To the editor: Expand data centers based on transparency, finances

Northwest Ohio and other communities like it in the Great Lakes Basin are at a crossroads when debating data center proposals. In a Sept. 16 editorial, “Data centers, grow or decline?” The Blade Editorial Board asserted that citizens should willingly accept problems associated with economic growth or else face the pain of a declining population’s tax base. While the editorial board did not elaborate on the types of problems this might include, impacts to water resources such as water shortages, conflicts over groundwater, and groundwater contamination are potentially among them.

However, at the Alliance for the Great Lakes, we believe it’s possible to pair economic development with long term sustainable planning that ensures that growth doesn’t come with irreparable costs to water resourc