The following is the exact unedited original transcript from the recent webinar with Amazon officials regarding the Data Center coming to Hobart, Indiana held March 31, 2026. There has been many questions and disagreements regarding what was said and not said, so we thought it informative to actually publish the exact comments. This does not reflect anyone’s opinion, but is a historical documentation for future reference.
- Heather Ennis00:01:12
Good evening.
- Heather Ennis00:01:14
Thank you all for joining us this evening.
- Heather Ennis00:01:18
I’m Heather Ennis, I’m President and CEO of the Northwest Indiana Forum.
For those of you that don’t know, the Northwest Indiana Forum is the seven-county economic development organization.
- Heather Ennis00:01:29
We cover Lake, Porter, La Porte, Jasper Newton, Pulaski, and Stark counties.
- Heather Ennis00:01:35
We’re really excited to be here with you tonight, and excited that
so many people wanted to come
out and learn more about the Amazon Data Center
happening in Hobart.
- Heather Ennis00:01:45
I’m celebrating my 12th year with the Northwest
Indiana Forum, and it’s really amazing to
see these transformational projects that are
coming to our region.
- Heather Ennis00:01:56
The Northwest Indiana Forum is the voice of
Northwest Indiana business. We market Northwest
Indiana as the place for business, and
we stake out and drive bold initiatives that
wouldn’t happen without the Forum.
- Heather Ennis00:02:09
As the voice of the region’s business, it’s our job to help attract
transformational investments to our region,
and work with the communities to
help make them come to fruition.
- Heather Ennis00:02:21
Again, we’re very excited that you’ve all joined
us here this evening.
- Heather Ennis00:02:26
Please know that this webinar is the first of…
- Heather Ennis00:02:30
many that will happen over the coming months to
continue to dive into this project and other
]projects as we look at transformational
opportunities for the region. In order to get the
- Heather Ennis00:02:43
most…
- Heather Ennis00:02:45
accurate information to you all. This information will be part
live and part pre-recorded in order to ensure that we
have the best experts to be able
to explain things to you.
- Heather Ennis00:02:58
Please note, again, as I’ve said, that… that this is the beginning
of the conversation, not the end of the conversation.
We’re going to continue to drive into these things, and… and,
- Heather Ennis00:03:09
We look forward to engaging you all as we continue
to do these things. I’m going to go ahead and,
turn the floor over to Mayor Josh Huddleston.
Mayor Huddleston’s been a
transformational leader on this.
- Heather Ennis00:03:22
Project, and we really appreciate
- Heather Ennis00:03:25
him and the council and the work that they’ve done.
I know the Amazon team also appreciates
the city and the mayor’s leadership as we continue
to build out this project. Mayor Josh, please take it away.
- Mayor Huddlestun00:03:41
Thanks, Heather. First of all, welcome. I’m excited
that we’re here to discuss the project in some
detail here. We’re excited for tonight’s
a high- level understanding of the intricacies of this project.
In the spirit of time, we wanted to make sure
that we introduce this at a high level, and then subsequently,
in subsequent meetings, dive
into each discipline, understanding that
- Mayor Huddlestun00:04:06
Each one of these disciplines, it requires its own sort of webinar,
if you will, so that it has its due diligence given to it, that
we can deliver on those questions that you have.
But tonight, we’re excited because you’re going to get
more understanding, more information from the project.
One of the challenges that we had is feedback
we got in the community is not everyone understands
- Mayor Huddlestun00:04:30
what a data center is, and so we wanted to make sure
that we started on the very basic level, 101,
if you will, and then we’ll work to dive
into deeper disciplines in future webinars.
You know, one of the things that we
get asked about, and you will find out,
is that this project isn’t happening
in a silo. It’s not just Amazon and the city of Hobart.
We have third-party consultants.
- Mayor Huddlestun00:04:53
vetting and doing our own type of discovery, understanding all this.
This hasn’t happened overnight.
It’s been a long length, a long period of time for this project,
and we’re excited tonight because
we are getting close to where we will be at site plan, and so
understanding all the nuances to
the project is important. And tonight, you will see the
- Mayor Huddlestun00:05:17
high level, and then, like I said, we will dive into
deeper, a deeper meeting. But what I want to talk
about tonight, first of all, thank you guys for your patience.
I appreciate it. As this thing has unfolded,
as you can imagine, a development of this magnitude
for our community, which happens to be the
largest economic development in the state of Indiana,
and more importantly for us here in Hobart.
It doesn’t happen overnight.
- Mayor Huddlestun00:05:42
and so understanding all the nuances and what goes into it.
We’re excited that this is going to be
an ongoing series for you guys, and that we can answer
the questions that you guys have.
- Mayor Huddlestun00:05:54
But really what… when we talk about economic impact, what we…
what matters to me in the City of Hobart is that everyone
understands this project from a financial standpoint.
he experts will talk about the impact it will have
from environmental to noise to water, but from the
economic side, which we’ll also touch, but for the City of Hobart,
what that means. For us, as you know, the City of Hobarts,
over the course of time, has
- Mayor Huddlestun00:06:18
been cash-strapped in a way that has hindered progress, has
hindered our residents from realizing what the true Hobart
can possibly be. And so this project is really going to deliver
that for us. We designed the economic package to be
front-loaded so that we can make an immediate impact
for our residents. When you talk about how the structure
f this works, a lot of folks
- Mayor Huddlestun00:06:43
the government finances could be a doctorate-level class,
but in short, this project is in a TIF district, and that
TIF district locks the money up in the TIF, and typically
money in TIF is used for infrastructure projects.
Understanding that Amazon is paying 100% of the
infrastructure cost to deliver this project, the money sitting in a
TIF didn’t do us any good sitting in there.
- Mayor Huddlestun00:07:07
So what we did was, we structured it in a way to get that
money outside of the TIF district in what we call
economic impact payments. That’s not economic
impact payments. That’s so that we can
go make an impact economically with those payments.
That means that we can reduce costs to our residents,
both fees and taxes. That means that we can fix drainage issues. That means that we can build parks. That means
that we can help nonprofits,
schools, et cetera, et cetera.
- Mayor Huddlestun00:07:32
with this money. For us, the City of Hobart’s set to receive
about $200 million over the course
of the next 3 years in economic impact payments.
Put that in perspective for us, our general
fund budget is about $26 million. So what does that mean?
That means that we can deliver service to our residents
and make Hobart a destination that it’s supposed to be.
- Mayor Huddlestun00:07:55
you know, some of the things that, you know, the Council’s
already taken action on. They’ve eliminated the garbage fee,
we are looking to do an energy efficiency program, and also
what we’ll be doing is whiteboard sessions moving
forward so that you guys can engage on
what you guys see best fit for these dollars.
