In Kansas, a data center backlash is uniting voters across the political aisle
Kansas residents in Edgerton, Gardner, Tonganoxie and surrounding communities are organizing across party lines against proposed data centers, citing farmland loss, health and environmental risks, noise, water contamination and higher utility costs. A judge dismissed Edgerton’s lawsuit against two petition organizers on free-speech grounds, but the petition’s eligibility for a public vote remains unresolved, while a separate Cloverleaf Infrastructure project is still under county review.
Residents across the Kansas City region are mounting bipartisan opposition to data center developments. In Edgerton, Carrie Schmidt and Kim Twente organized a petition seeking either cancellation of a DAMAC Digital project or a public vote. The city sued to invalidate the petition, and DAMAC intervened, but Johnson County District Judge Stephanie Goodenow dismissed the lawsuit as a violation of the organizers’ free-speech and assembly rights. She has not yet ruled on whether the petition can go before voters.
Opposition elsewhere centers on farmland, environmental impacts, water and electricity costs. In Tonganoxie, Jim and Dee Karleskint are challenging a proposed Cloverleaf Infrastructure campus that would convert about 1,100 acres of farmland into a large data center complex. Cloverleaf says the project is in the county review process, would use closed-loop cooling, comply with noise and setback rules, fund required power upgrades and preserve 330 acres, while residents question its long-term economic and environmental benefits.