Listen to Kansas Citians before raising our utility rates for data centers | Opinion
In Kansas City, data centers are being fast-tracked in the name of economic progress and technological innovation. We are not discussing the true cost these facilities impose on frontline neighborhoods: rising utility bills, strained water supplies and water contamination, worsening air pollution and deepening health inequities. Our communities get little in return. States such as Missouri and Kansas give massive sales tax exemptions to data centers that create few jobs.
For residents already navigating high rates of asthma, heart disease and heat vulnerability, a data center is not a neutral development. It’s a public health, economic and environmental justice issue that layers new burdens onto communities carrying the weight of cumulative pollution and underinvestment. Already, surging energy demand from data centers is driving up the cost of electricity with existing customers paying for new power plants and transmission to serve data centers through their electricity bills. For working-class families, higher utility bills force impossible choices about housing, food, medications and basic necessities.
Today’s so-called “hyperscaler” artificial intelligence data centers operate around the clock at a massive scale, with their power consumption projected to make up almost half of the U.S. growth in electricity demand between now and 2030.
To meet this demand, utilities are extending the life of coal and gas plants and building new fossil fuel infrastructure, while businesses are using large numbers of on-site diesel generators for backup power and potentially much more. These generators emit fine particulate matter and nitrogen oxides, pollutants strongly linked to asthma attacks, heart disease, stroke, premature birth and early death.
For communities already living near highways, rail yards and power plants, this additional pollution compounds existing exposure and health risk. Recent research projects that air pollution associated with energy use from data center expansion could easily contribute to thousands of premature deaths annually in the United States within the next decade, translating into billions of dollars in avoidable health care costs. These aren’t abstract statistics to us. They represent emergency room visits, missed school days, lost work and families struggling to manage chronic illness.
Water is the other casualty. A single large data center can consume millions of gallons of water each day for cooling, drawing from the same municipal systems, groundwater, rivers and aquifers that households, schools, hospitals and farms depend on.
Tax abatements, subsidies
Despite these health and affordability impacts, Kansas and Missouri welcome data centers with generous tax abatements and utility subsidies.
While data centers are promoted as economic engines, the financial reality for our communities is very different. In 2025, Kansas passed a law to give a 20-year sales and use tax exemption for data centers, while Missouri gives a 20-year sales tax refund for new data centers. This means that in our states, where we have serious infrastructure needs, we don’t even tax the value of the chips and other data center equipment: the majority of the big “capital investments’ in the news.
These facilities create few permanent jobs: Recent research found it took nearly 100 times more investment to create a permanent data center job in Virginia than outside the industry.
In Kansas City, we have many data centers already. The city is considering rules to let them move forward “by right” in certain areas. This means that, despite creating economic and health costs, these projects can progress forward so long as they are in certain areas (likely communities in lower socioeconomic brackets) and meet basic conditions.
As new data center proposals move forward, decision-makers must listen closely to the voices of those who will pay these costs. We need zoning that lets our voices be heard. We need environmental review and protections for public health.
Digital infrastructure should not come at the expense of public health and affordable utilities. Economic development must be measured not in investment numbers that don’t reflect what our governments receive in revenue but in asthma rates, heat resilience, water security and the ability of families to thrive in the places they call home.
Kansas City is at a crossroads. We know this industry and what it brings to our community. We encourage all Kansas City residents to attend local neighborhood planning and commission meetings. If any zoning changes are approved, our officials must require data center developers to complete environmental impact reviews and health impact assessments, which should be peer-reviewed by an independent environmental exposure expert.
Kansas City’s leaders must center community voices in their discussions before moving forward with building new data centers.
Beto Lugo Martinez is a Kansas City resident and nonprofit leader in climate justice.
This story was originally published January 15, 2026 at 9:24 AM.