And you will find out during the course of this
webinar and then subsequent webinars that this
isn’t selling out, this is a good product,
and we feel that when
- Mayor Huddlestun00:08:20
and you have good developments with good economic,
packages, you can transform a
community for the better. So I’m excited for tonight,
and I appreciate you guys joining us, so thank you.
- Heather Ennis00:08:32
Thank you so much, Mayor. You know, you… again, I can’t…
- Heather Ennis00:08:38
applaud your leadership enough, and we look forward to
what this brings to the City of Hobart.
- Heather Ennis00:08:44
As we’ve talked about, we’re bringing you experts
from all over the country. Some will be live,
some will be pre-recorded, but we’d like to go
ahead and get started with more project-specific
information, so we’re going to go ahead and kick this program off.
What Are Data Centers . . .
- Josh Weisman00:09:07
Hey folks, welcome to the community information session.
My name is Josh Weisman, and I lead the
Amazon Web Services, referred to as AWS,
Infrastructure Delivery Organization.
- Presenter00:09:20
So I get this question a lot. What is a data center?
Well, data centers have been around for 40-plus years.
- Presenter00:09:26
And at the beginning, these were large rooms that housed really
large computers so that companies
could run their operation right there in their backyard.
And each company had some form of a
data center. Some of them were small little rooms,
some were quite large.
- Presenter00:09:45
And about 20 years ago.
- Presenter00:09:48
Amazon realized that the cost for companies to build their
own data centers was quite high, and
oftentimes prohibitive. And they were really unable to
build all the services they needed to run
their business on their own, and so AWS was formed.
- Presenter00:10:05
And AWS, builds data centers for customers, and have now for
- Presenter00:10:11
for approximately 20 years. So what is a data center?
- Presenter00:10:15
A data center is a facility that houses thousands of
purpose-built computers.
- Presenter00:10:22
A purpose-built computer, no different than when you walk
into a store to buy your own computer.
You see all the different models and have to figure
out which one you want. Same thing.
We offer dozens of different types of computers in
our data centers for customers to rent.
They don’t have to build out their infrastructure and
pay all that cash up front. We do that
and then lease it to customers who want to use computers in our data centers.
- Presenter00:10:45
And today, we have millions of customers that rely on
AWS to run their businesses. For example,
the obvious example that we’d like to talk about is
Netflix. As you settle in on a Friday
night to watch your favorite movie or TV show.
- Presenter00:11:01
and you go to Netflix, that Netflix software application
reaches out to our data center,
picks the movie that you picked, and sends it to your TV,
and that all happens through AWS.
- Presenter00:11:12
Another example would be during natural disasters,
AWS is often used to provide support
to first responders. For example, drones are used to
understand where real concerns are
and what’s happening on the ground, and that often
runs through AWS, along with many
other applications and other software applications
- Presenter00:11:37
like, your email.
- Presenter00:11:40
banking applications. And so, Amazon Web Services really is
built for the millions of customers that rely on it to build
their business, operate their business, and serve
millions of customers like yourselves who rely on that
infrastructure for your daily lives.
- Presenter00:11:58
So, thank you for your time, and hopefully this paints a
little bit of a picture of what
happens in a data center, and what a data center is.
- Presenter00:12:10
Water Strategy
Hello everyone, I’m Pupadur Ranasingha, a Senior Water
Strategy Manager.
We’ll be going over why and how data centers use water.
- Pupadur Ranasingha 00:12:22
We use water in our data centers for three purposes.
Domestic needs for people
who operate them, fire suppression, and cooling.
- Presenter00:12:29
Cooling is the one that draws most of the questions.
So let’s address it directly.
- Presenter00:12:35
There’s a widespread misconception that all data
centers consume the same
amount of water for cooling. That simply isn’t true.
Think of it like cars.
- Presenter00:12:44
They all use full, but mileage varies.
- Presenter00:12:47
Some data centers are water efficient, some are not.
- Presenter00:12:51
We are very proud to be among the most efficient.
- Presenter00:12:54
Water use for cooling comes down to three factors.
How you operate,
the local climate, and the technology you’re deploying.
- Presenter00:13:02
We use highly efficient cooling technology that requires water for as
little as 2% of the year in India.
- Presenter00:13:12
Our data centers in Indiana will use water for cooling
only 2% of the year.
- Presenter00:13:16
Just the warmest hours when outside air alone can’t do the job.
- Presenter00:13:20
Here’s how it works.
- Presenter00:13:22
Water passes through the system, some evaporates,
and air cools down.
- Presenter00:13:26
The same principle as a cooling towel on a hot day.
- Presenter00:13:30
For the remaining 9-8% of the year, we cool
entirely with outside air. From October
through April, we won’t use a single drop of water for cooling.
- Presenter00:13:41
That’s a real performance reason for this approach.
- Presenter00:13:44
Using water on the hottest hour reduces power
consumption by 25-35% compared
to systems that avoid water entirely.
- Presenter00:13:53
This is not just water smart, it’s energy smart too.
- Presenter00:14:00
Amazon’s data centers set high bar for water efficiency.
With a rate of just 5ozers per
kilowatt hour, we are 10 times more efficient than
cooling towers and 5 times more
efficient than industry average.
- Presenter00:14:14
Once fully operational, the entire Hobart campus is
expected to use an average of
14 million gallons per year.
- Presenter00:14:21
Less than what a typical golf course consumes annually.
To put it in another way, the
water utility existing production facilities can meet
our entire annual demand in less than 12 hours.
- Presenter00:14:36
Sustainability is a top priority for Amazon as we build
infrastructure that will power our
communities for generations.
- Presenter00:14:43
We have committed to return more water than we use
in our direct operations by 2030.
- Presenter00:14:49
And we are already making good progress in India.
- Presenter00:14:53
In the Kankakee River watershed, we are investing in
two complementary water positive projects.
- Presenter00:14:58
The first is Kentucky Aquifer Smart Irrigation Program.
- Presenter00:15:02
An AI-driven precision technology deployed with local
farmers across 7,200 acres today.
- Presenter00:15:09
This project will reduce water waste at the source.
- Presenter00:15:13
The second is Smart Wetland Initiative, a restoration
project that treats agricultural
runoff before it reaches local waterways.
- Presenter00:15:22
Together, these initiatives will deliver over 100 million
gallons of annual benefits
through water savings and cleaner runoff.
- Presenter00:15:35
Our water will come from Indian American water,
which draws from Lake Michigan,
not from any local groundwater sources.
- Presenter00:15:43
Indian American Water has completed hydraulic
modeling and confirmed sufficient
capacity for our project and future development,
with only minor infrastructure improvements needed.
- Presenter00:15:54
Used cooling water will be discharged to
City of Hobart’s sewer system,
and we are funding 100% of the water and sewer
infrastructure required for our operations.
- Presenter00:16:04
The community pays no cost.
- Presenter00:16:07
We will also develop a replenishment project that
returns more water than we consume in Hobart.
