Document Type
Article
Publication Date
Spring 2-23-2026
Abstract
The rapid expansion of large-scale data centers across the United States has raised serious ethical concerns for regional communities, particularly in Ohio. This persuasive essay examines the query: Should Google be permitted to build data centers in Ohio? This analysis evaluates the project’s economic, social, and environmental impacts on Ohio, especially in Appalachia. The theoretical framework stems from business ethics and includes Sidgwick’s Dualism, Utilitarianism, Ethical Egoism, and contractarianism. Sidgwick’s Dualism integrates utilitarian principles, maximizing the greatest good for the greatest number, with rational self-interest. Utilitarianism weighs outcomes based on overall societal benefit, and Ethical Egoism asserts actions that promote economic self-interest, but only when yielding positive net outcomes. Using these frameworks, the position set in this essay supports allowing Google to build data centers in Ohio, as job creation, GDP growth, infrastructure investment, and technological advancement produce large benefits for a broad segment of the population. Counterarguments rooted in environmental ethics and social contract theory raise valid concerns regarding energy and water use, pollution, land grabs, and rising residential utility costs. However, when weighed against the projected large-scale economic and social gains, along with mitigation, the overall ethical evaluation favors development. The conclusion affirms that, under responsible regulatory oversight and community engagement, permitting Google to build data centers in Ohio is ethically justified because the aggregate benefits to the state outweigh the associated risk.
Key words: Google data centers, Ohio economic development, business, ethics, Utilitarianism, Ethical Egoism, Sidgwick’s Dualism, contractarianism, environmental impact, corporate social responsibility, stakeholder theory.
Course Level
BUMG 6100: Regulation and Ethics in Business
Advisor
Claudia Hanrahan, PhD
Recommended Citation
Taylor, Christel; Sayre, Elijah R.; and Howard, Caleb, "Should Google Be Permitted to Build Data Centers in Ohio?" (2026). Business Ethics. 29.
https://digitalcommons.shawnee.edu/business_ethics_3100/29