Three Kansas cities to vote on data centers Tuesday
Voters in El Dorado, Emporia and Ottawa will decide ballot questions concerning bans or long-term limits on high-impact and utility-intensive data centers. The proposals establish thresholds for electricity demand and water use and have prompted lawsuits over whether the initiatives may legally go before voters.
Voters in El Dorado, Emporia and Ottawa are set to decide whether to prohibit or restrict data centers with large electricity and water demands. El Dorado and Emporia would prohibit high-impact facilities exceeding 10 megawatts or 100,000 gallons of daily water use, while Ottawa would regulate utility-intensive facilities of at least 25 megawatts for 10 years.
The ballot measures originated with citizen petitions and have triggered litigation. El Dorado and Emporia sued petition organizers, while Ottawa organizers sued city officials after the petition was not placed on the ballot. Courts in Lyon, Franklin and Butler counties have addressed whether the measures are legislative or administrative, and any district court rulings may be appealed regardless of the election results.