- Presenter00:16:17
Deodorant is a routine construction process used
when work needs to happen below the
groundwater table, such as installing pipes and building foundations.
- Presenter00:16:27
It’s a temporary measure to lower the groundwater level.
- Presenter00:16:30
Extracted water is typically returned to storm systems.
- Presenter00:16:35
The method of dewatering depends on several factors.
The area and depth of
construction, soil conditions, groundwater depth.
- Presenter00:16:43
And the potential impact to surrounding infrastructure.
- Presenter00:16:46
If dewatering is needed in Hobart.
- Presenter00:16:49
We anticipate using sump pumps, a straightforward
approach used to maintain dry work area.
- Presenter00:16:55
With little to no impact beyond the side boundary.
- Presenter00:16:59
The Hobart site will be designed to minimize
the need for dewatering overall.
- Presenter00:17:06
I hope this information answered many of the
questions you all had. Thank you.
- Presenter00:17:14
Energy Strategy
Hi, everyone. My name is Angie Cole, and I’m in Energy Strategy at Amazon.
- Angie Cole,00:17:20
I’m going to talk to you about a data center’s
power usage, and how our contract with
NIPSCO will contribute to the local electric grid,
while ensuring you, as a ratepayer,
do not subsidize the cost to serve our load.
- Presenter00:17:36
The reality is, data centers have significant power
needs for everything from running
servers and computing to keeping cooling systems active.
This is why we take energy efficiency very seriously at Amazon.
- Presenter00:17:53
Just like you, Amazon will be a customer of NIBSCO.
However, Amazon will receive
its service directly from NIBSCO’s transmission lines.
- Presenter00:18:02
Rather than the local distribution lines that typically
serve your home or business.
AWS will be funding new substations at our sites
to serve our data center buildings.
- Presenter00:18:14
Given that NIPSCO is a regulated utility in Indiana,
Amazon’s agreement with NIPSCO
will be subject to regulatory oversight.
- Presenter00:18:22
Here in Indiana, Amazon’s partnership with NIPSCO
will help ensure that residential and
business customers of NIPSCO will be credited for
our use of NIPSCO’s existing transmission system.
- Presenter00:18:34
A portion of the cost that we will pay for the use of
those lines will flow back to existing
customers through a planned credit that NIBSCO’s
customers will receive on their monthly utility bill.
- Presenter00:18:46
These credits are expected to total up to $1
billion over the life of the agreement.
- Presenter00:18:54
Amazon is committed to funding 100% of the
power infrastructure we need to serve our load
and then some, ensuring that these costs are
not passed on to our community members.
- Presenter00:19:06
We will be funding future power generation assets,
substations, and pay for dedicated power
lines while contributing to power capacity reserves in the region.
- Presenter00:19:16
All of these assets are meant to increase the
resiliency of NIPSCO’s overall system.
- Presenter00:19:23
We are able to do this and accomplish this because
NIPSCO created a separate entity
that’s regulated to capture these costs.
- Presenter00:19:32
This structure will insulate existing customers from the
costs and risks of serving Amazon’s load.
- Presenter00:19:39
As part of our partnership with NIPSCO, NIPSCO
will be building 2,600 megawatts of
dispatchable generation, along with a 400 megawatt
battery to ensure the region has the
capacity it needs during peak usage.
- Presenter00:19:55
from an energy efficiency perspective, we’ve taken
the lead on measures like server
optimization and efficient cooling practices
to get our power usage effectiveness,
or PUE, score to 1.15.
- Presenter00:20:10
Better than the industry average.
- Presenter00:20:13
When customers choose Amazon, they immediately
benefit from infrastructure which is
four times more energy efficient than typical
on-premises data centers.
- Presenter00:20:24
Our investments in the energy infrastructure here in
Hobart will pay dividends for the
community members when it comes to stronger,
more reliable power systems.
- Presenter00:20:34
As for sustainability, Amazon is one of the
biggest corporate purchasers of renewable
energy across all of its operations.
- Presenter00:20:43
We take renewable energy seriously and have
contracted for hundreds of renewable
projects worldwide, including 5 here in Indiana,
which will add over 600 megawatts of
energy to the grid.
- Presenter00:20:56
Once all of these are operational, these projects
will generate the amount of energy
needed to power the equivalent of more than
145,000 homes in Indiana.
- Presenter00:21:08
We rely on the utility’s grid to power our data centers.
- Presenter00:21:12
To ensure the reliability of our services for critical
customers, our data centers are
designed to be fully redundant in the rare event of a disruption.
- Presenter00:21:22
Our backup generators run less than 10 hours per
year on average, mostly during
midday testing intervals to ensure that they are
ready when needed.
- Presenter00:21:33
These generators are carefully maintained, fully
compliant with all state and federal
environmental regulations, and designed to provide
energy power only when it’s absolutely necessary.
- Presenter00:21:45
So, in summary, Amazon will fully fund 100% of
the power generation and transmission
assets, including upgrades, to serve our load.
- Presenter00:21:55
An estimated $1 billion will be directed back to
customers over the term of our agreement.
- Presenter00:22:01
Existing customers will not be subsidizing Amazon’s costs.
- Presenter00:22:06
Amazon runs energy-efficient data centers,
and we are very excited about the opportunity
to contribute to the Hobart community.
- Presenter00:22:14
Thank you.
- Presenter00:22:18
Environmental Strategy
Hi, I’m Ben Elsessor, Original Environmental
Engineer here at AWS, and I’m here to talk
to you about our environmental permitting
strategy and mitigation strategy here in Hobart.
- Ben Elsessor00:22:29
Hey folks, I’m David Monaghan, I’m a
Senior Air Quality Engineer with AWS,
and I’m here to talk to you about the air permitting
aspect of this project in Hobart, Indiana.
- Presenter00:22:41
I’d like to take a minute to talk about our commitment
to environmental protection here at AWS.
- Presenter00:22:46
Prior to site selection, Amazon conducts a thorough
assessment, evaluating wetlands,
waterways, protected species, and their habitat.
- Presenter00:22:55
These findings are then used to directly shape site selection and design, ensuring environmental impacts are avoided or reduced as much as possible.
- Presenter00:23:04
All regulatory requirements are met from the initial planning of the site through the full data center lifecycle.
- Presenter00:23:15
Here, I’d like to talk about the minimization efforts that we’ve employed here in Hobart.
- Presenter00:23:22
One of the key tenets of our minimization efforts is wetland avoidance.
- Presenter00:23:26
Site design… the site has been designed to optimize
wetland avoidance by maintaining
over 55 acres of naturalized wetlands and riparian
habitat throughout the site.
- Presenter00:23:36
This represents that over 99% of the wetlands that are
identified on the site will remain through operations.
- Presenter00:23:46
In addition to avoiding wetlands, we’re converting
over 25 acres of existing cropland into new
engineered wetland detention basins.
