HILLIARD, Ohio (WCMH) — After 10 months, the city of Hilliard has withdrawn its legal challenge over a proposal to power an Amazon data center with fuel cell technology.
Hilliard leaders approved an Amazon Web Services data center in 2022 but raised concerns in the fall of 2025 over a proposal to power the center with 228 fuel cells. AWS was awaiting city approval for the power system, but pulled their application in October 2025 and claimed Hilliard did not need to give permission to go forward with the project. See previous coverage in the video player above.
AWS said state law overruled local control and the project could continue regardless of Hilliard leadership because it was already approved at the state level. Hilliard City Council appealed the state’s decision in November 2025, but leaders said they pulled their appeal on Tuesday.
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“Withdrawing this appeal is not an endorsement of this project,” Hilliard City Council President Emily Cole said. “From the beginning, we knew this would be an uphill battle because state law intentionally gives local communities very limited authority over facilities like this. Even so, we believed we owed it to our residents to pursue every available option.”…