Protect Kansas

Would you like to show the world how you feel about data centers? We’ve got you covered! Protect Kansas now has t-shirts - you can choose from one of five designs.

We are doing a pre-order for this first batch, so if you’re interested, please sign up by tonight. This first round will be distributed at an upcoming event, and payment will be cash only.

Protect KansasT-Shirt Order We are ordering t-shirts that will help us bring awareness to the hyperscale data center issues in our area. If you would like a shirt, please fill out the form below. The price for each shirt is $25. We will be closing the signup by October 1st, 2026. We have a few designs you can choose from. PLEA...

WHY IS THERE ALREADY AN EXPANSION PLANNED FOR THIS MTAA DATA CENTER? They are claiming this will be a “small” 30-40 acre data center using “only” 70 megawatts…but what’s this? There’s already a future expansion planned that will double this capacity.

So let’s be honest: we’re really dealing with 60-80 acres and 140 megawatts. A hyperscale facility.

Apparently Shawnee County has 5 potential data centers in the pipeline. With this MTAA site and the Compass facility, we’re already up to 740 megawatts and close to 700 acres in just a small area. What are these other projects, and how much will they add to this cumulative burden?

Write to your Shawnee County officials here:
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
ASK THEM TO NAME THE 5

A DATA CENTER ON MTAA LAND WOULD PAY ZERO PROPERTY TAX. One of the few positive arguments pro-data center folks can manage is that it will make our county so much money that everyone’s property taxes will go down! We’ve talked before about why that’s not really true - and we will talk about it much more very soon - but let’s ignore that part for a minute…

On the MTAA’s page about incentives for building on their land, the top heading is: ZERO property tax. Okay, so how is this supposed to benefit the community again?

We also see another familiar face on MTAA’s Incentives page - Go Topeka. They work closely with the MTAA to distribute a number of performance-based incentives. We’ll be talking more about Go Topeka starting tomorrow, but it’s worth asking what value these corporate handouts really have for the citizens that fund them.

One last point about this MTAA project: compared to Compass Datacenters’ 600 megawatt proposal, a mere 75-80 megawatts may sound like no big deal. Who cares? But the first one that gets approved clears the road for all the rest, and we have to look at the cumulative effect - together we’re up to 680 mw with all the compounding noise, pollution, and water problems.

Just a few meetings ago, we were told by a County Commissioner that there were around 5 data center projects in the pipeline. So what are the other ones? If we’re committing ourselves to transparency and opening this process in a way that builds community trust, why can’t we know about the rest? If you want to know, ask them to NAME THE 5.

Write to your Shawnee County officials here:
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
TELL THEM TO NAME THE 5.

Read about MTAA’s incentives on their website: https://www.mtaa-topeka.org/doing-business-with-the-mtaa/incentives

MTAA IN TALKS FOR A DATA CENTER NEAR FORBES FIELD - WHAT ABOUT OUR MORATORIUM? One of our group members first caught wind of this at the last MTAA meeting and started asking questions. Now, we’ve got confirmation from Topeka City Manager, Robert Perez.

First things first. What is the MTAA? It’s the Metropolitan Topeka Airport Authority. They are the entity that runs the Topeka Regional and Philip Billard Municipal Airports.

Next, what do we know? Not much. The basics are that the MTAA is in negotiations to bring in a 75-80 megawatt data center to a 30-40 acre site near Forbes Field. Apparently, they are calling this a “tech center” to get around the negative connotations of data centers. It’s always a good sign when something has to change its name to avoid its bad reputation, right?

They plan to put in the application as soon as the county moratorium sunsets in February 2027.

Because of our inquiries, there will now be a presentation at the October 13th City Council meeting by MTAA president Curtis Sneden. If you have questions about this project, please send them to your City Council members, so they know your concerns. (CORRECTION: the date of the presentation has changed from what it says in the screenshot of the email - it was October 6, now it will be October 13th.)

And while we’re at it…why not send something to the County Commissioners as well? Even though the City is the one who stepped up to offer at least some answers, this project would be in the county outside of city limits. We’ve also been told that representatives from our county have met with MTAA for negotiations. So as long as Topeka is willing to be transparent, how about we see that same attitude from the county?

Shawnee County Commissioners - [email protected]; [email protected]

Topeka City Council - [email protected]; [email protected]

ELECTRICITY PRICES ARE GOING UP ALL AROUND THE COUNTRY DUE TO DATA CENTER DEMAND. There is nowhere near enough capacity in the current electrical grid, so who’s footing the bill for all those infrastructure improvements?

The data centers say they’ll cover all their costs, and our consumer rates won’t be affected….but we’ve got ample proof that’s not what happens.

3 studies from 3 parts of the country that are experiencing a surge of hyperscale data center-related demand. The story is the same in each - it’s the residential customer whose bills go up.