These will be composed of native wetland plantings.
- Presenter00:23:57
And we’ll manage storm water as it moves
into the receiving waters.
- Presenter00:24:03
We also are implementing habitat enhancement efforts here.
- Presenter00:24:07
The project will utilize native plantings across the site
to increase plant diversity and count.
In addition to the native plantings, we’ll also be using
pollinator habitats on the periphery of the site.
- Presenter00:24:19
Air Quality
With that, I’ll pass it over to David to talk more about the air
quality strategy AWS will be implementing here.
- Presenter00:24:27
Thank you very much, Ben.
- Presenter00:24:29
Yeah, hi folks. So, from an air permitting perspective,
we recognize that Lake County’s designated serious
non-attainment for ozone, limiting NOx and VOC emissions to 50 tonnes per year.
- Presenter00:24:41
So, from an air permitting strategy perspective, we plan to…
- Presenter00:24:45
Hermit this site as a synthetic miner source,
below major source thresholds, and remain
protective of that 50 tonnes per year limit for
NOCs and VOCs.
- Presenter00:24:57
With regards to the type of generators that we
plan to land on site, we plan to land state-of-the-art
Tier 2 certified generators, which will be fitted
with Tier 4 emission control systems.
- Presenter00:25:10
All these Tier 2 critical emergency generators f
itted with Tier 4 emission reduction technology
will further reduce emissions from the facility.
- Presenter00:25:21
It’s also really important to note that on average,
each of our emergency backup generators
operate around about 10 hours per year.
We are not operating these generators 24-7, 365 days per year.
- Presenter00:25:35
The last point I’d like to draw your attention to is that,
based on a 2023 study by the
Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee.
- Presenter00:25:43
The study found that actually, even though facilities
permit 250 tonnes per year, or 100 tonnes,
or 250 tonnes per year, in reality.
- Presenter00:25:53
The operators of those facilities only emit approximately
7% of what those permits allow,
and that is absolutely our intention in this…
for this particular site, to make sure that we
minimize emissions from our facility.
Thank you very much for listening, folks,
really appreciate it. Thank you.
- Presenter00:26:15
Noise Assessments
Hi, everyone. I’m Kristen Wallace, a consultant
with over 30 years of experience
conducting environmental noise assessments.
- Kristen Wallace, 00:26:22
I’m here to present to you information about acoustics
and the sound mitigation that
AWS considers on their sites.
- Presenter00:26:31
The main sources of operational sound from data
centers are cooling and ventilation
equipment and backup generators.
- Presenter00:26:37
The cooling and ventilation equipment tends to be the
primary source of noise concerns
since it operates continuously.
- Presenter00:26:44
For backup generators, a common misconception
is that they operate 24-7 as well.
- Presenter00:26:51
However, backup generators are typically operated
intermittently for short periods of
time during testing and maintenance.
- Presenter00:26:59
And as presented previously, are generally
expected to operate 10 hours or less per year.
- Presenter00:27:05
In addition to operational sound, temporary
construction activities at a campus produce
sound that can affect nearby communities.
Amazon contractors regularly apply
best management practices to reduce construction noise impacts.
- Presenter00:27:24
There has been a concern that multiple data centers
will multiply sound, but the reality
is that two data centers of equal sound would
not result in a doubling of loudness.
- Presenter00:27:35
As part of this presentation, it is helpful to provide
information regarding the science of sound.
- Presenter00:27:41
Sound is characterized by pressure fluctuations
in a medium, in this case air.
- Presenter00:27:47
The pressure levels vary enormously over the range
of human hearing, and we use decibels,
which operate on a logarithmic scale, to compress
the very wide range of pressures
to a more manageable range of numbers.
- Presenter00:28:00
The decibel’s logarithmic scale changes the map
from what we typically know.
- Presenter00:28:05
For example.
- Presenter00:28:07
50 decibels plus 50 decibels is equal to 53 decibels,
not 100 decibels, and that 3
decibel increase is just perceivable.
- Presenter00:28:18
10 times the number of noise sources results in a 10
decibel increase compared to a single source.
- Presenter00:28:24
And that 10 decibel increase is perceived as a doubling of sound.
- Presenter00:28:29
To recap, it would take 10 of the same sources,
essentially stacked on top of each other,
to result in a doubling of perceived loudness.
- Presenter00:28:39
The chart on the right of this screen presents common
outdoor sound levels. Similar charts
can be found at many sites, including the EPA’s
website and the Federal Transit Administration’s website.
- Presenter00:28:51
Amazon designs and operates their data centers in
compliance with all local sound ordinances.
- Presenter00:28:57
This site will be in compliance with the City of
Hobart’s 65 decibel noise limit for data centers.
- Presenter00:29:03
And Amazon will strive to do better than regulatory
requirements in order to be a good community member.
- Presenter00:29:09
Using conservative summertime cooling assumptions
when equipment is expected to
operate at peak capacity, Amazon has designed
the site to operate in the low
50s decibels at their property line.
- Presenter00:29:22
Most of the time, especially during cooler seasons,
the sound levels are expected to be even lower.
- Presenter00:29:29
Mitigation is identified for each campus on a
site-by-site basis and a building-by-building basis.
- Presenter00:29:36
Each site has particular characteristics that affect how
the noise travels to off- site communities, including
the design and orientation of the buildings, the intervening
land and ground types, terrain, and potential
intervening development.
- Presenter00:29:52
These specific characteristics are considered in the
noise assessments conducted for each site.
- Presenter00:29:58
Amazon is one of the only hyperscalers with
a dedicated acoustic program and specialized
engineering team for solving data center
sound challenges.
- Presenter00:30:07
They also use experienced outside noise consultants
for conducting the noise assessments
for each specific site.
- Presenter00:30:14
On a site-by-site basis, Amazon is proactive about
mitigation strategies to reduce not only
overall sound levels, but also low – Frequency and
tonal sound characteristics to
ensure comprehensive sound quality management.
- Presenter00:30:30
At this site, noise control measures include
sound dampening building materials and
insulation, Strategic placement of equipment, Visual screening.
- Presenter00:30:41
And generator acoustic enclosures and mufflers.
- Presenter00:30:45
I hope you found this information helpful. Thank you for your time.
Design Manager
- Amy Jaballah00:30:54
Hello.
- Amy Jaballah00:30:55
This is Kiko Smith.
- Amy Jaballah00:30:57
I’m an architect and the design manager
for this project, AWS Design Manager,
and I’m here to present the site design
- Amy Jaballah00:31:08
For this project.
- Amy Jaballah00:31:12
You have the first slide?
- Amy Jaballah00:31:19
So this first slide is showing you the overall site
plan, from Skyview.
