Douglas County commissioners on Wednesday faced public calls for a moratorium or ban on battery energy storage systems and data centers, following a work session where they heard research on fire risks and rural water limits.
No local projects have been proposed, but county commissioners in July 2024 asked staff members to look into how those land uses should be addressed in county codes.
Planner Karl Bauer presented research Wednesday showing these uses are undefined in the county’s code outside of solar accessory rules, meaning that battery energy storage systems, or BESS, would already be allowed in the county alongside a solar farm to store extra energy harvested during the day to output during peak usage.
The county’s current zoning restrictions would subject BESS to restrictions to avoid fires and noise disturbances.
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Bauer also cited BESS fire risks like thermal runaway — a rapid increase in temperature that can lead to a fire — as well as massive water and electric demands of data centers, and construction impacts for all.
Public commenters voiced infrastructure fears during the commission’s business meeting.
“It looks like it’s probably a minimum, at least $50 a month bump up in electric bills, if it’s a big, big data center, at least double to triple what your water bill is going to be,” economist Tim Hamilton said. “That’s pretty significant.”
Resident Kincaid Dennett pressed the commission to be bold.
“If we’re developing regulations for how these can exist without a moratorium, we’re just kind of slow walking into what kind of data centers can be allowed, rather than stating plainly we don’t want that here,” Dennett said.
Commissioner Erica Anderson suggested during the work session that a moratorium might be appropriate as a current study on the county’s zoning is still underway.
Bauer said the commission has started the process to create a text amendment to county code, which is not a formal moratorium, but essentially creates a legal pause in these kinds of projects from proceeding.
“If an application for one of these uses were to come in tomorrow, it couldn’t be acted on until these regulations are adopted,” Bauer said.
Rural water districts told Bauer they would need significant updates for data centers, which use hundreds of thousands of gallons of water daily, even in closed loop systems requiring refills and discharge.
Commissioner Karen Willey said she would like staff to look into what the exact capacity is and to whom water rights belong, as some have been sold to Lawrence.
“I would have a hard time thinking that there are any (rural water districts) that could meet that capacity,” Willey said.
As for the discussion of outright bans, the county doesn’t have a list of prohibited uses. Statutes and case law limit blanket bans and lend the county to consider size or power thresholds or home-occupation rules for small-scale crypto.
Commissioners directed more research to investigate non-lithium ion battery options to lower fire risks, state fire code gaps, Kansas Corporation Commission utility oversight, substation co-location and emergency response models similar to that of ICL Lawrence, a chemical plant in North Lawrence.
Commissioners don’t take action during work sessions, but Bauer and his staff are to pursue BESS drafts first which are tied to solar and utilities, then follow up with data centers and digital assets pending legal and community input.
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Courtney Lane (she/her), staff reporter, has worked with The Lawrence Times since April 2026. She can be reached at [email protected].
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