Ohio Common Ground Fact Checks

Claims About Ohio EPA's Draft Data Center Wastewater Discharge Permit

Ohio EPA has proposed a first-of-its-kind, five-year general permit that would let qualifying data centers apply to discharge specified cooling wastewater directly into eligible Ohio rivers, streams, and Lake Erie, without routing it through a treatment plant first. A viral claim describing this proposal circulated widely, and our fact-check found it mostly accurate: the draft permit is real, the five-year term is accurate, and residents' concerns about unregulated temperature limits and unaddressed chemicals like PFAS are borne out in the permit's own text. Two claims overstated the record, however — no specific data center has been confirmed to be "preparing" to use the permit, and the permit doesn't involve sanitary sewage at all, making "sewage treatment plant" an imprecise description of what's actually being regulated. As of this writing, the permit remains in draft form, with Ohio EPA still reviewing public comments and no timeline announced for a final decision.