- Amy Jaballah00:31:25
And we want to show you this because, as we
discussed in our environmental slides and
so on and so forth, the waterways that we have kept,
and the wetlands that we’ve kept,
and the additional landscaping that you see
around the exterior part of the site.
- Amy Jaballah00:31:41
You will also notice that the buildings are set back
quite a ways. So we are set back
approximately 400 to 600 feet from the
main high roads.
- Amy Jaballah00:31:52
And throughout the rest of the project.
- Amy Jaballah00:31:56
So, this is one of the ways that we, work to,
- Amy Jaballah00:32:01
Help with the acoustics, and so on and so forth.
- Amy Jaballah00:32:03
As such, we will also have lighting closer to the buildings.
- Amy Jaballah00:32:08
And the lighting as it goes further and further out to the
edges of the site will be lesser and less. So, we expect the
lighting at the edges of the site to be very minimal.
- Amy Jaballah00:32:21
We could go to the next slide.
- Amy Jaballah00:32:25
So, as you can see from the smaller version of the site plan,
the arrow indicates what view this is. So, this is a corner view, looking at the project, and we start to see
the distance off of the street edge, and the
berming start to take place.
- Amy Jaballah00:32:42
This will help with overall character and
changes to the site.
- Amy Jaballah00:32:48
If we can go to the next slide.
- Amy Jaballah00:32:53
And as we go down the street, we can see that, again,
the birming starts to develop,
and the landscape that we’ve added.
- Amy Jaballah00:33:03
This site, we will add approximately 1,400 to
1,500 additional trees
- Amy Jaballah00:33:09
to the campus. The maturity level that you’re seeing
is what we are expecting to provide,
working with your local nurseries and local opportunities
to find these plantings
so that we know that they work in this area.
- Amy Jaballah00:33:25
But this is the character. There’ll be a bike path that
you’ll see as well that we’ve added.
We worked with your staff and city leadership to make
sure that we’ve thought about
all of these changes and how we will develop.
Let’s go to the next slide.
- Amy Jaballah00:33:43
This is an example of our… one of our entries,
and I show you this example because,
this is… will serve as our entry until the roundabout is built.
- Amy Jaballah00:33:55
Once the roundabout is built, again, directed from
your city staff as to the future,
request that they have wanted to have that roundabout.
- Amy Jaballah00:34:06
We will then replace this drive with additional
landscaping of birming, and that whole
entry will be closed off.
- Amy Jaballah00:34:14
So this will only be for a short while, few years,
until such time as we are able to then close that bag off.
- Amy Jaballah00:34:22
If we can go to the next slide.
- Amy Jaballah00:34:25
And this, again, is another example of where our
berming and landscaping… this berming
is a little higher, it will approximately be 15 feet tall.
This will help with acoustics,
as was discussed in the acoustics.
- Amy Jaballah00:34:39
summary, all toward, adding to the character and
adding to the community.
We are excited to be here, and we hope to
bring you a very special project.
- Amy Jaballah00:34:51
So, I think that’s my last slide.
Economic Development
- Scott Eckhardt00:34:58
Thank you, Kiko. Hello, everyone. It’s great to be
with you this evening. I’m Scott Ugar,
and I’m on the economic development team at Amazon.
I’ll take just a minute to frame
the economic impact of our project, because
the scale’s pretty extraordinary.
- Scott Eckhardt00:35:10
Our project represents a $15 billion investment,
which is the largest private commitment in Indiana history.
That level of investment isn’t just about physical
construction, it becomes a multi-year economic engine.
It drives demand for local contractors, suppliers, hotels, restaurants,
and service providers across the community.
- Scott Eckhardt00:35:28
Alongside that, the project includes $1.5 billion in
community impact payments over the term of the
agreements. As the Mayor described earlier, these are flexible
dollars that local leaders can direct toward priorities
like schools, roads, public safety,
and long-term infrastructure.
- Scott Eckhardt00:35:44
These payments create a predictable revenue
stream that strengthens the community’s financial
foundation for decades to come.
- Scott Eckhardt00:35:51
But the long- term story isn’t just about investments, it’s about people. These projects create high-quality technical and skilled
opportunities, and they open doors for local students and
workers, and that’s exactly where Mike will take us next.
Economic Development Team Member
- Mike Berman00:36:04
Thanks, Scott. Hi, everyone. My name’s Mike Berman.
I’m a director within our economic development team.
I’m part of our workforce development organization.
I’m a former classroom teacher and administrator,
and my role is to work with education and workforce development systems
in the communities where we have our data centers.
- Mike Berman00:36:24
to help them align their efforts to the demand for cloud
computing talent. And that’s what we’re here to talk
about tonight. You can see on the screen
what the growth that Scott is describing is a
microcosm of what we’re seeing
across the country and beyond.
- Mike Berman00:36:40
the expansion of cloud computing technology
over the past decades, and
especially with the acceleration of innovation in AI, recently.
- Mike Berman00:36:50
there’s an explosion of demand for talent, and my
team’s remit, my role, is to figure out how to
translate that growth in demand into opportunity for
learners and job seekers in our communities.
So, let me just dive into a
high-level overview of that demand.
- Mike Berman00:37:08
and our approach to workforce development, as well as
some of the work that’s there. So,
- Mike Berman00:37:13
on the previous slide, we talked about the left-hand side,
all the cool things that you can do with your fingers
on the keys, and that’s the technology that my colleague
Josh was describing at the top of the call.
Netflix, Hulu, all sectors of the economy are
- Mike Berman00:37:31
Either born in the cloud or running cloud computing, workloads.
- Mike Berman00:37:35
Those millions of customers require data centers to
carry their loads, and that’s where we really wanted
to drive the conversation, is to focus on the right-hand side, or the demand for cloud computing
talent at the physical layer of the technology stack.
- Mike Berman00:37:57
So as you can see from the graphic, we bucket that
demand, thousands of jobs and roles, into, four
- Mike Berman00:38:06
different main functional areas. Building data centers,
connecting them with fiber, providing them with power,
and operating and maintaining them.
And one thing to note is that, and if you go to the next slide.
- Mike Berman00:38:20
says that here. This is just a small cross-section of
the roles related to, that really important work.
- Mike Berman00:38:29
the overwhelming majority of those roles,
these high-demand careers,
are with our vendors and contractors. But at AWS,
we also have a very robust demand for talent.
We’ve actually hired over
900 builders to work in our facilities in New Carlisle,
and over 80% of them are native to the Hoosier state.
- Mike Berman00:38:51
That, in addition to that,
- Mike Berman00:38:54
on any given day, there might be thousands of
construction workers on our sites, again, contributing
to the economy. What we think about is how do we make sure that that demand is translating into opportunity
for the residents that live there, the members of our community.
