BOWLING GREEN—Wood County commissioners had a road use maintenance agreement with the Milton Township trustees and Will-Power OH, LLC on their Nov. 10 agenda, according to the posted agenda. Will-Power is building the natural gas plant that will power Meta's data center north of Bowling Green, and the agreement is the first between the company and Milton Township, Weston Township's neighbor to the south, to appear on a commissioners' agenda this year.
What's on the Agenda
Resolution 26-01331 would authorize "a road use maintenance agreement among the Board of Wood County Commissioners, Milton Township Trustees, and Will-Power, OH, LLC for a power generation facility within Wood County." A matching agreement with the Jackson Township trustees, Resolution 26-01332, was on the same agenda. Commissioners approved a third, with the Liberty Township trustees, on Nov. 3, according to that meeting's minutes.
The county has used the same wording for earlier Will-Power agreements with Middleton Township, where the plant is being built. The agreements themselves, including which roads they cover and what repairs the company must make, have not been posted.
The Plant and Its Pipelines
The Ohio Power Siting Board approved Will-Power's 350-megawatt natural gas plant, plus about 120 megawatts of battery storage, on Feb. 3, according to the board. The plant is in Middleton Township near Mercer Road and Middleton Pike and is not connected to the electric grid; it will sell its power to Liames, LLC, which is building a data center campus next door. Williams, which lists the project as Apollo on its website, describes separate state cases for a north pipeline, a south pipeline and a construction laydown yard.
The south pipeline, a 20-inch line, ties into the Rover pipeline in southern Wood County north of Cygnet Road and crosses Henry, Liberty, Plain and Middleton townships, BG Independent News reported in July. Each township along the route must approve haul maps for construction traffic, and Plain Township trustees told the company they were not ready to sign off, the paper reported.
At a June 30 commissioners' meeting, County Administrator Carri Stanley said the county's only role with pipelines has been road use maintenance agreements, which the county engineer helped develop so that the pipeline company fixes roads damaged during construction, according to the minutes.
Background
Meta's data center straddles the Eastwood and Otsego school districts. Otsego leaders said in September that a grant from Meta did not signal a stance on data centers (September coverage).
What We Don't Know Yet
The agenda does not say why Milton and Jackson townships need agreements, since neither is on the published south pipeline route. They may cover haul routes for construction traffic, another segment of pipeline or the laydown yard, but no public record reviewed by The Weston Common says which. It is also not yet known whether commissioners approved the Nov. 10 resolutions, which Milton Township roads are involved, what bond or repair terms apply, or when work would begin. The Weston Common has asked the county, Milton Township and Williams for details.
Sources: Wood County Commissioners agenda, Nov. 10 · Commissioners' minutes, Nov. 3 · Commissioners' minutes, June 30 · Ohio Power Siting Board, Feb. 3 approval · Williams, Apollo project page · BG Independent News, July 29 · BG Independent News, Meta data center announcement