{"id":713275,"date":"2026-06-19T09:16:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T09:16:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/713275\/"},"modified":"2026-06-19T09:16:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T09:16:11","slug":"southern-ohio-community-embraces-worlds-largest-ai-data-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/713275\/","title":{"rendered":"Southern Ohio community embraces world’s largest AI data center."},"content":{"rendered":"

CINCINNATI (WKRC) – Increasingly, people across the country are protesting proposed AI data centers, concerned that the centers will drain resources, strain power grids, and cause noise and pollution.<\/p>\n

But a plan to build the largest AI data center in the world in southern Ohio is being welcomed by many with open arms.<\/p>\n

As people across America increasingly protest building A.I. data centers in their communities, a rural county in Southern Ohio is supporting the construction of what will be the largest A.I. data center in the world. (WKRC, Provided)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Local 12’s Duane Pohlman reveals why the data center is being embraced in Pike County and how this plan could provide a blueprint for the future.<\/p>\n

LARGE TENT. BIG LEADERS. HUGE ANNOUNCEMENT:<\/p>\n

On March 20th in Pike County, Ohio, under a large tent filled with music and lights, Trump cabinet members and a lost list of elected leaders gathered for a major announcement.<\/p>\n

Before addressing the crowd, a big screen played a video, setting the stage for their major announcement.<\/p>\n

With renderings of power plants and a massive, new AI center revealed, it became clear how big this day would be. The Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant (PORTS), a Cold War-era uranium enrichment plant that once armed America\u2019s nuclear bombs, will soon be the site of the largest power and technology campus on the planet.<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/p>\n

Photo by Holden Robinson – The Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant (PORTS) in Pike County, Ohio enriched uranium for America\u2019s nuclear bombs for decades until being closed in the early 2000\u2019s.<\/p>\n

“PORTS Technology Campus, where the future begins and the American people win,\u201d boomed the voice of the video\u2019s narrator.<\/p>\n

Then, one-by-one, the leaders came to the podium.<\/p>\n

“We are embarking on the next era of American dominance,” said Assistant Secretary of Environmental Management Tim Walsh.<\/p>\n

A dominance that\u2019s centered on what will soon be the largest A.I. data center on earth, combined with a massive $33 billion natural gas-powered power plant and 18 new, nuclear-fueled small modular reactors (SMR) to power it.<\/p>\n

Chris Wright, U.S. Secretary of Energy, drove home how truly big this project is.<\/p>\n

“This facility that’s going to be built here is bigger than any facility ever built in world history,” Secretary Wright told the crowd.<\/p>\n

\"Courtesy<\/p>\n

Courtesy U.S. Department of Energy \u2013 Rendering of the new A.I. data center that will be constructed on the footprint of the old PORTS facility.<\/p>\n

To build it all, Co-CEO of SB Energy, Rich Hossfeld, said it will take an army of workers.<\/p>\n

\u201c35,000 will build the new Ports Technology Campus, transforming it into a beacon for not only the US but the entire world,\u201d Hossfeld proclaimed.<\/p>\n

Japanese investment group SoftBank is funding it with the mind-bending budget. “$1.5 trillion.”<\/p>\n

PROTESTS & DISSENT VS. OPEN ARMS:<\/p>\n

\"WBMA<\/p>\n

WBMA – Sign carried by a protester outside Birmingham, Alabama city hall<\/p>\n

Across America, AI, from Maine to Washington, data centers are increasingly driving dissent and outright protest, as people pack meetings and gather on streets and sidewalks, carrying signs that read, \u201cNO AI DATA CENTERS.\u201d<\/p>\n

“We allow one in here; boom, boom, boom, boom,” a man explained at a meeting in Columbus, Ohio, noting he and others were here to stop the cascade of A.I. centers from arriving here and elsewhere.<\/p>\n

In Scranton, Pennsylvania, a man at a hearing proclaimed, “Not here. Not in anybody\u2019s backyard.”<\/p>\n

\"KUTV<\/p>\n

KUTV \u2013 Large crowd protests a proposed A.I. data center at a Box Elder County (Utah) Commissioners meeting<\/p>\n