And so our solution is to go work with the local education
and workforce development systems
- Mike Berman00:39:17
in those communities, in the region, to help make sure that that
alignment is really robust. And that work
- Mike Berman00:39:24
which has already begun, it’s been going on for years, if you can go to the next slide, really cuts across three dimensions. We think about
- Mike Berman00:39:32
How do we make sure that instructors are fluent and well-versed in industry technology? How do we support
them with professional development? How do we work
with educators and workforce development program
developers to make sure that the
- Mike Berman00:39:49
What students are learning, what learners engage
with, is authentic and reflects industry demand,
what they’re going to need when they go
enter the workforce, and that it’s also really engaging.
- Mike Berman00:40:01
And really often, as we… as you can see from,
- Mike Berman00:40:05
the discussion previously. A lot of these are really hands-on.
- Mike Berman00:40:10
skilled trades-based roles, where we think about managing
electrical systems, or mechanical systems, or HVAC,
fiber optic technology. A lot of really exciting work,
and we want to make sure that the learning
happens in an authentic way,
and so we need to think about the facilities
and equipment where that learning happens.
- Mike Berman00:40:29
So, this work is ongoing. We’ve had the privilege
of working with Dr. Buffington and her team at the
School City of Hobart system at Hobart High School,
as well as educators and leaders from local career
centers and the team at Ivy Tech Community College in the region.
That work is ongoing. It’s really exciting.
We’ve been very gratified for the kinds of
collaboration that we’ve seen, and we’re
- Mike Berman00:40:54
looking forward to more. If we can go to the next
slide, here’s a small cross-section, a selection
of some of the programming
that’s already started in the area.
- Mike Berman00:41:04
Last year, we ran a professional development
workshop for education leaders in the region.
There were over 130 participants. We co-hosted
that with Ivy Tech. We’ve run fiber optic
fusion splicing workshops to help introduce
- Mike Berman00:41:22
Community members and job seekers to
optical fiber technology.
- Mike Berman00:41:26
And then, just last spring, we graduated
our first cohort, out of the
information infrastructure pre-apprenticeship.
- Mike Berman00:41:35
And a lot of those folks have already gotten
jobs with our contractors, and many of them
are our colleagues in the operations team working
in New Carlisle right now. It’s very exciting. And then
we are continuing to develop and launch
new programs. Just a couple
weeks ago, a new cohort at Ivy Tech launched
one of their upskilling programs
to move them into a higher-paying
- Mike Berman00:42:00
roles.
- Mike Berman00:42:01
So, we are really excited for the work ahead, and really
looking forward to more collaboration with
the local education and
workforce development system.
- Mike Berman00:42:11
Thanks for your time.
- Mike Berman00:42:16
Turn it over to Amy. Thanks. Sorry.
Community Engagement
- Amy Jaballah00:42:19
Thank you, Mike. Good evening, folks.
My name is Amy Jabbala,
and I’m part of Amazon’s Community Engagement Team.
- Amy Jaballah00:42:26
It’s important for us to use our scale and resources to strengthen communities where we operate, and to dedicate
resources to make improvements
in areas that matter most to you all.
- Amy Jaballah00:42:36
We’re ramping up to work closely with local organizations,
nonprofits, schools, and community members
across Hobart to understand your needs
and find ways to contribute in a way that is
both thoughtful and impactful.
- Amy Jaballah00:42:50
Our community engagement efforts are anchored
by key pillars, and I want to take a few moments to
share what this means or Hobart, as well as share
a few examples of how we’ve partnered with the
community across New Carlisle, South Bend,
and the wider St Joseph County community to give you a sense
of what you can look forward to.
- Amy Jaballah00:43:09
Firstly, STEM education programs.
- Amy Jaballah00:43:12
We’ll be partnering with the School City of Hobart and
neighboring school districts to
provide hands-on learning and education experiences
for the young people in your community.
- Amy Jaballah00:43:21
Mike has already shared some of the early discussions
and work to date with the schools district.
- Amy Jaballah00:43:27
Our Think Big STEM education programming includes
our Think Big Spaces.
- Amy Jaballah00:43:32
These are dedicated learning spaces and
labs that are built in a school or community
center where students can explore cloud
computing and technology.
- Amy Jaballah00:43:41
We also have a mobile version of these spaces
with dedicated facilitators who
will deliver STEM education and teacher
training in local schools.
- Amy Jaballah00:43:50
These aren’t one- time events, they’re sustained programs designed to open doors for the next generation
right here in Hobart.
- Amy Jaballah00:43:58
We’re getting ready to launch and open our
Think Big Spaces across the New Prairie
and South Bend schools corporations, and
we’re excited to start working on the spaces
and programming for local schools in Hobart.
- Amy Jaballah00:44:10
Mike’s shared some detail on our skills training
initiatives, but it’s worth mentioning
again that investing in workforce development
programs will help individuals gain
the skills needed in careers and cloud computing.
- Amy Jaballah00:44:25
By collaborating with local education institutions
and community organizations.
- Amy Jaballah00:44:30
We’ll continue to create opportunities for students,
job seekers, and career changers to build in-demand
skills and increasing employability.
- Amy Jaballah00:44:40
Our next pillar centers on sustainability efforts.
- Amy Jaballah00:44:44
As you’ve heard from a couple of our speakers,
we’re committed to environmental
stewardship, working towards 100% renewable
energy and net zero carbon emissions.
- Amy Jaballah00:44:54
But what does this look like at a local level?
- Amy Jaballah00:44:57
We’ll make efforts to hear from you all on what
you’d most like to see across Hobart.
But what we’ve delivered to date in local communities,
as well as other regions across
the country, include everything from planting new
tree canopy, rehabilitating community
gardens for education and food sources.
- Amy Jaballah00:45:14
Creating new green spaces, solar builds for local
community buildings, and smart wetland projects.
- Amy Jaballah00:45:23
Our final pillar focuses on supporting hyperlocal
social impact activities.
- Amy Jaballah00:45:29
This, again, means listening to what you need and
what the community needs.
- Amy Jaballah00:45:33
We’ll support local organizations and community-driven
projects that address the priorities you
identify, whether that’s supporting
local nonprofits, disaster relief efforts, sponsoring
local festivals and events.
- Amy Jaballah00:45:46
Volunteering at the local food bank, improving
access to education, healthcare,
and basic resources, or building a new playground
for young people.
- Amy Jaballah00:45:57
Building on everything I’ve shared, we’re pleased
to today launch the Hobart Community Fund with
an initial $150,000 commitment.
- Amy Jaballah00:46:08
Managed by the non-profit Change X, the fund,
which opens today, will provide grants of up to $10,000
for community projects that have a positive impact.
- Amy Jaballah00:46:19
The fund is open to non-profits, education
institutions, and community groups across Lake County,
and projects need to demonstrate a direct
positive impact to the Hobart community.
- Amy Jaballah00:46:32
The QR code will take you to the application page,
but we will also share details
with you all at the close of the session via email.
