For Whom the Data Center Hums, It Hums For Thee
- Eric
- Dec 30, 2025
- 5 min read
Updated: Jan 7
John Donne’s Meditation XVII, best known for the line “for whom the bell tolls,” argues that no person stands apart from the rest of humanity. What happens to one part of the whole eventually reaches the rest.
I work in software engineering. I am part of the problem. I understand why data centers exist, and I benefit from them like everyone else. The cloud isn’t some kind of metaphysical thing… it sits somewhere, on land, tied to power and water and people.
But I also live in Appalachia, where we’ve spent generations paying the hidden costs of other people’s necessities.
So when I hear that my electric bills, my water supply, and my landscape may be asked to stretch and transform so corporations can scale profits somewhere else... profits that rarely flow back into the community in any meaningful way. It feels familiar. We are left with the long tail: environmental exposure, higher disease rates, and health outcomes we did not choose.
We're all aware of the Cold War–era uranium enrichment plant just a few miles north that shut down many years ago and is currently under remediation; its impact on people’s lives did not end with operations. This is not some abstract history lesson, it is a pattern we’ve lived through before, repeatedly, each time presented as progress.
What follows borrows Donne’s structure and cadence, along with an idea first prompted by a social media post I later tracked down to a Reddit comment by u/jayhock, to make a modern point: “somewhere else” too often means places like ours.
It Hums For Thee
No place is an island, entire of itself,
Each holler is a piece of the valley,
A part of our heritage.
If a substation be raised in our hills,
Appalachia is less.
As well as if a ridge is leveled,
Or a creek of thine own, or of thy neighbors were drained.
Any community's burden diminishes me
For I am involved in the system.
Therefore, ask not for whom the data center hums,
It hums for thee.
I write this as one who builds systems that live inside those walls.
I know “the cloud” must sit somewhere.
I know packets must flow through fiber and copper,
And the cost of AI is not free,
It runs on steel, silicon, water, and powerplants.
But necessity does not excuse placement.
A data center is not just compute
It is water taken quietly,
Electricity drawn without rest
Diesel engines waiting for the moment the power grid blinks.
Its hum is constant, and its needs do not sleep.
When it comes to a rural place,
It does not arrive empty handed,
It brings in transmission lines,
Noise floors that never fall to zero,
And needs that burden more than what was given.
We are told it is progress
We are told it is clean
We are told it is good.
Yet Appalachia has heard this before.
From coal seams and timber rights,
From pipelines and landfills,
From uranium enrichment and its remediation
From promises things would be better,
While the damage stays with us.
Hear me out, I do not say build none.
Some must exist.
But not every place must carry the weight,
And not every quiet valley must be offered up
Because the land is cheap
And the people are used to being told it’s for the greater good.
Each megawatt drawn here
Is a choice made elsewhere
Each gallon consumed here
Is a scarcity felt by someone who did not sign the contracts
If a community is diminished by the build
Then we are all diminished
For we are all networked together
Therefore, do not ask for whom the data center hums,
It hums for thee.
Additional Reading
Scioto County (section added 1/7/2026)
On the morning of January 7th, 2026 the Scioto County Commissioners made this statement:
For Immediate Release
Portsmouth, OH
Commissioners Consider Tax Incentives for $1Billion Development Project
On Wednesday, January 7th, the Scioto County Commissioners sent notice Green Local School District and the Scioto County Joint Vocational School of a possible tax abatement for a One Billion Dollar economic development project.
The 500,000 square foot data center will possibly receive a 75% tax abatement for 15 years. Also included in the agreement is a payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) the company would pay to the county with a base payment of $500,000 annually and additional compensation based on total square footage completed by the developer.
The commissioners also secured a good faith commitment to work with the local workforce and trade unions during the construction phase of the project. We recognize the importance of keeping our workforce home, and stressed the importance that this language was included in this agreement.
The commissioners will be sharing more information regarding this possible abatement at this Thursday’s Commissioner’s meeting. We welcome all public comment during our next 3 meetings, January 8th, 15th, and 22nd as agreement will be on the agenda for a vote on January 22nd.
The Commissioners have invited public comment, and decisions like this deserve public scrutiny. Raise your voice... County Commissioners Meetings are held a the Scioto County Courthouse, Room 310 on Thursdays at 9:30 a.m. Join members of our community on January 8, 15, and 22 (vote expected Jan. 22)
Whether you support the project, oppose it, or simply have questions, we urge you to participate in your government. Democracy works best when it hums for all of us.
Lawrence County
Our neighbors in Lawrence County, Ohio are facing this decision now.
The Lawrence County Commissioners and the Ironton City Council will hold a joint meeting on January 8, 2026, at 5:00 p.m. to discuss the proposed Strata Expanse AI data center project planned for Lawrence County. The meeting will take place in the Ironton City Council Chambers, on the third floor of the City Building in Ironton.
Residents and opponents of the project are encouraging people to attend and make their voices heard, urging local officials to stand with the community on this issue. If you live, work, do business in, or want to advocate for the people of Lawrence County, please mark your calendar and consider attending, because these decisions don’t stop at county lines.
