local population is bipartisan and a perfect storm for neighborhoods to mobilize for action. "Not In My BackYard" is alive & well in Porter County Indiana.

No one expected the complete surprise to fall so quickly. No one was surprised by profit seekers.

Common legal elements:

*Billion-dollar corporations offered Non-Disclosure Agreements to small towns desperate for operational infrastructure funds.

*Disclosures about negotiations that were set aside for 3, 6, 12 months or more incited the population to revolution.

*Multi-million dollar offers for cheap land, water, & electric grid access excited the landowners, developers, & investors.

*Choosing land development directly across from subdivisions, schools, & later parks and medical centers were an unbelievable negative choice.

Porter County Izaak Walton was the only environmental group who offered to support the courageous whistleblowers at the first town. We already had the history of our founders, Charlotte and Herb Read, who advocated for public land to be guarded from development to Save The Dunes for over 50 years. They lived long enough to see it become the Dunes National Park of their dreams.

Today's advocacy takes a slightly different form:

*Social Media, on the internet, researched data center history, spread communications accurately, & debunked rumors. Management and enforcement became necessary to set truth standards and kick out partisan bomb throwers.

*Door-to-Door volunteers did surveys with petitions, made flyers, and placed signs to saturate exposure on higher traffic roads. They looked for local experts who could provide private knowledge or inside information.

* Leaders enlisted school Parent Teacher Organizations, business groups, churches, & Home Owner Associations in the closest pollution target areas.

*Communicators encouraged truth-tellers for public hearings, to deliver powerful reasons for opposition.

Eventually, the conspiracy revelations and reams of documented untold dangers, overwhelmed the town to rescind the rezoning permit applications. The successful template of advocacy had worked. Who, what, and where was the next city? Every small town became a potential prospect. A newly targeted city had different officials, strategies, deadlines, & revelations to uncover. Volunteers had to unite many egos, opinions, or agendas. Every victory encouraged the next community.

We're not against all Data Centers:

*Properly built away from humans & wildlife.

*Pollution controls at all levels.

*Sustainable energy sources, non-polluting.

*Infrastructure costs paid by developers, not residents

*Life span allows for afterlife cleanup costs.

*Regulated by state & federal statues for stopping internet trafficking criminals.

Run your race, but don't run over us. Don't experiment with our lives for profit.

Make your millions somewhere else if you don't like our conditions.

They'll be back. It's not over. We've won 4 times so be forewarned.

Think twice before coming back to Porter County, Indiana.