By Ryan Applegate
People’s Defender
In the weeks since Adams County residents began pressing for transparency about possible data center development, newly released emails between local officials, state partners, utility representatives, and site developers provide a clearer picture of the level of activity occurring behind the scenes. The correspondence, which spans early 2025 through February 2026, shows sustained outreach from national and international data center developers, repeated coordination with JobsOhio and OhioSE, and parallel preparation work on former power plant sites that have become the center of public concern.
The emails show that inquiries from data center and power generation developers began as early as January 2025 and continued throughout the year. Companies such as Stream Data Centers, Arcange USA, Next Generation Land Company, and others requested calls, site visits, and detailed utility information for the former Stuart and Killen Station properties. In multiple exchanges, Adams County Economic Development Director Paul Worley provides developers with availability for Zoom meetings, connects them with the site owners at Viking Power, and coordinates calls with AEP Ohio and AES Ohio representatives to discuss electric capacity and grid interconnection.
Developers consistently asked for information about power availability, lead times, and permitting timelines. In a November 2025 message, Arcange USA described itself as a European investment group with experience in large scale data center and industrial projects, and said it was seeking “strategic counties” in North America. The company asked Adams County for assessments of real power availability, potential fast track permitting, and ways to coordinate directly with utilities. Other emails reference interest from firms exploring behind the meter generation, including natural gas turbine installations to serve an end user directly at the Stuart Station site.
Throughout the email trail, OhioSE staff and JobsOhio personnel caution county officials that while data center interest is high statewide, not all projects materialize. In several exchanges, JobsOhio staff note that the organization has been reluctant to provide incentives specifically for data center infrastructure but remains able to support site planning, concept engineering, and certain grant programs if projects fit established criteria. The emails also show JobsOhio providing special purpose grants for conceptual site plans at Winchester Industrial Park and Stuart Station, which were completed by RETTEW and Burgess & Niple.
Negotiations with consultants also appear frequently in the correspondence. In October and November 2025, Adams County and the commissioners moved forward with an agreement with Bricker Graydon for economic development consulting services related to incentive modeling and potential payment in lieu of taxes structures. The emails show the county asking for cost estimates, hours, and not to exceed amounts in order to set the purchase order. Bricker Graydon representatives advise the county to consider speed, noting that data center developers often pursue multiple sites simultaneously and that “first to market” sites have a better chance of securing projects.
The communications also reveal that multiple organizations regularly sought updated engineering documents for the Stuart Station and Killen Station sites in order to evaluate options for water, sewer, fiber, and gas service. Utility capacity remains a repeated theme. Emails indicate that AEP Ohio, AES Ohio, and Duke Energy each participated in calls with developers and county staff. At several points, JobsOhio representatives remind partners that developers must supply detailed load requirements, ramp up schedules, and capital assurances before utilities can provide binding commitments. In one message, OhioSE staff reiterate that the transmission line near Killen has limited available natural gas capacity and that additional build out would be expensive and complex.
While most of the email communications revolve around prospective data center activity, other development projects appear as well. The county continues work on the Winchester Industrial Park, the Winchester waterline and tower projects, and the Winchester Ag rail spur. Those projects involve ongoing coordination with OhioSE, the Ohio Rail Development Commission, engineering firms, and local employers. The 2025 and 2026 updates within the emails highlight milestones such as grant deadlines, wastewater plant funding gaps, site readiness evaluations, the sale of industrial park acreage to a local manufacturer, and JobsOhio’s continued monitoring of infrastructure timelines.
Taken together, the emails depict a steady stream of inquiries, planning discussions, and early stage exploratory work among developers, utilities, and economic development partners well before the public became aware of the scale of activity. Nothing in the correspondence indicates that a company has filed a formal proposal or requested county incentives, which county officials have emphasized repeatedly in public meetings. What the documents do show is how quickly interest accelerated once former power plant properties were publicly listed and once statewide demand for data center sites surged in 2025. They also show that Adams County has been balancing developer confidentiality requirements with the need to prepare utilities, secure grant funding, and understand the infrastructure implications of a potential hyperscale project.
As the county continues to request more transparency from prospective developers and push for public involvement once a proposal materializes, these emails provide a glimpse into how the inquiry phase unfolds and how many parallel conversations occur before a project becomes public. The County Commission, township leaders, state agencies, and local residents now face the task of navigating that next stage.
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