Overview
- More than 1,000 residents packed a special Leavenworth County meeting Wednesday night to voice opposition to Project Bluestem and to demand transparency from the developer.
- Cloverleaf resubmitted an enlarged plan after a short moratorium expired in August that increases the site to about 1,000 acres, doubles earlier electricity estimates, and adds an on‑site gas power plant with reported demand up to about 1.2 gigawatts.
- County officials have not approved the proposal and say the project will be evaluated under new data‑center regulations now being drafted by the planning commission and the board.
- Neighbors and farmers cite specific worries about air pollution from the gas plant, waste heat, noise and light impacts, threats to crops and livestock, and the proposal’s proximity to schools and a nursing home, while critics also point to limited public information about Cloverleaf’s ownership.
- Cloverleaf says the project would bring jobs, new tax revenue and 330 acres of permanent conservation land, and if built it would be among the largest data‑center developments in the Kansas City metro with potential effects on local power and land use.