For the past several months, the majority of informational sessions regarding data centers have come from the city level; however, on Tuesday evening, a group of residents convened an informational session of their own.
Lyon County Community Alliance hosted Let’s Learn All About Data Centers and the Flint Hills Digital Campus discussion at the Emporia Public Library with roughly 20 individuals in attendance. The hour-long session included a range of topics, including an explanation of data centers, a discussion on the difference between data centers and a digital campus, a timeline of the local data center saga and more.
Leading the session were members of Lyon County Community Alliance as well as local software developer Edgar Esparza, who told KVOE News following the session that while much of the data center discussion locally has seen individuals taking sides on the matter, Tuesday’s event was not about that. He says instead it was simply about presenting fair and balanced facts and information to help individuals who may not be up to speed on the matter make informed decisions.
Given this focus, Esparza says they did their best to present a fair amount of information from all sides of the debate.
Leah Green of Lyon County Community Alliance also noted that of the individuals in attendance, many were not social media users, saying that can be “good and bad” as much of the information surrounding the topic is online; however, she says having face-to-face interactions and conducting one’s own research outside of social media can be highly beneficial. To that point, KVOE News asked Green what her advice is for gathering accurate and informative facts regarding data centers.
In her experience, the best approach has been to access peer-reviewed studies from notable and respectable institutions and to not keep that search local.
Lyon County Community Alliance is just the latest organization that has developed over the course of the data center saga locally since it was announced back in early June. Green told KVOE News that the alliance is focused on giving a voice and platform to the citizens of Lyon County, not just Emporia, noting that while the matter may directly impact Emporia citizens, it is something that affects the entire county.
With that mission in mind, Green noted the alliance is planning to travel the county and visit as many communities as possible to help share this information with all residents in the near future.
Tuesday’s presentation followed an interview with Emporia City Manager Trey Cocking on KVOE’s monthly Q&A With Trey segment and also comes just a few weeks after Senior Judge Glenn Braun placed a petition seeking to ban high-impact data centers in the Emporia city limits on the November general election ballot, which was a large focus of Cocking’s interview Tuesday. You can view that story by clicking here.
KVOE News will be continuing discussions on the data center front with Flint Hills Digital Campus Center spokesman Garrett Nordstrom during our 7:20 am Newsmaker segment Thursday.