- Amy Jaballah00:46:41
These are real commitments that we’re making to
you all, backed by programs we have successfully
implemented in communities across the country.
- Amy Jaballah00:46:48
We look forward to demonstrating these in
action in the months and years ahead.
- Amy Jaballah00:46:54
Heather, I’ll now pass the mic back to you for
Q&A and some final remarks.
- Heather Ennis00:47:00
Thank you so much, Amy, and thank you to
all of our presenters.
- Heather Ennis00:47:05
you know, that concludes the formal content, and
we’ve addressed many
of the questions that were asked of…
that you asked as you registered
for this event, but we’d like to dig into this and…
and maybe ask a couple more questions, so…
- Heather Ennis00:47:20
I’m gonna, bring Scott back up on screen.
Thanks for… thanks for joining me,
Scott. Just… just want to dig into a couple of questions,
- Heather Ennis00:47:29
Additionally with you.
- Heather Ennis00:47:31
Have there been any independent
studies completed with,
- Heather Ennis00:47:36
Environmental Impact
Regarding environmental impact and health impacts.
- Scott Eckhardt00:47:41
Heather. I’ll start by just saying Amazon’s committed
to environmental responsibility in building and
operating our data centers. So, prior to site
selection, Amazon conducts thorough assessments
evaluating wetlands, waterways, protected species,
and their habitats, along with the sensitive ecosystems
- Scott Eckhardt00:47:58
with flood risk, air quality, and cultural resources
also assessed where that’s applicable. These
findings directly shaped site selection and
design decisions, which you saw some of.
- Scott Eckhardt00:48:08
within Kiko’s presentation, that ensure environmental
impacts are avoided or reduced as much as
possible, and all regulatory requirements
are met from initial planning through the
full data center life cycle.
- Scott Eckhardt00:48:18
So we work closely with regulatory agencies
throughout the planning, construction, and
operational phases to ensure full compliance with all
applicable environmental and public health standards.
- Scott Eckhardt00:48:29
Environmental standards are enforced through
multiple layers of oversight, including the permitting
processes with state and local environmental agencies,
ongoing monitoring and reporting requirements,
and regular inspections.
- Scott Eckhardt00:48:41
Since AWS first started in cloud computing
back in 2006, we’ve been creating jobs,
economic growth, education, and training
opportunities, and much more for the
people who live and work in the communities
where we operate.
- Scott Eckhardt00:48:54
So for almost two decades, we’ve got experience
building and operating global infrastructure to
meet our customers’ evolving needs. Our ability to operate
successfully is contingent on being responsible
operators in the communities where we build and
operate, and we plan to be here for a long time.
- Heather Ennis00:49:09
Fantastic, and we’re delighted to have you as part of the
community. I know this was covered a little bit earlier,
but could you, just reiterate and maybe dig back
more into it, some of the information on how data centers
- Heather Ennis00:49:25
That might impact residential energy bills and grid reliability.
- Scott Eckhardt00:49:29
Absolutely. As you saw from my colleague, Angie,
earlier this evening, Amazon’s gonna pay 100% of the cost to
power its facilities, including all the expenses for
new power plants, transmission lines, and equipment upgrades.
- Scott Eckhardt00:49:42
These costs aren’t passed on to local residents
or businesses. Here in northern Indiana,
regulators approved an agreement
between NIPSCO and Amazon
that delivers approximately $1 billion in cost
savings to NIPSCO customers over 15 years.
- Scott Eckhardt00:49:53
Residential customers will see roughly $7 in
monthly savings on their bills. The way it works is straightforward. So Amazon will pay fees to use existing
transmission infrastructure and underwrite any new power infrastructure needed to serve the data centers.
- Scott Eckhardt00:50:07
Through NIPSCO’s subsidiary, these payments
flow back to current customers as bill credits.
- Scott Eckhardt00:50:12
The agreement also adds up to 3 gigawatts of new
capacity, which goes beyond
serving only our internal Amazon needs.
This extra generation capacity enhances
grid reliability for all of Nipso customers. It
provides greater assurance that the grid
remains reliable during peak periods of peak stress, like hot summer days and cold winter nights.
- Scott Eckhardt00:50:31
The additional infrastructure strengthens the
regional grid for everyone, while
Amazon’s $15 billion investment brings over
1,100 new high-skilled jobs and expands
the revenue base for the city for local schools,
emergency services, and infrastructure.
- Heather Ennis00:50:45
But… and it’s really but for projects like this,
that these infrastructure
improvements would not be made in our
region, so it’s building the
future for our region, so we appreciate that.
- Heather Ennis00:50:58
And finally, I’d like to just dive into a little bit
of how living near a data
center might impact home values.
Property Values
- Scott Eckhardt00:51:07
Sure, yeah, it’s a very important question,
one that we’ve been looking at in a few
different ways. So, home values,
as we all know, are influenced by many factors,
like the strength of the local economy, the quality of the
infrastructure that’s there, and access to jobs.
Data center investments can contribute positively
to these conditions over time.
- Scott Eckhardt00:51:26
In many communities, data centers have helped
expand the local tax base,
support public services like schools and public
safety, and attract additional
business investment, all of which can make
an area more desirable to live in.
- Scott Eckhardt00:51:37
Independent research, including a study from
George Mason University,
has found that in some established data
center markets, home prices have
been higher, closer to data center campuses.
these findings are often tied to
the fact that the data centers are typically
located in areas with strong infrastructure,
reliable utilities, and proximity to jobs and economic
activity, factors that also tend to support property values.
- Scott Eckhardt00:51:58
At the same time, I want to recognize that we
get that proximity matters. That’s why data centers are carefully
designed and operated to minimize their impacts
on nearby communities. This includes considerations like
setbacks, landscaping, screening, the burmen
you saw, sound mitigation, and compliance with
local zoning and environmental requirements.
- Heather Ennis00:52:18
Yeah, I love seeing the, site plans and really looking
at what that’s gonna look like. I think, it’s… I’m
excited about welcoming you all to the community.
- Heather Ennis00:52:30
I’m gonna wrap things up here in a minute, but
before we do, thank you so much,
Scott, for answering questions. I know that
there’s still many more questions out there.
We’ve got the NWI Data Facts site.
- Heather Ennis00:52:41
That’s up and live and running from the forum
perspective. You can submit questions in there.
But I’d like to turn it over, to Mayor Huddleston,
just, to give us any, additional remarks that you
might have, Mayor.
- Mayor Huddlestun00:52:55
No, thanks, Heather. Thanks, Amazon team,
and thanks to the community for, joining us tonight.
- Mayor Huddlestun00:53:01
I hope that it answered a lot of your guys’ questions.
In terms of some of the myths that have been presented,
you know, not… data centers of yesteryear are not the
same data centers of today, and it was very important
that we partnered with a good partner like Amazon.
