By Move to Amend Miami County, Ohio and published in our local paper, Miami Valley Today, July 4, 2026

Move to Amend Miami County stands with Piqua and Sidney residents concerned about the consequences of the proposed data centers in their communities.

Move to Amend works to restore government to the people, beyond control of big business, through an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that ends corporate personhood and states that money is not free speech.

Move to Amend believes the following principles should guide each and every one of us:

• A clean environment should be a human right.

• A business should not have the freedom to pollute the environment, but should be expected to take every precaution to protect the environment and human health and to clean up that which it has spoiled.

• Citizens should have not only the right, but the power if in the majority, to decide conditions that protect and promote the health, safety and welfare of themselves and the larger community.

• A corporation of any kind, which is created through a chartering process, should not have inherent, inalienable constitutional rights the same as area citizens.

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that spending money is free speech and that corporations have a 1st Amendment right to speak. Big tech companies have lots of money. They use their “constitutional” right to spend it to influence government decisions that limit regulation and allow the fast-tracking of approvals.

Listed below are a few big-tech spending figures based on information publicly available through OpenSecrets.org:

• $33,333,888 – Total contributions in 2024 to federal candidates, made by individuals and affiliates associated with Amazon, Microsoft, Palantir Technologies, and Meta. (OpenSecrets.org gave no information for Alphabet Inc., Google’s parent company.)

• $2,571,866 – Total contributions during the 2023-2024 election cycle, from political action committees for Amazon, Microsoft, Palantir Technologies, Meta, and Alphabet.

• $57,925,000 – Total spent in 2025 on lobbying Congress, by Amazon, Microsoft, Palantir, Meta, and Alphabet.

Nondisclosure agreements are another tool used by corporations. The details of the proposed Piqua and Sidney data centers were protected by nondisclosure agreements. It is also conceivable that a data center, like any other corporate entity, could claim other constitutional rights, such as a 4th Amendment right to refuse a surprise environmental inspection without a warrant, or a 1st Amendment right to not speak, to not share with community residents information it considers proprietary.

Data centers can ruin our quality of life by consuming enormous amounts of water and energy, resulting in higher costs for area residents and environmental damage. Data center development is good for big business, but not for area citizens.

We, the residents of Miami and Shelby counties, are unfairly being expected to live with the environmental and financial consequences of data center construction and use.

Move to Amend Miami County stands in solidarity with Piqua and Sidney residents seeking transparency, accountability, and a safe, livable environment.

Move to Amend Miami County, Ohio is an affiliate of the national grassroots coalition known as Move to Amend. Learn more at www.movetoamend.org, or contact Move to Amend Miami County at [email protected].

View online at https://miamivalleytoday.com/statement-supporting-area-residents-concerned-about-proposed-data-centers/