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Joseph Young starts his tenure as president and CEO of the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce at a complicated time. Counties are taking action for and against data centers, the state is facing another year of budget deficits and Trump tariffs and the Iran war is driving up costs for Nebraska industries and consumers. Dale Johnson asked Young what the mood of businesses is during these challenging economic times.
Joseph Young: You know, we've been to probably 17 or 18 different communities since I've been here already, and the mood is there's a thirst for growth. That's the best way we believe to get out of any fiscal tightening that we're facing. Basically, business leaders all across the state are kind of facing the same thing: housing shortages, daycare policy. Which, by the way, when I when I left eight years ago I never thought that I'd be involved in daycare public policy. But there's a shortage of that. And when you have two-parent households or a single-parent household, if they can't get their kids access to daycare, it takes people out of the workforce. Nebraska's economy is resilient, we have some fiscal issues to deal with, but we’ve dealt with these before. Every time we've come out stronger on the other end, so I think there's an optimism out there.
Dale Johnson: Most of the subjects focus around money. Data centers are attractive for money-strapped governmental entities because they bring such substantial tax revenue, high-paying specialized jobs during construction and operation. But the trade-offs are high energy and water consumption. These are points that communities are bringing up. What are you hearing from Nebraska businesses about data centers?
Young: They're bullish on data centers, and they should be. I mean, obviously, when you're when you're talking about projects of this scale you need to look at all of the things, the ramifications of them coming into your community. But the ramifications generally are really good. Counties throughout the country who have data centers locate in their area are seeing housing growth by 50% of what they were before the data center got there. That's a big deal because it's basically flat in the in the counties that don't have data centers. The unemployment rate is lower in those communities by six basis points, and job growth in those counties also has climbed nearly 4%, which is about 3% higher than everywhere else in the country. So those could be a multitude of reasons. You know, counties obviously are open. Those counties that have data centers might be just generally more open for business and have a growth mindset. But the economic analysis around data centers locating in your community is all positive.
Johnson: What about the environmental data that communities and citizens seem to focus on?
Young: Yeah, that's really what you need to be aware of, you know. But Nebraska has plenty of water. We have plenty of energy, although that is a growing concern. Energy has really kind of been a major topic for four or five years. Again, when I left the chamber eight years ago, energy wasn't a thing. We had plenty of energy, and now there's just so much more demand, not just from data centers, but large industrial users. The growth in Lincoln and Omaha, especially, but some areas around the state, too. The demand for energy is higher, and so we need to figure out how to generate more. And there was a bill last year in the Legislature that passed that would allow a really large data center to create its own generation, and then work with our public power utilities to sell some of that back to them, too. So those issues are being worked out, but Nebraska has enough water and energy to make these work.
Johnson: What are the energy infrastructure challenges that Nebraska needs to up its game in order to really be a more viable state for data centers?
Young: That's a really great question. Energy policy is very complicated, but we operate, Nebraska does, in the Southwest Power Pool. So data centers, for example, are large users of energy. But when you get those types of projects in your in your city or county or your state, really it helps rate stabilize because they're a consistent user of energy and the public power utilities know it's predictable. They know that they're going to have to do a large load of energy at that one site. The problem with energy, I guess, infrastructure is that it's you can't change it overnight. You know, these things take a long time to develop, a lot of planning, a lot of capital. But I think our utilities are doing what they need to be doing, and they're doing it well. So really, we just need to try to get out in front of and work with you know those private large load users to develop as much generation as possible, so that we they can you know be sustained.
Johnson: Joseph Young, the president and CEO of the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce and Industry, joining me for the conversation on Nebraska Public Media. I'm Dale Johnson.