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Residents urge two-year moratorium as hyperscale data center proposal draws protests
Summary
Dozens of residents told the Leavenworth County commission they oppose a proposed hyperscale data center—citing noise, wildlife, water use and property-value impacts—and asked the board to extend its moratorium and fund independent studies.
Dozens of residents urged the Leavenworth County Board of County Commissioners to extend a moratorium on large data-center development while the county completes independent studies and public outreach.
"I speak for the bees," said Tyler Carpenter (who uses the name Butterfly), invoking scientific literature he said links electromagnetic fields and continuous noise to pollinator stress and colony decline. Andrea Bradfield warned Project Bluestem 'is targeting up to 1.2 gigawatts of power' and said the facility’s proposed footprint would consume a large share of Tonganoxie's land area, placing schools and a nursing home within the reported noise radius.
Speakers repeatedly asked the commission to expand the current pause beyond the date mentioned in testimony (Rebecca Davis told the board the moratorium was 'due to be up, I think, August 10') to allow time for independent health, noise, water and property-value studies. Several residents cited a county-appraiser estimate—mentioned in public comment—that nearby property values could fall 'up to 20%.'
County legal counsel and staff told the board that many required studies are listed in draft development guidelines and that, under Kansas case law, applicants typically must have an expectation of approval before the county can compel them to pay for some preconstruction studies. Staff said the developer has offered to fund some engineering and construction-impact work in order to move the process along.
The public-comment period produced broad opposition across multiple townships, with speakers asking the board for clearer timelines and more transparency about which studies the county plans to commission and which the developer must fund. The commission took no final action on the moratorium during the meeting.
