Nodaway County Commissioners told people at the public comment portion of their regular meeting Thursday that they were continuing to work through issues and seeking answers regarding the proposed data center south of Maryville. Following the public comment portion of the meeting Tuesday, September 22nd, they spend 2 ½ hours in closed session with their attorney. Commissioner Scott Walk said that it was a slow process to get answers. “We send it to legal and they send it to Scale’s legal,” he said. Scale Microgrids is the developer for the proposed project. When they find an end user, they could either lease out the land they have an option to buy, or they could sell it outright. “We are pushing for answers. I hope to get you some by the town hall in Graham,” said Mr. Walk, referring to the upcoming town hall on the data center taking place there Tuesday, September 29th. Among other things, commissioners are getting examples of zoning which other counties across the state are using.
Commissioner Chris Burns said that while the proposed project is being split into two parts, with White Cloud Generating running the gas-powered turbines and a separate end user running the data center, White Cloud Generating would still be a private entity and cannot use eminent domain to acquire land. “Scale’s core business is energy production,” said Mr. Walk.
Opponents of the data center present at the meeting were not satisfied with what they saw as the slow pace of answers. “Everything has been done in secret,” said Susie Strauch. “We found out when the DOT started talking about the J-turn.” Commissioner Walk said that when Scale’s representatives came in April and advised them that they were serious about building a data center, “We made it public.” The Maryville Forum, at the time, published a front-page story. In late 2025, representatives of an earlier developer came to introduce themselves to commissioners. That developer was subsequently bought out by Scale.
Commissioner Walk said that as commissioners, they couldn’t sign a non-disclosure agreement because both conversations had happened in a meeting which is open to the public under the Missouri Sunshine Law.
Commissioner Burns said that the moratorium that commissioners passed could not stop a project that was already started. Scale has taken an option to buy 800-900 acres of land but has not exercised that option.
Susie Strauch said that unlike the red carpet that is being rolled out for data centers, they had to jump through a lot of hoops when they wanted to build a lagoon on their property. “They’re taking a lot of land out of production that used to be used to grow corn,” she said.
Commissioner Walk said that the reason most projects don’t go for timber is that by law, they have to look out for endangered species such as certain species of bats. “When we do a bridge project, we can only clear out trees during certain times of the year,” said Mr. Walk.
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