SerpApi.Org
You really can fight City Hall. Or, at least, the Ohio EPA.
The Ohio EPA had been quietly moving toward a policy that would have allowed data centers to receive blanket wastewater discharge permits — meaning these massive, water-hungry facilities could have operated without individual environmental review. The justification? Streamlining the process, in keeping with a broader push from Washington to fast-track data center development. The result?
A proposal that would have effectively handed data centers a pass on scrutiny over how they discharge water into Ohio’s waterways, including Lake Erie.
The public didn’t like that. Seven thousand public comments later, the EPA reversed course. Individual permits — not blanket approvals — are now the path forward. And on Wednesday’s episode of Today in Ohio, hosts made clear this is how democracy is supposed to work.
“Well, they backed off that plan for blanket permits after those 7,000 public comments,” host Laura Johnston said..
Host Chris Quinn said the EPA plan never made sense, given the rising anger in Ohio about the state’s generosity with data centers. Instead, the agency appeared tuned in to the Trump administration’s push to ease the path for data center expansion.
Data centers consume enormous amounts of electricity and water — water that’s used for cooling and then discharged as warm wastewater mixed with byproducts like boiler blowdown, air compressor condensate, and stormwater.
And the original plan would have allowed discharge into Lake Erie specifically, on the reasoning that the lake is large enough to absorb it.
“This idea of just flushing these places with our precious natural resource of water is looney tunes,” said Laura Johnson, capturing the sentiment of thousands of Ohioans who clearly agreed.
Even Republican state Representative David Thomas from Ashtabula County — a county that sits right on Lake Erie — pushed back hard against the original proposal.
Public comment periods can feel like bureaucratic formalities, but this episode proved otherwise. When 7,000 people take the time to weigh in, agencies listen. Johnston pointed out that this is a direct, actionable form of civic participation that often gets overlooked in conversations about how to make a difference.
“It’s that pesky populism rearing its head again against our politicians,” said Quinn.
Listen to full “Today in Ohio” episodes where Chris Quinn hosts our daily half-hour news podcast, with Editorial Board member Lisa Garvin, Impact Editor Leila Atassi and Content Director Laura Johnston.
©2026 Advance Local Media LLC. Visit cleveland.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
