Circuit Judge Adam Giganti could soon decide whether a lawsuit regarding the Sangamon County Board’s approval for the county’s first hyperscale data center goes forward or is dismissed.
The July 6 lawsuit was originally filed against Sangamon County and the County Board by residents who live approximately a mile or less from the site seeking to overturn the county’s approval of the project due to procedural and environmental concerns. The Sangamon County Board approved a conditional use permit on April 7 for a data center to be constructed on 280 acres of farmland by a vote of 17-10, with one board member abstaining.
Lawyers hired by the county argued the complaint should be dismissed with prejudice, hinging much of their argument on the fact that the board’s approval was “conditional” so that certain requisite documents could be provided to the board following zoning approval. In addition, lawyers from Champaign law firm Webber & Thies argue the county had a rational basis for approving the data center through the potential for economic incentives, so the lawsuit should be terminated.
The filing states “the board’s extensive reasoning… such as expected economic growth and new job opportunities, the likely minimal environmental impact and expected tax revenue from the project” were all reasons for the board to approve the petition. “Plaintiffs establish that they disagree with the decision, but that is not the same as adequately alleging that it lacked any rational basis at all.”
The county’s own staff report shows about $71 million of projected property tax revenue would go to three taxing bodies based in Macoupin County, with six Sangamon-based taxing districts expected to split roughly $27 million over a 20-year period, if all assessments go according to plan.
Sangamon County itself could expect to see just over $445,000 for 20 years in annual tax revenue, though some large data centers in northern Illinois eventually appealed for property tax breaks.
Petition procedure
The County Board’s recent filings focused on disputing the plaintiff’s claims of improper procedure. The residents argued that the petition approved by the county was incomplete, mainly in the form of will-serve letters from local utilities that do not guarantee service for the CyrusOne project – the most recent filing from plaintiffs states the “RECC letter in the record references a differently named project at a materially lower load.”
The Rural Electric Convenience Cooperative will-serve electricity letter, dated Aug. 26, 2025, makes no mention of CyrusOne but it does say the electric co-op will provide electricity to a different, substantially smaller project called the Diamond Core Data Center.
The Illinois Secretary of State’s Office lists top personnel from Swift Current Energy as business managers of Diamond Core Datacenter LLC, which was incorporated in September 2024. Swift Current Energy owns and operates the 4,000-acre Double Black Diamond Solar farm near where the CyrusOne project was approved.
The land for Double Black Diamond Solar is being leased to Swift Current Energy by Dowson Farms, the same farming company that owns the 280 acres approved to be sold to CyrusOne, though county property records show none of that land has been sold yet, more than six months since the County Board approved the deal.
In August 2024, Diamond Core Datacenter and members of Dowson Farms signed a letter of intent for the data center LLC to purchase the very same land CyrusOne petitioned to purchase via contract roughly one year later. The five-year contract doesn’t expire until August 2029 – it’s unclear if CyrusOne has taken over the option to purchase agreement.
CyrusOne’s lawyers, Springfield-based Brown, Hay and Stephens, in support of the County Board’s efforts to dismiss, claim the petition “did include letters from both RECC and Apple Creek discussing servicing C1’s data center,” but the RECC letter references Diamond Core, not CyrusOne.
Illinois Times emailed questions to Sean Middleton, president and CEO of RECC, about the will-serve letter included in the approved petition and whether a new one had been procured for the CyrusOne project but did not receive a response by time of publication.
The Jan. 29 Apple Creek Water Cooperative letter included in the petition states the water utility is still reviewing CyrusOne’s application.
The County Board’s lawyers argue that the Board was “conditionally approving the (conditional use) permit contingent on future submission of these materials” in relation to the utility letters.
Read previous Illinois Times coverage of the lawsuit here:
County Board defends data center approval in court
Residents sue Sangamon County, CyrusOne
Feds initiate grid review
In June, the federal government opened its first attempt to examine the impact of the national data center – and corresponding electrical infrastructure – build-out on grid operators, such as the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, which is responsible for nearly all of Illinois outside of Cook County.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued show cause orders on June 18 to the nation’s various electric grid operators, essentially asking for documentation showing “that large loads pay their fair share of the costs incurred to serve them, regardless of whether the large load comes online as planned.
“Under current rules, data centers can (and are incentivized to) ‘shop around’ their prospective projects with different utilities to identify the fastest and cheapest location to connect. This wastes time and resources studying projects that are not real,” wrote commissioner David Rosner. “(L)arge loads are rapidly driving the need for new transmission infrastructure and energy supply. This creates new challenges that, if unaddressed, could jeopardize the reliability and affordability of the grid on which we all depend.”
On Aug. 3, MISO responded to its federal order by asking for an extension until mid-November “to address the issues identified in the show cause order.”
FERC granted the extension on Aug. 14, though it scolded MISO in a Sept. 21 follow-up filing. “The Commission made preliminary findings that MISO’s existing tariff appears to be unjust, unreasonable, and unduly discriminatory,” because it does not address a number of questions surrounding transmission costs for concentrated large loads, such as data centers.
Read the full filings by the defense here:
Editor’s note: The next court hearing, originally scheduled for Oct. 9, was postponed due to one of the attorneys being ill. A new date has not yet been scheduled.
An overwhelming majority of Sangamon County residents want nothing to do with AI and data centers. The county board needs to pull their heads out of their echo chamber and stop trying to shove this slop down our throats.