Google Project Dazzler (Franklin Furnace) data center, Franklin Furnace, Ohio

Google's Project Dazzler, a planned data center campus in Franklin Furnace, Scioto County, Ohio, has divided Green Township since the company was confirmed early in 2026 as the business behind a 500,000-square-foot, $1 billion project on the Ohio River. Its identity came out after the Scioto County Commission gave the data center a 75 percent tax abatement for 15 years, with a payment in lieu of taxes of $500,000 a year plus more once it is built.

The project was filed by Tilted Gate LLC, first described only as a "Fortune 100 tech company." Google's project website places it more than 1,000 feet east of Gallia Pike (Old U.S. 52), with a new electrical substation to be built separately by AEP Ohio, and schedules construction setup in 2026, major site work in 2026 and 2027, building shells in 2027 and interior and electrical work through 2029.

Google says it will pay the full cost of the electricity and the AEP Ohio infrastructure the campus needs, and that its Ohio facilities send wastewater through public sewers rather than discharging it.

County commissioners have said they had no authority to stop the landowners selling or to block a data center there. "Our decision was based on the partner, not the project," Commissioner Scottie Powell said, pointing to Google's water conservation work and its plans to protect wetlands on the site. In May the commissioners unanimously backed an agreement under which Google will pay the county's $4 million local match for a project to fix the bridge-strike area where Green Township traffic crosses US-52.

At a May 2026 open house at Green High School, protesters outside held signs reading "No data centers" and "No blank check for big tech." Audrey Dotson, a resident, said her main concern was noise: "We have autistic children that live in this neighborhood and go to this school and they can't stand to have the noise." Vina Colley, president of Portsmouth-Piketon Residents for Environmental Safety and Security, said: "The people are tired of it. They're tired of being sick. They're tired of being ran over by corporate."

Google's Timothy Chadwick said several protected wetlands on the campus will be preserved, and Commissioner Merit Smith said Google's people admitted they should have shared information sooner.

Across Ohio, 18 communities vote on data center measures this November, and a statewide petition to ban the largest data centers missed its July signature deadline, with organizers now aiming for 2027. Asked about a possible statewide vote, Chadwick said: "If that's the decision that the voters in the state of Ohio go, we're going to respect it completely."

By late July 2026 crews had begun clearing ground, and Commissioner Merit Smith said building construction would start before the end of the year, that two buildings are now planned, and that the builder expects about 3,500 construction workers on site at the peak. The wetlands permits sit with state and federal regulators, AEP Ohio builds the substation, and the Scioto County Commissioners, who granted the abatement, will take public input on the bridge project before it is final.