Ohio lawmakers signaled Monday that they may pull some decision-making power away from cities, townships and counties when it comes to nuclear plants and related energy projects, telling a day-long roundtable in Perry that clearer statewide rules might be needed as giant, power-hungry data centers line up to plug into the grid. Legislators and industry representatives framed the event as a listening session rather than the rollout of a bill, but several officials said the planning conversation has moved fast as demand grows for reliable, on-site power. Residents and local officials packed the room, putting the political and technical tradeoffs squarely on display.
As reported by Cleveland.com, Sen. Jerry Cirino told the audience that “no legislation is yet being drafted,” while also arguing that the state sometimes has to step in when local ordinances collide with broader statewide priorities. Cirino said he would consider restricting local governments’ ability to block data-center and related projects if lawmakers decide that patchwork rules are undermining grid reliability or economic development. Organizers repeated that the Perry roundtable was the start of a policy discussion, not a prelude to an immediate vote.
Rep. Roy Klopfenstein struck a similar note on consistency, saying there “needs to be one set of standard rules across the state,” according to Cleveland.com. Holding the forum at Perry High School ensured that intensely local concerns, including jobs, school tax bases and traffic, were front and center as utilities and developers argued that predictable rules help them move large projects faster. Organizers said they wanted to chart the full gauntlet of obstacles, from local permitting to grid interconnection, that can slow proposed power plants and data centers.
Data Centers Are Changing The Energy Equation
Federal analysts have put numbers to the lawmakers’ anxiety. A Department of Energy report prepared by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found that U.S. data centers used about 176 terawatt-hours of electricity in 2023 and could consume between 325 and 580 terawatt-hours by 2028. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, that growth could push data centers to account for roughly 6.7 to 12% of national electricity demand in some scenarios. State officials say those projections are fueling interest in firm, dispatchable sources of power and in faster, standardized rules for connecting big loads to the grid.
Big Tech Is Already Buying Nuclear
Major tech companies are not waiting around for statehouse debates. The Associated Press reported that Meta in January signed agreements with Vistra, TerraPower and Oklo to secure nuclear capacity for its Prometheus AI cluster and other campuses. AP coverage and industry reporting note that, taken together, the deals could support gigawatts of new and existing nuclear supply.
Industry outlets have also spotlighted the pitch from Oklo and other startups that are developing small modular reactors, which they say can be placed near major data hubs to provide steady, around-the-clock power. Forbes reported on several of those small reactor plans in Ohio, which would be designed to dovetail with large computing campuses.
Local Fights Show The Other Side
On the ground, the reception has been far from universally enthusiastic. Neighbors and local officials in suburbs around Columbus have pushed back against what they describe as opaque plans to install natural-gas fuel-cell arrays and backup generators beside data-center campuses, Axios reported. Critics say they worry about air quality, noise and the lack of clear answers about long-term operations.
At the same time, a volunteer group has cleared a key procedural hurdle to take the fight statewide. The Ohio Ballot Board signed off on summary language for a proposed constitutional amendment that would ban new data centers drawing more than 25 megawatts, an effort that would put the question to voters if backers gather enough signatures by July 1. The petition’s certification was detailed by the Ohio Capital Journal.
Politics, Precedent And The Risks
Supporters of state-level preemption say a single framework will protect jobs and keep the grid stable by stopping local vetoes from derailing critical infrastructure. Opponents warn that cutting back local authority means communities could lose real oversight of projects that sit in their backyards.
The stakes are not only political. Industry analysis of the Plant Vogtle nuclear expansion in Georgia has documented years of delays and cost overruns in the billions of dollars, which critics now cite as a cautionary tale for any new nuclear buildout. That history is summarized in reporting compiled in the World Nuclear Industry Status Report.
By comparison, the existing Perry nuclear plant has a nameplate capacity of roughly 1.3 gigawatts of output, according to public records cited on Wikidata. Small modular reactor units are generally sized in the tens to a few hundreds of megawatts each, which means multiple modules would have to be installed to match a single large plant like Perry.
What Comes Next
Lawmakers and industry leaders said the Perry roundtable will inform committee work in Columbus, although no bills have been introduced so far. Backers of the constitutional amendment to restrict large data centers must collect more than 413,000 valid signatures from at least 44 counties by July 1 in order to qualify for the November ballot, according to the Ohio Capital Journal.
In the months ahead, any proposals that surface at the Statehouse are likely to revolve around the same tradeoff that played out in Perry: how to balance grid reliability and business certainty with local control over land use and long-term environmental concerns.
