Citizens vs. Data Center: How did we get here? And what can be done?

Hey Locals,

On Tuesday night, about 20 citizens rallied outside Indiana Michigan Power’s Downtown HQ and attended City Council, asking council members to speak up about the Google data center’s diesel generators. This was the subject of a highly attended public hearing last week held by state regulators at the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM). 

While protesters didn’t get much feedback from council on Tuesday, we were able to follow up with a few council members to get more insight on the situation. That will be the focus of today’s newsletter.

For a quick refresher: 

• Google is seeking permission to have 179 backup diesel generators (with no pollution controls) at its data center in Southeast Fort Wayne. Citizens are asking local elected officials, like City Council, to demand Google withdraw its draft air permit with state regulators at IDEM, or tell IDEM to deny the request.
• Both citizens and City Council members we’ve talked with so far say they were unaware of the scope of Google’s diesel generators in 2023 – when City Council and other local government entities gave the project its initial approvals for land rezoning and annexation. Google revealed itself to be the project's owner in early 2024 and requested its initial 34 diesel generators in September of that year.

So… why haven’t local leaders known about the extent of Google’s diesel generators until now? And what can citizens do to change things?

To answer this, we sought comment from:

• John Urbahns, CEO of Greater Fort Wayne Inc.
• Allen County Commissioners office
• Allen County-Fort Wayne Plan Commission
• Kim Koczan, citizen advocate
• Fort Wayne City Council

On City Council: We've heard from Russ Jehl (R-2), Michelle Chambers (D-At Large), and Geoff Paddock (D-5) so far. All three say they are taking action to better understand the project, but it’s unclear how much they can do at this point. 

• Jehl is seeking to better understand the project’s utility demands (which may impact how often its backup generators are used).
• Chambers has been "pressing internally for better coordination" between the developer, the city and Google’s team. “I’ve specifically asked for Google to step forward and explain directly to the public what their plan is for the site and how it impacts the community,” she says. 
• Paddock is trying to schedule a meeting with Google’s representatives about the generators. As newly appointed City Council President for the rest of 2025, he will preside over the next meeting on Nov. 25, where there will be time for public comment. 

Paddock says: 

“I am very concerned, and this is concerning a lot of Fort Wayne citizens…. I have reached out to Google. I am willing to contact IDEM after a review with them…. I am looking forward to hearing from concerned citizens about this issue.”

To be clear: We’re still waiting to hear back from some sources, and this story is still developing. But we did gather some interesting information.

Here are a few quick things to know:

• City Council members we've talked with say they supported the project’s rezoning and annexation in 2023 because they thought it would help Southeast Fort Wayne. They mentioned the project’s tax revenue generation and connections to the tech industry as the biggest reasons for early support. “I walked the land myself,” Chambers says. “It had been sitting mostly underutilized for years – a mix of farmland and light industrial. From my perspective, the site had potential to serve as a catalyst for long-overdue development in Southeast Fort Wayne, an area that’s been left behind in many citywide investment strategies.”
• Council learned about the increased demand for diesel generators about the same time the public did this fall. From the beginning in 2023, the data center, originally code-named "Project Zodiac," has been shrouded in secrecy. Limited information has been released about the scope of its demands on Fort Wayne’s utility provider I&M, or how exactly I&M plans to double its energy output needed to support the data center or how that impacts local utility bills. To our understanding, City Council also does not have this information, and state legislators passed a law this year that does not require I&M to disclose it.
• Without understanding the scope of the data center’s utility demands and I&M’s resources, it’s difficult to determine how big of a pollution threat the 179 diesel generators are. If the generators are not used (or rarely used), they pose less of a threat than if the data center needs more energy than I&M can provide and is forced to rely on its backup generators, which are supposedly more expensive for Google to operate. This suggests Google will seek to limit the generators’ use. But the fact that Google has increased its number of backup generators on campus by fivefold in the past year may indicate a lack of confidence in I&M’s ability to fully meet its energy needs.
• Google's investment in Fort Wayne has also more than doubled since it revealed itself to be the company behind “Project Zodiac." This expansion is likely driven by the global AI arms race, as Google says it plans to use its Fort Wayne data center to power AI innovations and grow its Google Cloud business. When the project broke ground in April 2024, Google said its planned investment in Fort Wayne had increased from “at least $845 million” originally to “at least $2 billion.” Its request for the initial 34 backup diesel generators wasn't publicized until September that year.
• At this point in the project, concerned citizens should focus on contacting state legislators more than City Council. Because council was not aware of the diesel generators at the time of their early decisions in 2023, they have little power to do much now. Jehl suggests citizens reach out to state legislators instead, like Sen. Liz Brown of Senate District 15, who represents Southeast. “Your state legislators determine IDEM’s budget and policies. They are the ones whose voices actually matters to IDEM if they were to say: ‘This is a bad thing for this area.’”
• The project’s land zoning may be an issue, too – but again, the scope of the project’s environmental impact remains unclear. Citizens and council members have noted that the data center’s land was rezoned to accommodate lighter industrial uses than, say, running 179 diesel generators on full-force. If Google ends up using its land improperly, the joint city-county Department of Planning Services might regulate that. Or if Google seeks to get its land rezoned for more intensive uses, this could bring the project before local leaders again, giving them (and the public) more opportunity to weigh in. 

In coming weeks, we’ll look into the project’s land and zoning more closely to see what we can find out.

Here’s another interesting bit of information…

Much of the same land Google is using for its 850+-acre data center was previously slated for an e-waste recycling plant that was successfully blocked by a citizen lawsuit not long before "Project Zodiac" was announced.

• In 2022, the Bulmahn family filed a lawsuit in Allen Superior Court, claiming the plant was “improperly given the go-ahead by the Fort Wayne Plan Commission” and would harm their 150-year-old farm nearby, WANE 15 reports.
• When the family won, the City issued a statement in early 2023, saying it would “continue its efforts to find another private entity to invest in the city-owned property at Adams Center and Paulding roads to bring more economic development opportunities and additional jobs to our community.” "Project Zodiac" was announced later that year in October.
• In 2024, the same Bulmahn family sold their land at 6015 Adams Center Rd. to Hatchworks (Google) for $4.8M. This land makes up the lion's share (587.84-acres) of the project.

Well, that’s all for now, folks.

Hit reply to this email, and let us know what questions you have about the data center. 

Have a good weekend – and holiday week! (We’re taking next Thursday off, so we’ll catch up with you in December.)

As always, thanks for reading.

Your Editor,

Kara Hackett