A 10-year ban on an entire industry is a bad idea.
Companies choose low-risk places to invest. A city that bans an entire industry looks too risky. If this passes, El Dorado’s economic future stalls.
It bans an entire industry for 10 years
Data centers and battery storage would be prohibited in El Dorado. Only another public vote can undo it.
Companies avoid risky cities
Businesses weigh risk before they invest. A community that bans an entire industry drops off the short list, and not just for data centers. Every kind of business notices.
Our problems don’t fix themselves
High property taxes. Bad roads. Declining population. Without economic development, none of it improves.
The next company is watching
The next company considering El Dorado may have nothing to do with data centers. When businesses decide where to invest, they look at certainty. Responsiveness. Permitting. Community support.
Because when investment doesn’t come, our needs don’t disappear.
Why this matters for El DoradoEl Dorado already has rules for this
In June 2026 the City adopted zoning rules for data centers and battery storage. Every project needs a Special Use Permit: a public hearing, full disclosure of water and power needs, and the City’s right to set conditions or say no.
How the City’s rules workWater is not a problem
El Dorado has one of the biggest water advantages in Kansas. Our lake holds over 50 billion gallons, and the City has 10 million gallons a day set aside for industry.
The headlines about data centers using millions of gallons a day describe evaporative cooling, where water is used up as it cools the building. Many new data centers use closed-loop systems instead. The loop is filled once during construction and the same water circulates for years. Microsoft says its new closed-loop sites use about as much water in a year as a single restaurant.
For comparison, our refinery already uses an estimated 4 million gallons or more a day.
We also still owe $39.8 million to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for our lake storage. That industrial water needs buyers.
Growth can lower your tax bill
A large new project spreads the cost of local government across more value. If local governments hold their revenue flat, mill levies fall for everyone else. And Kansas’s data center law is a sales tax break, not a property tax break.
See the full exampleSee what a 1 GW facility could mean →
Four lines in the ordinance, four problems
Locked in for a decade
Once passed, the City Commission can’t adjust it for ten years. The only fix is another election. A decade is a long time to hang a “closed” sign on El Dorado while other towns compete for the same investment.
The line is drawn very low
Florida’s incentive law defines a data center at 100 megawatts. This ban starts at one-tenth of that, so it reaches far beyond giant AI campuses to smaller server and computing facilities.
Gallons a day is a tiny slice
That’s 1% of the 10 million gallons a day the City has set aside for industry. The ban applies no matter how efficient the cooling design, and the City already requires water numbers before any approval.
It bans batteries, too
Battery storage above 80 kWh is prohibited, not just at data centers. That covers systems businesses and utilities use for backup power and grid reliability, which national fire codes and the City’s permit process already regulate.