A protest and a policy summit in Jefferson City on Wednesday, underscore a growing divide over the expansion of data centers in Missouri.
One argument in support of the projects is the economic benefits. One argument opposed to them involve communities feeling left out of key decisions.
Olivia Stockman with the Missouri Rural Crisis Center told Missourinet the rapid push to build large artificial intelligence data centers is moving too fast without enough public input and could affect water, health, and farmland.
“You are ignoring everything from our water and our health to our utility bills, our environment, and our farmland,” Stockman said. “It’s all under attack in the name of artificial intelligence.”
She said organizers scheduled the rally along the Katy Trail ahead of the data center summit where Gov. Mike Kehoe is speaking.
“The public is explicitly excluded from attending the governor’s local government data center summit,” Stockman said. “The governor and really most local decision makers have not gotten meaningful input and really listened to their constituents.”
Stockman said people across Missouri are attending the rally, including Kansas City, St. Louis, Warrenton and Montgomery County. She said many live or work near proposed data center sites.
“They’ve got a lot at stake,” she said, calling the projects “rapid, massive industrial encroachments.”
At the same time, Missouri policymakers are hearing from Loudoun County, Virginia — often called “Data Center Alley” — where Supervisor Mike Turner said the industry has brought sustained economic growth.
“There’s not been a single day in the last 16 years in Loudoun County where a data center of some kind was not under construction,” Turner said. “It’s enabled us to keep our property taxes about 25% lower than any other jurisdiction in the D.C. metro area.”
Turner said data centers now generate a large share of local revenue and have helped to fund government operations.
“They have been a budget boom for us,” he said. “Of our $2.9 billion operating budget, about $1.3 billion is from our data centers and tax revenue.”
He acknowledges rapid growth has come with challenges, including increased demand on electricity infrastructure.
“Utilities were really caught off guard,” Turner said. “They now have planned transmission line construction projects to get the power to the level where our data centers can use what they’ve signed up to use.”
Turner said local governments must retain authority to approve or reject data center projects, stressing the importance of local decision-making.
The summit and protest both come as Missouri leaders consider how to manage data center growth.
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