200 Attend Rally Against Proposed $6 Billion Data Center

Around 200 people attended a rally against the proposed data center in Pumpkin Center at Salem Church, which is located one quarter of a mile from where the proposed project will be. Tim Schafer, who has farmed in the area for the last 40 years and lives one and a half miles away from where the proposed center would be, emceed the event. 

Mr. Schafer said the water concerns were the biggest issue with him. He noted that the facility could use anywhere from 300,000 gallons of wastewater per day to up to 1,000,000, which he said would drop the level of Mozingo Lake and ruin tourism for the area. "Nobody wants to come to a mud puddle," he said. 

He said that the noise from the plant would affect his livestock, citing research that finds that it has negative affects on cattle for up to two miles. A May 2023 study from Annals of Animal Science highlighted literature regarding the effects of chronic or intermittent sound on cattle's production system. After a certain point, physiological processes of cattle are disrupted which negatively affects their behavior, including feeding. Exposure of dairy cattle to 80-100 decibels of noise twice per day reduces milk yield and may even result in milk discharge. Cattle are more sensitive to noise than humans, and exposure to loud noises affects their behavior, coordination, milk yield, and fertility. 

Mr. Schafer said that the light issue was such that people didn't need night lights when sleeping. He cited pollution concerns such as PFAS chemicals. ChemTrust, a website that publishes information about harmful chemicals, pointed out that environmental advocates have been raising concerns about the use of "forever chemicals" in data centers. In a web post from October 16th, 2025, the ChemTrust site says, "A type of PFAS called F-gases may be used in data centers for cooling. F-gases are a type of fluorinated gas commonly used in cooling fluids in refrigeration and air conditioning. Data centers require powerful cooling systems, and F-gases may be used for this purpose. They can then leach into the environment around the facility." 

The ChemTrust article notes that F-gases break down into TFA, a type of PFAS chemical which is being assessed by the EU for toxicity for reproduction. Forever chemicals are also used to produce semiconductors that are used in data centers. And Mr. Schafer said he didn't buy the closed-loop model, noting that water can still evaporate and pollute the air that way. 

The proposed data center is being built next to an Evergy power plant. However, the center would produce its own electricity via a natural gas powered facility. The Evergy plant has been in the works for years and is a separate project. The data center project is being managed by Scale Microgrids, based in New Jersey. They have purchase five-year options on 900 acres of land. 

Mr. Schafer opened the floor to questions, where he answered basic questions about the facility as well as some new concerns. One person noted that more and more people are not buying meat from the store anymore and are hunting their own food given that prices are getting so high. They noted that the noise and light could drive wildlife away.

Nodaway County Commissioner Scott Walk took the floor and defended the county commission's actions in response to the proposed data center. The commission met in closed session with an attorney to discuss what they can and can't do regarding a moratorium on data centers and other large projects. Maryville recently passed such a moratorium; however, it has zoning, while the county does not. While he said that Camden County's measure against data centers is unenforceable, he said the goal of the commission was to get an enforceable moratorium passed as soon as possible. "We want to do this the right way," he said. 

Nancy Zeiliff of Skidmore noted that representatives of the company introduced themselves to the commissioners on December 16th. "You've had five months to do research on this," she said. Mr. Walk said they have been in negotiations with landowners and with the local Rural Water District. He said that all regulations would go through the state, including pollutants and discharges. He said that the Rural Water District is doing a water feasibility study by an independent organization. 

If Nodaway County were to go to zoning, it would have to go to a vote. A zoning and planning board would then be appointed, and it could take months or years to draw up a zoning map and regulations. Worth County attempted to pass zoning and planning in the 1990's, but nothing ever came of it. Polk Township tried to pass zoning, but it also went by the wayside. 

Mr. Walk said that he was not for or against the proposed data center, and that he was still trying to get information. "I don't even know what the site plan is," he said. He said he was frustrated by the lack of information coming from the company. 

One person said they were blindsided by the massive proposal coming to light five months after the fact. "We voted for you to research these things," they said.

At that point. Mr. Schafer said, "This isn't a public hanging. I might have done more sooner, but I respect Mr. Walk for getting up and defending himself. I've done two weeks of research, and it's a pretty easy no for me."

