U.S. House · Georgia District 7
We sent every candidate on your ballot the same questions, whatever office they are running for. We wrote the options, so each one appears below once, with everyone who chose it. Candidates who wrote their own answer instead are shown in their own words, exactly as submitted.
Who is on your ballot
Their answers
Water use
Large data centers can use millions of gallons of water a year for cooling. What should the state require of new facilities?
- New facilities should be required to use closed-loop or air cooling, with no net draw on municipal drinking water. Operators should publish a projected water budget before a permit is issued, and verified figures for actual use before it is renewed.
- New facilities should disclose projected water use during permitting and pay the full cost of any infrastructure their demand requires. The cooling technology should remain the operator's choice, since the right approach depends on climate, site and power mix.
- Water use should be handled through existing utility agreements and state environmental review, which already assess supply and discharge for every large industrial customer. Data-center-specific rules would duplicate what is in place and slow projects the region depends on.
Ratepayer costs
When a data center's demand requires new transmission or generation, who should pay for that build-out?
- The facility should cover the full cost of any transmission, generation or grid upgrades its demand requires, under a binding agreement signed before construction, with no recovery from residential ratepayers. If it leaves, the cost stays with the company.
- Costs should be split between the facility and the utility according to how much of the new capacity serves the wider grid, with the split set in a public proceeding and reviewed if actual load comes in below forecast.
- The existing rate case process already allocates these costs, for every large customer rather than one industry. Singling out one class would set a precedent that raises costs for manufacturers and hospitals next, and push investment to other states.
Local approval
Should local governments be able to reject a proposed data center after the state has approved it?
- Yes. Local governments should hold final say over siting, with authority to reject a project outright regardless of state approval, and no state preemption of local zoning. The people who live with the noise and the substation should decide.
- Local governments should have a formal role in review and the ability to impose binding conditions on hours, noise, water and decommissioning, but not a unilateral veto once a project has cleared state environmental review.
- Siting belongs at the state level, where grid capacity, water availability and economic impact can be assessed together. A patchwork of local vetoes would make long-term planning impossible and push facilities toward the jurisdictions least able to negotiate.
How candidates are presented
Candidates are listed alphabetically by last name within each race, never ordered or coloured by party, and presented the same way whether or not they answered. Party is shown for everyone in the same treatment. Linking to a campaign website is not an endorsement.