As you guys saw in the site plan, as you guys heard from a
high level tonight, of all of the detail that’s
gone into this, from just the layout to the
thoughtfulness of the
- Mayor Huddlestun00:53:26
natural vegetation to all of those things that you guys
heard tonight. We’re excited. You know, when you
look at, you know, industrial development here,
what could have been versus what was presented
tonight is day and night, right?
And we’re excited. We’re excited for the opportunity,
we’re excited for the positive impact that this is going
to make on our community, and this is the first of
many to educate our public and get more information
- Mayor Huddlestun00:53:51
correct information out to our folks, and I’m just
super excited, for the opportunity
that’s coming down the pipe here.
- Heather Ennis00:53:59
Thank you, Mayor, and again, thank you for
your leadership. We’re really excited
about it as well. And so, again, I’d like to thank
- Heather Ennis00:54:06
Amazon and all of the panelists that have been
with us. Those of you that are on the
webinar, thank you so much for joining us this evening.
- Heather Ennis00:54:15
There will be links sent out to you, to your
email to give you additional information,
and to share much of the information that was given here tonight.
- Heather Ennis00:54:25
As I mentioned, we have the NWI Data Facts site,
which we continue to populate, and continue to
answer questions on. So, if you’d like to stay
informed, like to stay engaged around that,
please sign up. We’re getting ready to send a newsletter out
around that and talk about opportunities that are
happening across the region. This is the biggest
investment that’s happened in
- Heather Ennis00:54:50
the history of the state of Indiana, and has chosen
Northwest Indiana to call home.
- Heather Ennis00:54:55
We have great opportunity here happening in our
community to grow our economy
and to create jobs for generations to come.
It’s an exciting time, Mayor, and I
appreciate your leadership, appreciate the
Amazon team for being with us.
- Heather Ennis00:55:13
again, encourage you all to sign up for the NWI
data facts, as well as continue to
engage in these, webinars. This is… this is the first
- Heather Ennis00:55:25
step in this process. We’re going to continue to
be bringing more and more
information to you, and want to continue
to partner with the community as we
move forward. So, we appreciate everyone
being with us this evening, and hope
that you all stay safe in the storms that were
happening around us.
So, again, thanks to everyone for being here, and
- Heather Ennis00:55:48
And we’ll look forward to more of these to come.
- Heather Ennis00:55:51
Have a wonderful evening.
- Mayor Huddlestun00:55:53
Thank you.
END of Transcript
READ MORE RELATED ARTICLES HERE
Valparaiso Council Considers 14 Million For Water Infrastructure
May’s second Valparaiso City Council meeting usually held on the fourth Monday of the month was held on Tuesday May 26th , 2026 this month because of the observance of Memorial Day. There was only one ordinance on the agenda for the evening and the meeting went for just about an hour. Citizen…
Alarming Health Implications from Virginia’s Data Center boom
Many Hobart Data Center proponents site the successes of Virginia’s Data Centers as an example of their “safe” uses. That was then, this is now. Many Alarming impacts have come out after Virginia’s Data Center boom started published by George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia. A new groundbreaking study uncovers the alarming Health…
Endangered Species Found In Cedar Lake Indiana
On July 2nd, 2020 Humane Indiana Wildlife received a call about two young chicks found in a window well in Cedar Lake, IN. Upon further communication with the two teens who found the chicks, it was determined the chicks were actually Virginia Rails, an endangered species in the state of Indiana. “When the finders…
Studies Say the Bird Population will Die On Lake George (Hobart) with Data Center Operations
Lake George, in Hobart Indiana, is a vibrant stopover and a winter haven for a diverse array of water birds, from the year-round mute swans (your ~5 residents) to the seasonal influx of 36 plus trumpeter swans in winter. Sandhill cranes forage in the nearby fields and lake shallows and there’s an ever-present…
How Hobart Indiana’s Amazon Data Centers Will Get Their 3GW Power And 400 MW of Storage
The following information regarding the source of power for the Hobart Data Centers has been found online, however, since we are a local Northwest Indiana company, we thought it was pertinent to publish this information intended solely for local educational purposes. A Northern Indiana Public Service Co. affiliate, known as NIPSCO Generation (GenCo),…
Sandhill Cranes Returning To Northwest Indiana
Habitat Restoration at Indiana Dunes National Park Sees Success as Sandhill Cranes Return Right now, thousands of sandhill cranes are gathered in the Great Marsh at Indiana Dunes National Park—and it’s an incredible reminder of what habitat restoration can achieve. For thousands of years, the Great Marsh was a place where…
New Report Published about the Effects of Data Centers On the Great Lakes
The Hobart Indiana Data Center is located closer to Lake Michigan than most folks realize. It’s actually 12 miles as the crow flies, and 16 miles using a 100% waterway, from Deep River (Hobart) to Lake Michigan. The effect of Data Centers on the Great Lakes is an important issue that should be…
Save The Dunes Transfers 5 Properties Over to Shirley Heinze
In Late December, 2025 Save the Dunes transferred ownership of five properties to Shirley Heinze Land Trust! With this transfer, Save the Dunes can focus its resources on supporting Indiana Dunes National Park and advancing its advocacy and community outreach work, while we utilize our expertise and experience to continue the stewardship and…
Hobart In Lake County Indiana is Known for it’s Biodiversity and Wetland Ecosystems
Northwest Indiana—especially Lake County along the southern shore of watershed basin of Lake Michigan — contains one of the most ecologically diverse regions in the whole county. This diversity comes from the area’s unique glacial history, the mixing of dune, wetland, and prairie ecosystems, and the influence of Lake Michigan’s moderating climate. …
Proven Documentation that Data Centers Damage Wetlands
The Deep River wetlands around Hobart Indiana’s Deep River flows through Lake County Indiana towards Lake Michigan. Deep River wetlands refer not just to a single swamp or marsh, but to a network of wetlands, riparian corridors, floodplains, forested bottomlands, marshes, woodlands, savannas, lakes, rivers, ravines, bottomland forests and prairie habitats that are scattered…
Birding in the Miller Beach Area
Late Fall and Early Winter are the Best times to find migrating Birds in Indiana’s diverse habitats that are home to over 400 documented bird species, making it the perfect place for a birding adventure. The birding experiences won’t disappoint, from the one-of-a-kind migration of Sandhill Cranes to Bald Eagles perched atop tree-tops.…
Susie Young Baxter, CEO, has published PanoramaNOW Magazine for 31 years. Her hobbies are Camping, Boating, Hiking, Nature, Gardening and Outdoor Activities. She is an Artist, Graphic Designer, an Avid Seamstress, Dabbles in Homemade Crafts and Landscaping. Since her Father was a Health Teacher, she also likes homeopathic Health Solutions. Since blogging started over 10 years ago, PanoramaNow has been added to Newsbreak – a national news affiliate.