Processing Power - Dallas Federal Reserve Electricity Report:https://www.dallasfed.org/~/media/documents/research/papers/2026/wp2606.pdf

Data Centers and Large-Scale Electric Growth: The Virginia and Texas Experiences - Power and AI Initiative at Harvard:https://www.belfercenter.org/sites/default/files/2026-04/Mural%20et%20al_Data%20Center%20VA%20TX%20Case%20Study_Final.pdf

Analysis of the 2025/2026 RPM Base Residual Auction - The Independent Market Monitor for PJM:https://icc.illinois.gov/docket/P2025-0680/documents/371813/files/651951.pdf

DATA CENTERS SHOULD NOT RAISE YOUR ELECTRICITY RATES? THEN WHY IS IT ALREADY HAPPENING? In Compass Datacenters’ presentation to the Topeka City Council and everywhere in their marketing materials, they claim their massive energy needs won’t cause anyone’s electric bills to increase. Don’t worry, everyone! They’ll pay for everything!!!

In today’s Topeka Capital-Journal, there was an article about massive new power transmission lines that are being proposed in the Flint Hills. This isn’t the first time this has been discussed though. If you go back to an article from May 18th of this year about the same topic, you’ll see this curious sub-heading about these transmission line projects:

“EVERGY CUSTOMERS IN TOPEKA WILL HELP PAY FOR TRANSMISSION LINE”

Evergy has made it clear that these new infrastructure projects are entirely due to increased demand from data centers - and Evergy is currently trying to negotiate a customer rate increase to fund these new power plants. So how is it that these data centers are paying for all of this again?

https://www.cjonline.com/story/news/politics/government/2026/09/30/massive-new-power-transmission-lines-crossing-kansas-proposed/91797732007/

https://www.cjonline.com/story/news/politics/government/2026/05/18/kansas-regulators-want-evergy-to-reconsider-power-line-in-flint-hills/90044927007/

https://www.cjonline.com/story/news/politics/government/2026/08/16/data-center-demand-fuels-evergy-plan-for-more-power-plants-in-kansas/91241280007/

https://www.cjonline.com/story/news/politics/government/2026/09/01/evergy-asks-kansas-to-approve-new-power-plants-amid-data-center-boom/91564175007/

Data centers should not raise your electricity rates? We agree!!
https://youtu.be/axMiT6GnsEI

If you’re not subscribed to the Capital-Journal, copy the URLs here for archived versions of the stories: https://archive.is 😎

We’ll close out the weekend on a positive note. Community is what this is all about. It’s at the core of what we’re trying to protect. And it’s what we’ve all seen and felt at these events.

This is not a traditional political movement, nor is it at all partisan. This is about the power of the people to resist. It is about being able to have a voice in what happens around you. And when the large majority of people say NO, it’s time for those making the decisions to listen.

A special thanks to Larry L. Miller for this wonderful collage of photos from yesterday.

Some more local news coverage:
https://www.ksnt.com/news/top-stories/data-center-revolt-tour-stops-in-shawnee-county/

Thank you so much to everyone who joined our impromptu cornfield rally yesterday evening!! The people of Wakarusa and Montara came out to show their support and make it clear: we do NOT want a hyperscale data center here.

Despite the rain clouds and occasional sprinkles, we had a great crowd with a unified message against these corporation extraction machines that devastate the communities around them. We need farmland and pastures for ranching, not a square mile of concrete warehouses spewing diesel particulate matter and 24/7 infrasound. We need opportunities for local businesses to thrive and succeed rather than throwing multi-million dollar incentives at companies that have more money than our local officials can fathom.

A very special thank you to the people who spoke at the rally. Many of these are the ones who have been doing the hard work of going to every County Commission and City Council meeting to make our concerns known publicly. That works is paying off here and elsewhere as we see moratoriums, cancelled projects, and ballot initiatives. This only works when we have a chorus of voices amplifying that message though.

One of the most common questions we get asked is: what can I do? An easy step is simply to write an email to the Shawnee County Commissioners or the Topeka City Council. It doesn’t have to be fancy. It doesn’t have to contain earth-shattering research. It just needs to tell them how you feel about hyperscale data centers coming here to our community. You may not get a response (you probably won’t), and it may feel like nothing was accomplished, but remember that our power is in numbers. Your voice does matter.

AI Data Center Revolt Bus tours Shawnee County Amy Kremer, chairwoman for Humans First, an organization dedicated to making sure AI stays a tool in people’s lives and doesn’t rule it, is traveling across the nation in the AI Data Center Revolt Bus, letting communities know they have a voice and an impact when it comes to data centers.

OTTAWA DATA CENTER CONTRACT CANCELLED!! We’ve spent much of the last week going over the many misrepresentations that Compass Datacenters made during their address to the Topeka City Council. How about some good news instead courtesy of our neighbors in Ottawa?

The Ottawa City Commission voted unanimously to cancel their contract with data center developer Lightfield Energy after nearly two years of negotiations. Even though it feels impossible sometimes, these projects really can be stopped!

Though that’s not the end of the battle by any means, it’s a hopeful step in the right direction thanks to the hard work of groups like Ottawa United - Against Data Centers. We wish them much luck in their efforts to get this issue on the ballot and hope to be following in their footsteps soon.

'Out of time': Ottawa ends data center contract as ballot fight continues After nearly two years of discussions, the Ottawa City Commission terminated its data center sales contract with developer Lightfield Energy LLC during Wednesday's commission meeting.