Bloomington City Manager Jeff Jurgens said the city has fielded multiple inquiries about locating a data center in the community over several years.
"Yes, we have active interest, but there is a lot to figure out and there is a lot of discussion that would need to be had before I think it could even be genuinely considered by the city council," said Jurgens.
During a Sound Ideas interview, Jurgens said he doesn't think there is any location inside city limits that would be suitable for a large-scale data center, though there may be places outside municipal limits that fall under county government.
“I presume that if they wanted to use the city's water, they would try and annex…We are not in a position to just turn over an unlimited hose to our lakes right now. We have got a limited amount of water, and that is a real issue that would have to be explored and would have to be figured out,” said Jurgens.
Challenges
Data centers use significant amounts of water in cooling systems. A data center in McLean County would not necessarily need water directly from Bloomington or Normal, though. A bill signed into law last August allows The Bloomington-Normal Water Reclamation District [BNWRD] and the Sanitary District of Decatur to sell the effluent from their treatment processes to businesses or other entities within 50 miles of their boundaries.
State Rep. Sharon Chung, D-Bloomington, and State Sen. Dave Koehler, D-Peoria, were the sponsors of that narrowly drawn specialty legislation amending the Sanitary District Act of 1917.
Golf courses purchase such gray water in some communities to reduce costs and recycle water. Data centers also can be customers for gray water, depending on the cooling system in place.
BNWRD releases nearly 20 million gallons of treated water per day that flows downstream, eventually to the Gulf of Mexico. Large data centers can consume up to 5 million gallons per day, again depending on the technology used, according to the Environmental and Energy Study Institute, a non-profit founded by a bipartisan group of members of Congress.
[That Illinois law also allows BNWRD and the Decatur Sanitary District to accept sewage from municipalities within 50 miles of those districts. The provision facilitates a trend toward regionalization of sewage treatment.]
Water supply for a data center is not the only question that would need to be resolved. Jurgens said there must be “guardrails” and it is not yet clear whether the issues a data center would present can be mitigated.
“We know we're going to have to address the energy costs. We know we're going to have to ensure the noise and the aesthetics and those kinds of things…What if the data center goes out of operation? What's the decommissioning going to look like?” said Jurgens.
The city, he said, has told the multiple businesses that have inquired about locating data centers that the city must figure out where the community stands on the question through public forums.
Two of those are on Wednesday at the Bloomington Center for the Performing Arts. They will be from 2-4 p.m. and 6-8 p.m. As of Thursday morning, Jurgens said the city had not finalized the format. There may be presenters, but if so, they would provide factual information only and not to take a position.
Benefits
Jurgens said the benefits from a data center also would have to be explored in greater detail.
“Everybody talks about the potential for adding — a lot of property tax, a lot of assessed value. But there are questions around that,” he said.
Local governmental bodies typically sign community benefits agreements with data center companies. They can involve revenue sharing, contributions to social services, and on and on. Sometimes those pacts are shrouded in secrecy, even involving non-disclosure agreements.
Jurgens said that approach would not fly in Bloomington.
“I do not think there is anything but transparency that we can have with this. I think the public's going to demand it. I also think it's what they deserve. I cannot imagine us trying to engage in something like that and keep anything secret from the public. That's not what this council wants. It's not what staff wants. Anything we do with this is going to have to be very transparent and very deliberate,” he said.
He said even the desired elements of a benefits agreement are undecided and would involve intergovernmental talks so the entire community could benefit.
POWER Act
Jurgens said it’s even an open question whether the city wants to wade into the issues at all, or wait for lawmakers in Springfield to approve the so-called POWER Act or other controlling regulation. The bill establishes comprehensive environmental, water and energy regulations for “hyperscale” data centers.
“I do not believe we want to rush into this,” said Jurgens, adding he does not want the community to become divided over the hot button issue.
“I do not want to see our community torn apart where we have yard signs in people's yards, and pro and against, and everybody's fighting. I would truly like to see, and I think Mayor [Dan] Brady is the same way, we would like to see how can our community come together on this,” he said.
That's why the city is starting with the forums next week, to hear concerns about the costs and whether there is, in fact, anyone who supports data centers and the potential benefits they can bring.
