Residents pack fairgrounds building, voice strong opposition to proposed data center near Tonganoxie
Shawn F. Linenberger/Staff
A local resident speaks during Wednesday's data center forum at the Leaveworth County Fairgrounds. More than 1,000 people showed up for the three-hour forum that the Leavenworth County Commission scheduled. Only three of the five commissioners were present.More than a thousand people piled in — or near –the Administration Building on Wednesday at the Leavenworth County Fairgrounds to share comments and concerns about the proposed Project Bluestem hyper scale data center and power plant proposed on more than 1,000 acres south of Tonganoxie.
Heated comments filled the muggy building at time, but Leavenworth County Commission members listened to residents’ pleads to not let the center become a reality.
Commissioners Mike Stieben, Vanessa Reid and Jeff Culbertson listened as a continuous line of residents shared their thoughts on the issue. Commissioners Willie Dove and Mike Smith were not at the nearly three-hour forum.
Roughly 65 people spoke at the forum.
There were 200 chairs set out at the administration building, with another 550 stranding room spots available, per the fire marshal. People signed in and went through a security checkpoint, but there was overflow due to the capacity limitations.
Commissioners also shared their thoughts after hearing from residents, with all three saying there were concerns they also had regarding the project, many of which were brought up by speakers. Commissioners said they were going to do additional research.
Look for more on this story in next week’s print edition of The Mirror and online here.