Driving near the rural town of Lebanon, Indiana, late on a summer night, we saw a huge horizon of bright light far off in the distance. Getting closer, we saw what it was: a huge, barren landscape devoid of grass and trees, with towering klieg lights and heavy trucks everywhere. It was a data center under construction. What had been farmland was now wasteland. Like Port Washington, Wisconsin. Like Memphis, where constant loud noise brings stress and high blood pressure. Like northern Virginia, where people live in their basements to escape deafening, round-the-clock noise. Like all those places where data centers are.
Big Tech and its aliases, such as "Monarch Energy," are planning massive data centers along our waterways in Rockford, Cherry Valley, Belvidere and Beloit, Wisconsin.
In an October 2025 promotional video, Monarch Energy said the proposed data center would use about 3 million gallons of water per day. Rockford now uses 16.7 million gallons of water per day, meaning this data center would increase the city's total water use by 17% and could deplete local water resources.
Data center boosters will say that special "new technologies," like "closed-loop cooling systems," make things better. In reality, closed-loop cooling systems use backup diesel generators that produce noise like jet engines and release toxic chemicals into the air.
Overall, 70% of Americans oppose data centers, and the top issues are water use, electricity use, rising electric bills and a lack of democratic process, with our lawmakers catering to Big Tech and forgetting about us.
This is not progress but destruction and danger. Big Tech has no regard for guardrails, ordinances, regulations or wish lists. The only way to stop data centers is to stop them BEFORE construction ever begins, through public pressure. Say no to data centers and sign the petition you'll find at NoDataCentersRockford.org. Preserve our air, water and Earth. Preserve the natural world for us and for the future of our planet.
I'm Susan Goldberg, and that's my perspective.
Copy Edited by Eryn Lent
