Why is town welcoming so many data centers?

As a 40-plus year resident of Elk Grove Village, I have always been happy to live here, but lately that has changed. Our small village already has 20 data centers and our mayor, Craig Johnson, wants to add 19 more.

I question who actually benefits from adding more data centers here. Mr. Johnson cites the tax advantages but that will not improve the living conditions in EGV.

Many residents have already objected to these proposed data centers, but Johnson doesn’t care. There really are no benefits for residents, because these data centers will increase our electric bills, which are already rising, and reduce our quality of life.

In my last ComEd bill, there was this note saying, “The pace of new energy supply isn’t keeping up with rising demand, making it more expensive.” It goes on to say that we can expect an increase in our bills in the next months because of this. So, where is the benefit for residents?

Daily, there are news reports of how detrimental data centers are to communities and the environment, and how they are stressing our energy infrastructure.

These additional data centers will cost our residents more in electricity, likely cause outages and reduce the quality of life here. Approving all these additional data centers will not be good for EGV, so there must be another reason he is wants 39 data centers in our small village. As the mayor, he should be improving our town, instead he is destroying it. Why?

Cyndi Kehoe

Elk Grove Village