Ohio's iconic Cedar Bog threatened by proposed data center

 

A fen meadow at Cedar Bog, near Urbana, Ohio, in Champaign County. The meadows at the "bog" (it is actually a fen) are full of rare species, including many highly sensitive plants that are extremely particular about hydrology (water regime). Here's a link to a Columbus Dispatch newspaper article that I wrote about Cedar Bog in 2024.

This proposed data center is a short distance upstream (about 1.5 miles) from one of Ohio’s most iconic and sensitive natural areas, the legendary Cedar Bog. If you aren't up on data centers, they are massive computer processing plants that house servers, storage systems, and networking equipment that serve various aspects of the digital economy such as storing, processing, and distributing data related cloud computing, AI, and various online services. To learn more about these centers, and the harm that they cause environmentally, see THIS ARTICLE in Smithsonian Magazine.

The data center would tap water - LOTS of water - directly from the aquifer that feeds Cedar Bog. And the ecology of Cedar Bog is directly dependent upon the health of its aquifer - it is fed by ground water. It’s the worst possible location imaginable to site one of these monstrosities and we should all protest it. Please sign and share this change.org petition protesting the location of this data center, RIGHT HERE.

To inject some science in defense of Cedar Bog, it harbors one of the highest concentrations of rare, highly specialized plants of any site in Ohio. When Barb Andreas, John Mack and I authored the Floristic Quality Assessment Index of Ohio, we used that methodology to score numerous best of the best examples of various plant communities. Cedar Bog scored 45.4 - the highest score of any habitat that we are aware of in the state. Cedar Bog is singled out on page 16. To see a copy of the FQAI, with information about the methodology, GO HERE.

It's a shame we have to spend time and effort defending things that should not have to be defended, but this is just such a case. Please sign the petition, RIGHT HERE.