00:00Okay, so my commitment is before I get to putting the kids to bed that night, I will sign an
00:04executive order that halts any further data center project announcements in the state of Ohio, unless and until we have
00:13passed our legislation, okay?
00:15Thank you very much. I was wondering about your impact. I'm very concerned about the impact from AI waste.
00:22From what's that? I just want to hear you. AI waste? Waste. Yes, and I know that you are interested
00:28in it, and it is going to be a hot topic around, and I was wondering if you'd be elected,
00:35what contracts you'd look into, or have you engaged in any contracts?
00:40You see, so there's two topics here. One is using it to cut government waste. Is that what you're asking
00:45about? Or are you talking about waste?
00:47Waste management for the byproducts. For the byproducts. You're talking about physical waste. Yes, and that will impact the farmers
00:52and everything else.
00:53Absolutely, absolutely. So let me talk to you, and it sort of relates to the data center question, okay?
00:58You might if I just talk about it even more broadly in those terms, because that's a big issue addressing
01:02this state.
01:03The top two issues I get traveling across the state is, we almost got them in that order today. Property
01:08taxes and data centers, okay?
01:10Let me address data centers now. So I wouldn't say the data industry has done just a bad job of
01:16earning public trust.
01:17I think they've done a horrific job of earning public trust. If I had to give them a grade, I
01:21would give them an F.
01:22If an F- were available, I would give them that. What we need is a governor who's serious about
01:28actually addressing this issue.
01:29So what I've laid out is a set of hard commitments that I'll repeat to all of you today, which
01:36says that on day one, so when I take office, here's what happens.
01:39There's inauguration in the morning. There's a stack of papers on my desk that we call executive orders, EOs.
01:45I'll sign a bunch of them, and I put the kids to bed, and then I go to sleep that
01:48night.
01:49Okay, so my commitment is before I get to putting the kids to bed that night, I will sign an
01:53executive order that halts any further data center project announcements in the state of Ohio, unless and until we have
02:02passed our legislation, okay?
02:04That is hard. That says we're serious about this. By the way, my opponent, she's made no such commitment. It's
02:08all fluffy stuff that her consultants told her to say.
02:10This is serious stuff.
02:12So what is that legislation, then? That legislation codifies four core commitments that I have made to Ohioans.
02:20I said three initially, now it's actually, we've heard from people in the state, it's going to be four solid
02:24commitments.
02:25Number one is, you're going to pay not just not higher electric bills, you are going to pay lower electric
02:30bills, and if you live in the immediate vicinity of the data center, you will pay zero for your electric
02:36bills in the state.
02:38That's number one. Okay, free electricity, or it's not getting built.
02:40Number two, lower property taxes for anybody who lives in that county or in that community.
02:47No property tax abatements for the data center developer.
02:50Instead, send that money directly as a rebate check to put it back into your pockets.
02:56Residential owners, that's where it belongs. That's number two.
03:00Number three, to your point on waste, the water that's used has to come out at least as clean or
03:08cleaner than when it went in.
03:10Including air and water quality both. If that's not true, it's not going to get built.
03:16Number four, we should be using abandoned industrial sites, not fertile farmland, if these things are going to get built
03:26at all.
03:28That's common sense. And then there's another idea here that I also find actually quite appealing, which is that the
03:36sound and the unsightliness, even on the industrial sites can be an issue, is something we call vegetative insulation.
03:43It's a fancy way of saying if it's built, you've got to put a bunch of trees around it to
03:46insulate both the sound and the appearance for locals.
03:49As I said here in Geauga County, this is a beautiful part of our state and our country. We've got
03:54to keep it that way throughout Ohio.
03:56Those are my bare minimum commitments, and if any one of those is not met, it's not going to get
04:01built. Ohio is not a dumping ground. We are a beautiful state that aims to lead our country.
04:07My sole job as governor of Ohio, and I want to be clear about this, it is not to tell
04:14you how to spend your Sunday afternoon. It's not to tell you who to marry, how to live, how to
04:19worship, none of those things.
04:21My job isn't to preach to you. My job is to fight for you, to have a better life, to
04:26preserve this state that includes our fertile farmland, that includes our natural resources, that includes our natural environment.
04:34That's exactly what I'm going to do, and we deserve a governor who's capable of standing face-to-face with
04:41the largest companies and special interests in the world, and somebody who isn't willing to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with
04:46their opponent in this race isn't going to be equipped to do that job.
04:50So thank you very much, okay? I appreciate that.
05:04Thank you very much.
Comments