Mr. Walk asked the audience if they could think of anything good that would come from the proposed data center. Nobody would come up with anything. He said that he had spoken to a commissioner from Loudon County (VA), which has 200 data centers in the county, some of which have been around for 25 years. Mr. Walk asked them if there were clusters of illness, which might be expected from such facilities. The commissioner told him there were none. "If they were there, he would have said something," said Mr. Walk. 

"I believe we have a path forward," said Mr. Walk. "If I can get proof of a health issue with this data center, then I'm 100% against it." 

A recent study done by EmPower Analytics Group published on February 27th that included Michael Cork of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health took a look at the Vantage Data Center facility, a specific facility within Loudon County. It was commissioned by the Piedmont Environmental Council, a conservation group based in Virginia that is opposed to data centers, seeing them as harmful to the lands and waters of the Virginia Piedmont, which it is trying to protect. 

The EmPower study found that the facility's permitted emissions alone result in between $53 million and $99 million per year in health-related damages, driven primarily by an estimated 3.4 to 6.5 additional premature deaths per year across the region, along with hospital admissions, asthma-related outcomes, and lost productivity. Over five years, the damages would mount to $265-495 million and $1.59 to $2.97 billion over 30 years. It would mean 17-33 premature deaths over five years and 102-195 deaths over 30 years. 

One person cited a KSHB report on May 21st regarding a data center in Liberty that was approved by that city for $1.4 billion in bonds and $200 million in tax abatements over the next 25 years for a MetroBloks data center development that will take up 30 acres. Like the proposed Nodaway County center, this one had widespread opposition with residents questioning what they saw as the lack of transparency from the city. 

In return for the abatement, the facility will have the same size water line as other commercial properties, limiting the water flow. There are water usage limits; excess usage will mean higher rates for the facility as well as reduced water flow. Evergy agreed not to pass on increased costs to other customers. If the project goes beyond a certain amount of electrical usage, it will be assessed a Large Load Power Service tariff. Electric utilities are now allowed to do this under Senate Bill 4, which was signed into law by Governor Mike Kehoe last year.

Nodaway County has not had negotiations with the company regarding a tax abatement. 

Aaron Luke, who grew up near Arkoe and who worked in data centers, shared some of his insights. He said they like to say that they have a closed-loop system, but, "That's in a perfect world." In reality, Mr. Luke said that the pipes used to bring water to the facilities break, leak, and lose water like any other pipes. Regarding the light issues, Mr. Luke said that the lights from the data centers were so bright that people were having to close their curtains just to keep it out. He said that the best way to stop data centers from entering Nodaway County would be to connect with other communities which have successfully stopped them. "Fill Highway 71 with No Data Center signs," he said.

Mr. Luke cited the example of Tonganoxie (KS). In 2017, residents of Tonganoxie (KS) were blindsided by an announcement that Tyson Foods would build a $320 million 300-acre poultry processing complex. Grassroots groups formed within days, framing their opposition based on water usage, groundwater contamination, odor and air pollution, truck traffic, property value decline, and loss of rural character. Commissioners withdrew their support from the project and the state pulled back incentives. The project was never built.

But the residents of Tonganoxie were not against all development. Four years later, the city approved a 10-year 100% tax abatement to Hill's Pet Nutrition with little fanfare or opposition. There were key differences. Hill's Pet Nutrition was based close to home, in Topeka, while Tyson is a multinational corporation. Residents did not see the Hill's project as altering the character of the community in the same way that the Tyson project would have. City officials were much more transparent about the process. 

Mr. Luke said that data centers meant a loss of freedom and privacy. For instance, license plate readers could read peoples' license plates and feed them to law enforcement agencies for surveillance purposes. He said someone could click on a John Deere website and start getting ads from John Deere and the data could be sold to local dealers. He said that data centers were constantly upgrading their equipment, having to change everything out every five years, which leads to massive waste. And he noted recyclers charged thousands for high-tech goods. "And then they fly them to the third world and dump them there, and kids come and rip out the copper wires to sell," he said.

Mr. Schafer said that one concern was the supply of rock in the area. "These places deplete the rock quarries," he said, fearing that it would take haulers an hour to go get new rock. "They chose this area because they think we're ignorant and all they have to do is shake money at us."