Apparently, asking who checked the math has some legs.

Coverage coming out of last week’s Ohio Manufacturers’ Energy Conference landed on the front page of the Columbus Dispatch on Monday and the Dayton Daily News on Tuesday, putting manufacturers’ concerns about data center electricity forecasts and rising customer costs in front of readers across Ohio.

The Dayton Daily News did not exactly bury the point. Its front-page headline read, “OMA fears data center energy needs not understood.”

“We wanted people asking harder questions about these forecasts, and now they are,” said Lindsey Short, managing director of advocacy and energy services for the Ohio Manufacturers’ Association. “When the potential price tag is measured in billions, ‘trust the forecast’ is not good enough. Customers deserve to know what is real before they are asked to pay for it.”

Two front pages later, it looks like plenty of people are asking the same question. 9/1/2026