Obstinance to the construction of the AI data centers varies, but many times it is rooted in the perceived use of water and electricity that such facilities will drain at the expense of people who live and work nearby. Others note the noise and air pollution caused by back-up generators already utilized by centers that already operate in places like Northern Virginia.<\/p>\n

But in Pike County, Ohio, many are welcoming the newest and largest A.I. data center on earth with open arms.<\/p>\n

“I think it’s important for the community,” said Stephen Woloschek, an employee who\u2019s working to demolish the old PORTS plant, adding that the jobs will help the area that is economically depressed, ranking third lowest in the state of Ohio for per capita income.<\/p>\n

STILL IN \u201cSHOCK\u201d:<\/p>\n

The announcement to build the biggest project on the planet stunned many here in this Appalachian pocket of the state, including Steve Shepherd, executive director of the Southern Ohio Diversification Initiative, or SODI, the organization tasked with redeveloping PORTS after the old plant is gone.<\/p>\n

“I would say very surprised. Maybe still in shock,” Shepherd told us weeks after the announcement.<\/p>\n

It might have caught him off guard, but no one is more supportive of the new data center than he is, saying it\u2019s a \u201cperfect fit\u201d for the new, gigantic A.I. data center because of the infrastructure that already exists for the Cold War plant that once consumed 30,000-to-40,000 gallons of water a day, the same amount the gigantic A.I. data center is expected to need.<\/p>\n

And a power grid that was built for the old plant provided an epic amount of electricity for the old plant, as well.<\/p>\n

“We used three percent of the nation’s electric, the same amount that New York City used,” he said.<\/p>\n

Shepherd has traveled the world to tout these assets for developing the site and believed it would one day be repurposed for industry. But he admits he never imagined the scale of the new campus.<\/p>\n

“We dream big, but I don’t know that anybody could dream this big,” he told us.<\/p>\n

CONTAMINATED LAND:<\/p>\n

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is spending $14 billion to $18 billion to decontaminate, dismantle and dispose of the old equipment and buildings at PORTS.<\/p>\n

But as the old plant is being erased and replaced, its radioactive legacy remains.<\/p>\n

“I got people living on properties they shouldn’t be living on,” said Jennifer Chandler, who chairs the Scioto Valley-Piketon Area Council of Governments (COG). For years, Chandler has been balancing the drive to reindustrialize the PORTS site while leading the push to clean up or move families out of dozens of homes that a recent report reveals the properties are riddled with unsafe levels of radioactive contamination.<\/p>\n

Darwin Pettit\u2019s farm was found to be one of the most contaminated.<\/p>\n

“This is the most contaminated place around here,” Pettit told us, adding that he believes no one truly cares enough to do anything about it.<\/p>\n

PERFECT SOLUTION?<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/p>\n

Photo by Holden Robinson \u2013 Scioto Valley-Pike Area Council of Government (COG) Chair Jennifer Chandler explains the conversion of residential property to industrial use.<\/p>\n

But Chandler, who has been working with the state of Ohio and DOE to move the families or remediate the contaminated properties, says the redevelopment of the PORTS complex to the new tech campus may be providing the perfect solution.<\/p>\n

While the contamination is too high for families to live on, Chandler says they are safe for industrial use due to the limited exposure and other factors considered by the U.S. EPA.<\/p>\n

And in a lucky twist of fate, Chandler says a dozen of the contaminated residential properties have already been purchased to make way for the expanding footprint of the future tech campus.<\/p>\n

“That land will now be appropriate for industrial use,” she said with a smile.<\/p>\n

REPURPOSING A DIRTY PAST:<\/p>\n

As other parts of the country increasingly protest A.I. data centers, it\u2019s clear that people surrounding the old PORTS plant are embracing the opportunity to repurpose a dirty past by rebuilding a future with AI.<\/p>\n

And with many old former industrial sites in America that are considered brownfields, leaders here say there\u2019s a lesson to be learned from their transformation.<\/p>\n

“I think this is a model for the country,” Shepherd said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CINCINNATI (WKRC) – Increasingly, people across the country are protesting proposed AI data centers, concerned that the centers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":713276,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[182,181,507,74],"class_list":["post-713275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=713275"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713275\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/713276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=713275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=713275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=713275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}