Ryan Millan-Pulley
Editorial Intern

Dutch technology company Nebius Group is slated to build an AI Data Center in Independence, Missouri. Set to be built at 501 N Bly Road, this 2.5-million-square-foot data center has sparked a number of practical, legal, environmental and ethical concerns from residents all over the Kansas City Metropolitan area.

As of March 21, a Facebook group called “Stop the AI Data Center in Independence” has reached over 117,000 members. Several members even created a website called savelittleblue.com. 

A data center is a facility that houses physical computing infrastructure to power, store, and support web-based systems. They are the physical location of digital information and processes such as: e-mail, photo storage, AI generation, search engines, etc. The data center will be of the “hyperscale” variety; a massive facility designed to run thousands of servers and machines. 

Nebius Group is a NASDAQ-traded global technology company headquartered in Amsterdam, The Netherlands and has operations across Europe, the United States, and Israel. According to their website, they serve “AI builders and enterprises worldwide across industries including healthcare and life sciences, robotics and physical AI, financial services, media & entertainment, retail and many others.” Some of their customers include Microsoft and Meta. 

In the wake of residents’ concerns, the City of Independence created a frequently asked questions (FAQ) page about the data center. 

Information within the FAQ claims the data center will create jobs and promote economic development, and that electricity rates will not go up for local residents and businesses. It also claims that the city’s water supplies are well-equipped to handle the data center’s needs and that its noise and light pollution will be studied and reviewed to stay within city guidelines and disturb residents as little as possible. 

Rachel Gonzalez, an Independence resident and leader within the “Stop The AI Data Center in Independence” Facebook group, isn’t satisfied with these answers. 

“I think people should still be concerned,” Gonzalez said. “Because there are so many questions that are not on the FAQ page that have not been addressed, many of which a lot of our members brought up over and over again, at several Independence City Council meetings.”

Several of these questions involve chemicals used by the data center’s cooling system, power demand spikes, long term health concerns, the possibility and longevity of local jobs created by the data center, and its potential expansion.

Residents are able to file complaints online, but in Gonzalez’ experience, these often go unheard. 

“There are people in my neighborhood that constantly complain about dogs that roam our neighborhood, and the city has never done anything about, you know, these dangerous dogs or anything like that. So I’m just not feeling very confident in my city government,” Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez also believes this concerns Kansas City residents. The City of Independence signed contracts with utility companies Nextera and Evergy to get the data center up and running. These companies also provide power to Kansas City, and their contracts with Independence total in around $16 million of energy.

The Independence City Council voted 5-2 to approve $6.2 billion in tax breaks over 20 years for the data center, a much larger abatement than other data centers in the area. 

Under Section 7.2 of Independence City Charter, Gonzalez and several others acquired 183 signatures to petition a referendum. “We’re not asking if it’s illegal or anything like that. We’re just asking if we did it right,” Gonzalez said.

When the city denied this petition, Gonzalez and two others filed a lawsuit against the city. 

Many people, Gonzalez included, have ethical and societal concerns with AI generated imagery. 

“And it does frustrate me when I see people post AI Christmas photos rather than paying a photographer to take those photos because essentially, it’s not a real photo,” Gonzalez said. “And just imagining that being in your child’s scrapbook, that’s not a lasting memory. To be completely honest, it’s fake.”

Present at a petition signing on March 8th was Kharma Magers, a local artist. “There’s too much that we don’t know about, what it means for our citizens and for our community as a whole,” Magers said. 

The Nebius AI Data Center is set to span around 400 acres and begin construction in 2026. It may take several years to complete.