Proposed AI data center in Nodaway County sparks concern over environment, health and utility costs

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (KQTV) --  A proposed AI data center may be making its way to Nodaway County, but not all residents are welcoming the development.

The Persisterhood recently hosted a community meeting featuring speakers from the Missouri Workers Center to explain the potential environmental and economic impacts the proposition could bring to the rural area, with data from urban areas such as St. Louis and Kansas City.

"They are coming for our rural communities," said Jessica Piper, a local activist and speaker at the event. "This is what we know, we have already been prey to these sorts of corporations."

According to research presented at the meeting, concerns include larger utility bills, environmental waste, and threats to family-owned farmland.

Russell Gray, a volunteer with the Missouri Workers Center, explained how utility companies are building new gas-fired power plants to meet the demands of data centers, passing the infrastructure costs on to consumers.

"So what's going on across Missouri right now is that utility companies are building out all these new gas-fired power plants, which are major sources of air pollution on their own," Gray said. "Then, to pay for the infrastructure costs of the new power plants, they're raising rates on consumers. You have this double harm of increased utility rates for people who are already struggling to make ends meet."

Speakers described the issue as bipartisan, accusing the companies of lacking transparency and failing to look out for the general public.

"There's no public input. It's all very secretive," Gray continued. "Why are they doing these non-disclosure agreements? Why is there so much secrecy if they have nothing to hide?"

Carter Strauch, a local activist, has started a petition against the proposed data center, which has already garnered over 1,300 signatures.

He said his motivation comes from fear for his family's farmland.

"I currently come from a family of farmers, and a lot of these AI data centers are being put on rural land," he said. "This is going to become a big issue in the future. We need to realize that our future is going to be greatly impacted if we put more data centers around Missouri."

The topic has also drawn debate from elected officials.

Missouri Senator Josh Hawley recently questioned U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. about the potential health impacts of data centers.

"Over 3,000 are already in operation," Hawley said. "When I go home now, I get asked all the time by people who are big MAHA people, I get asked constantly about the health risks around these data centers, and I honestly don't know what to tell them because I don't know what the science is."

Kennedy acknowledged the concerns.

"You're right. There's a range of injuries that are very, very well documented, neurological, very grave neurological injuries, cancer risk."

A link to Strauch's petition can be found here for those wishing to show their opposition to the proposed development.