Ohio family stops Meta data center pipeline from crossing 40 acres of farmland

For at least three generations, the Luidhardt family has farmed land north of Bowling Green, Ohio. That continuity came under pressure when the family learned that a natural gas pipeline connected to Meta’s data centre in Middleton Township could cross roughly 40 acres of their soybean fields. After Jon and Ken Luidhardt challenged the proposed route through the Ohio Power Siting Board, the developer ultimately selected a different path, according to BG Independent News and The Cool Down.The dispute became a broader test of how farmland, family heritage, and private corporate development collide in the age of rapid data-centre expansion. While Williams, the pipeline company’s parent firm, says it never pursued or threatened eminent domain on the route submitted for review, the Luidhardts say a map showed the pipeline crossing their property and that they felt compelled to fight back.A farm with deep family rootsJon Luidhardt said the land has been in his family for at least three generations, and he wants future generations to continue farming it. “We want to continue a fourth and fifth generation of farming,” he told BG Independent News.The property lies near the corner of Haskins...