Water & cooling · IN
Unknown- Exact scope
- Meta Lebanon campus, Indiana · cooling-water design versus total campus water use · future operation; completion date not established
- Checked
- 14 September 2026
- Attribution
- A question we tested; no one is quoted.
- Sources
- 1 linked locator
Use this answer only for the place, period and measure shown. A matching state does not mean every project is covered.
Meta says the design will recirculate cooling water and use zero water for a majority of the year. That is narrower than zero annual or total campus water use and remains a future design claim until operating measurements exist.
Still unknown: Actual annual withdrawal and consumption, potable and nonpotable shares, the heat-rejection architecture used in operation, and operating measurements.
Electricity & bills · OH
Partially supported- Exact scope
- AEP Ohio service territory · large-load tariff risk allocation and contracted demand · tariff effective 2025-07-23; AEP load update 2026-02-13
- Checked
- 12 September 2026
- Attribution
- A question we tested; no one is quoted.
- Sources
- 4 linked locators
Use this answer only for the place, period and measure shown. A matching state does not mean every project is covered.
The PUCO-approved AEP Ohio tariff allocates substantial underuse and cancellation risk to new loads over 25 MW. PUCO describes the concern as cost shifting from significant transmission infrastructure and other underused investment serving data centers. These protections are real, but the reviewed sources do not prove that residents can never be affected by generation, transmission, wholesale-market or pre-tariff costs. Under AEP's published contract-capacity formula, DataCenterData calculates a minimum of about 72.5% at 50 MW and 82.5% at 100 MW; a separate historical-demand ratchet can produce a higher billed demand. AEP reports that 12,219 of 17,861 MW of contracted data-center projects were signed before the tariff took effect; contracted projects are not current measured load.
Still unknown: Whether generation, transmission, wholesale-market or pre-tariff contracts can affect household bills remains a separate question from this tariff arithmetic.
Jobs & taxes · OH
Contradicted- Exact scope
- one unnamed hyperscaler in the City of New Albany, Ohio · payroll-equivalent revenue comparison · tax year 2024, payable 2025
- Checked
- 12 September 2026
- Attribution
- A question we tested; no one is quoted.
- Sources
- 1 linked locator
Use this answer only for the place, period and measure shown. A matching state does not mean every project is covered.
The city calls $178 million a payroll equivalent: the amount of payroll that would yield the same revenue at its 2% income-tax rate. It is a city-reported comparison for one hyperscaler, not the operator's reported payroll, a headcount or an independently reconciled tax-receipt audit.
Still unknown: The hyperscaler's identity, underlying component revenue records, actual payroll and employee or contractor headcount.
Water & cooling · WA
Supported- Exact scope
- City of Quincy reuse system serving Microsoft's Quincy campus · cooling-water reuse; estimated annual potable savings; reported annual canal makeup; annual potable makeup share · operation since 2021; connection status reported for 2022 with some early-2023 context
- Checked
- 12 September 2026
- Attribution
- Institutional statement: US EPA case study (government).
- Sources
- 1 linked locator
Use this answer only for the place, period and measure shown. A matching state does not mean every project is covered.
EPA documents operation beginning June 30, 2021 and describes a city-operated treatment and recirculation system serving Microsoft's campus. EPA estimates 138 million gallons per year of potable-water savings, reports about 260 million gallons per year of canal-water makeup and says potable groundwater supplies about 5% of annual makeup. These are different measures and are not additive total consumption or a current meter audit.
Still unknown: Current measured withdrawal, consumption and discharge; a reconciled explanation of Microsoft's separate 380-million-gallon estimate; and operating changes after EPA's dated observations.
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