09/03/2026
The WEALTH coalition is calling on elected officials and regulators on the state, county, and municipal levels to implement a moratorium on new large-scale data center projects until significant guardrails to improve transparency, local control, and responsible oversight of such projects can be developed and implemented.
Kansas residents across the state have pushed back and across the country polling has found that 70% of Americans oppose rapid data center development. (Gallup, “Americans Oppose Data Centers in their Area,” May 13, 2026)
Kansas must protect our resources such as water and energy by requiring data centers to operate at the highest energy efficiency standards, generate and purchase clean energy, prioritize Kansans’ water and energy needs over the needs of data centers, and to practice public accountability regarding their water and energy use.
We must protect our communities by ensuring that no data centers are being built without robust and meaningful community input and that reasonable buffer zones exist to protect our most vulnerable populations from the effects of a data center.
Our elected officials and regulators should empower communities with the necessary tools to enact appropriate safeguards against economic and environmental impacts from infrastructure, air pollution, water consumption, and emergency preparedness before allowing these large-scale data centers into our communities.
