Data centers in Jefferson County, Ohio: 1 project mapped

Imagery: Esri, Maxar

The only data center idea in Jefferson County so far is for the site of a coal plant being torn down. The W.H. Sammis plant in Stratton on the Ohio River was bought in 2023 by Energy Transition and Environmental Management (ETEM) of Houston, which is demolishing it. In June 2025 ETEM co-founder and general counsel Dan McDevitt asked the county commissioners to have the site designated a priority investment area under Ohio's House Bill 15, which brings faster permit reviews, brownfield funding and a utility tax exemption, the Herald-Star reported.

McDevitt said the site has an on-site switching station and substation, water and rail access, and that ETEM, which sells cleaned-up sites to others, now saw it suiting a data center of around 500 megawatts, possibly fed by a new gas pipeline and gas-fired generation. "We're not data center developers," he said. He estimated billions of dollars in investment, perhaps 1,000 construction jobs and "a couple hundred" permanent jobs. The commissioners were receptive. "Our board will do anything possible to bring in new opportunities to our county," Commissioner Tony Morelli said. Commissioner Jake Kleineke said he would prefer power generation to "a server farm," which he said would strain the local grid.

In September 2026 the commissioners said an unnamed group had asked whether they would discuss a data center at the Sammis site, but that nothing had moved beyond that contact. "There are positives, but there are also some negatives. You know, we don't know about the water sources," Commissioner Eric Timmons told WTOV. "So we want to get educated." No lease, sale or formal application has followed the September inquiry.

Every project above is drawn from public records, filings and local reporting. Each row links to what it is based on. Statuses change, so check the source date before you rely on one. Found something wrong? Write to [email protected] and it gets fixed.