Two south central Kansas Senators have called on counties in their districts to impose moratoriums on data center projects.
Senate Majority Leader Chase Blasi of Andale earlier this week called on Sedgwick County to impose a three year moratorium on such facilities. Senator Blasi, whose western Sedgwick County district is being looked at for such a project, said there is no place for large scale data centers in Sedgwick County at this time, citing issues regarding transparency, and long term water needs for these facilities
Blasi said if the Sedgwick County Commission does not take action, he’s prepared to introduce legislation in the coming weeks to ensure the interests of the community are protected.
Senator Michael Murphy of Sylvia called Wednesday for a data center moratorium in Reno, Kingman and Barber counties of his 34th District, saying one data center could consume more power than the new Evergy power plant to be built near South Hutchinson could produce.
In another data center development in southeast Kansas, City Commissioners in Chanute Monday approved a new rate structure for “heavy load” retail customers such as data centers.
In addition to demand charges and higher energy charges, the policy states if such a customer’s usage necessitates improvements to the city-owned electric distribution system, those costs would have to be paid up front by the customer before they can receive service.
