Sherrod Brown changes his tune on data centers

Sherrod Brown was for data centers before he was against them.

The former Democratic U.S. senator, who is hoping to unseat Republican U.S. Sen. Jon Husted in November, has taken a decidedly liberal position opposing data centers.

“Ohio’s electric grid — big corporations treat it like a game,” Brown said in a recent campaign video, Fox News Channel reported. “[They’re] gobbling up energy to feed their data centers no matter how much it raises our prices. It’s the latest way they’ve rigged the system.”

Ohio now has about 240 data centers, and Brown wasn’t always so opposed to data centers.

On May 29, 2015, Brown issued a news release in which he “welcomed an announcement … that Amazon Web Services would open a new data center in central Ohio.”

“This new data center is great news for New Albany and central Ohio,” Brown said in the release. “Amazon’s growth in central Ohio signals that this region is not only a great place to do business, but a place where people want to live and raise a family. I look forward to working to ensure that our region’s burgeoning logistics hub continues to grow – creating good jobs for Ohioans and helping businesses prosper.”

Fox News Digital reported that Brown’s office did not respond to requests for comment about “the scope of his objections to data center developments in Ohio.”

“Shady Sherrod Brown’s shameless flip-flop proves he’ll say anything to get elected – Ohioans have seen this tired act before, and they aren’t buying it,” Republican National Committee Spokesman Hunter Lovell told Ohio.News

On Facebook, Brown added, “Ohioans shouldn’t pay higher utility bills because data centers are straining our electric grid. We must protect our communities and require big corporations to pay the full cost of their utilities and infrastructure.”

However, not everyone was enamored with Brown’s latest Facebook comment.

“New data centers are building their own power supplies, worried that the existing grid may fail,” one commenter said in response. “They will soon be a net supplier of energy back to the utility companies.”

The commenter added: “Get up with the times old man or get out of the way.”

“It’s called supply and demand,” another commenter said. “…This is a good thing because it’s going to force the utility companies to build more generation capacity, which we were going to need anyway if we all started driving EV vehicles like you want us to.”

“Where were you for the last 30 years when our electrical grid and power generation was being neglected?” a third person commented. “What is your plan to improve the grid and power generation? This is the US it shouldn’t matter how much electric a company uses we should have plenty.”