(CAPITOL CITY NOW) – We’re not done hearing about data centers. And we’re not done talking to people about data centers.

An organization called the Taxpayers Protection Alliance says fear and misinformation are driving the arguments against data centers. “We ran the numbers to get to the truth of the matter,” said TPA policy director Ross Marchand. “We found that for water consumption in Illinois, data centers account for 0.2 percent of all water consumption in the state of Illinois. Not two percent. Point two percent. And for electricity usage, the figure is 6.5 percent.” This runs counter to the arguments from citizens and elected officials who oppose the centers.

For noise? Marchand says the data center rivals … a loud conversation.

A data center is planned for the Waverly area. No data center is planned for Springfield.

Isn’t Marchand, pun intended, carrying the water for one side or the other?

“We call balls and strikes,” he said.