COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Large-scale data center projects are popping in rural areas of Mid-Missouri, and opposition has formed to battle them.
However, local opponents so far have had little success in stopping tech giants such as Amazon and Google from building in Mid-Missouri.
Among the major concerns cited by opponents of data centers is the huge energy demand of many of these facilities. Will that demand drive up costs for regular consumers?
The Consumers Council of Missouri believes state regulators do not have strong enough safeguards in place to ensure data center power costs are not falling back on the average Missouri ratepayer.

"The decision makers in Missouri have tended to err on the side of promoting data centers rather than protecting the public," Consumer Council of Missouri Executive Director John Coffman said. "It's an ongoing regulatory battle."
Coffman teaches energy utility law as an adjunct professor at Washington University in St. Louis, and represents the Consumers Council as a consumer advocate attorney, fighting for lower electric rates for residential consumers across the state.
"We [the Consumers Council] really hope that everyday residential households are the priority for our electric system," Coffman said. "But as these data centers are being built out in a very sudden rate, the power companies are trying to plan ahead and building a whole new fleet of power plants. And so we're expecting many new power plants over the next few years. And that's going to bring a lot of stresses."
Coffman has attended several forums and discussions with private utility Ameren Missouri regarding data centers, where he has continued to advocate for tighter utility regulations. He said he is already seeing an increase in power plant demand drive up electric rates.
"There is a demand for power plant component parts. There's a demand for power plant construction workers. And this is raising the price of building power plants," Coffman said. "That is happening right now, even before the data centers are online and part of the grid."
ABC 17 News asked Ameren if recent or near-future spikes in rates are directly or indirectly tied to data centers.
"As we upgrade aging infrastructure, as we harden our system, as technology improves and we can more efficiently run a system that's more reliable, that obviously takes investment within the system," Senior Manager of Economic Development for Ameren Missouri James O'Mara said. "And so investing in new poles and wires and switches, more smart equipment, all of that is the investment that's driving some of those rate adjustments."
Ameren is seeking a rate hike of about 10% in 2027, it announced in a July 1 press release. Ameren filed a request with the Missouri Public Service Commission for a $343 million annual electric base rate increase that could raise average residential bills by roughly $13 a month.
According to O'Mara, data centers are not the reason for that request.

"That's just the general upgrades and investment that we're doing to the grid to ensure we have that reliable and affordable network that our customers need," O'Mara said.
He noted that rate increases are common, as improvements are being made across the entire grid.
But the Consumers Council said these "improvements" are linked to what's needed for data centers, and regardless, come at a time when the centers are predicted to drive up demand for energy in Missouri.
"There is an expectation that energy demand is going to double over a very short amount of time and that data centers could be as much as 50% of the load someday," Coffman said.
With such high data-driven projections, the council has urged state regulators to be precise in planning for the boom.
The role of 'large-load tariffs'
The biggest point of contention for the council is the requirements outlined in Ameren Missouri's large-load data center tariff. The Missouri Public Service Commission unanimously approved the contract in November 2025, and it went into effect on Dec. 4.
The agreement aims to shield customers from larger bills that could come from "large load customers" like data centers. The contract defines such customers as using 75 megawatts or more of energy per month.
These are some of the requirements of large load customers outlined in the contract:
Sign a minimum 12-year contract with Ameren, with an option to extend the contract for five more years if the company scales up operations.
Cover full grid hookup and infrastructure costs upfront.
Pay a monthly demand charge set at 80% of their contracted maximum electric demand, even if they use less electricity than projected.
Provide collateral funds equal to two years of minimum monthly bills, in the event of bankruptcy or closure.
Give 36 months' written notice to end service and pay exit and early termination fees.
Similar protections were built into Ameren Missouri’s Powering Missouri Growth Plan. The plan, which was approved by the Public Service Commission in November 2025, is designed to ensure high-usage customers pay their fair share.

But the Consumers Council prefers much stricter rules. The consumer advocacy organization urged the Public Service Commission to require 15- to 20-year contract terms, a monthly demand charge of 95%, and 10 years' credit and collateral.
Under the large-load tariff, Ameren is also allowed "at its sole discretion" to aggregate loads and to grant variances without PSC approval. The Consumer Council opposes this, citing the need for regulatory oversight.
"There have been some rules, some guardrails put in place to make sure that data centers pay their fair share. But we're not sure that those guardrails are good enough. We've proposed more protective conditions," Coffman said.
Rich Germinder, senior policy adviser at the PSC, said the White House Ratepayer Protection Pledge and Missouri Senate Bill 4 helped lay the groundwork for consumer protections.
Gov. Mike Kehoe signed Senate Bill 4 into law in April 2025. It changed the way the Public Service Commission deals with electric rates and the adoption of electric facilities in Missouri.
"One of the key components related to Senate Bill 4 was changing the integrated resource planning process," Germinder said. "Basically, understanding that we've, for the first time in several decades, have had large-load growth. So what do we need to do from a planning perspective to be more prepared?"
A critical component of the bill was the adoption of the large-load tariff requirement. The law requires Missouri's investor-owned utilities to establish a contract with the Public Service Commission for the procurement of utility or electric services. Germinder said the tariff ensures better planning and collaboration upfront.
"How do they deal with these large loads, these really large customers that use a lot of energy, use a lot of resources," Germinder said. "What are the terms and conditions that we need to have in place in order for those customers to come onto the system to protect other ratepayers?"
Consumer protections are also being discussed at the federal level with the Ratepayer Protection Act.

"It largely follows that same kind of model of establishing parameters for when you have large load come on that requires significant investment," Germinder said. "That they're paying their share upfront, that the residential ratepayers or the commercial ratepayers are not being saddled with the cost to serve that additional large load."
Even though these new laws have outlined some safeguards, Coffman said the rate at which large data centers are popping up across Missouri is worrisome.
Public records detail more than a dozen large-scale data center projects in the Show-Me State, with multiple proposed or under construction across Mid-Missouri.
Check back for updates, or tune in to ABC 17 News after Monday Night Football on KMIZ for the full in-depth report.

This was in the local paper. They found a guy that had been missing for 11 days. He was deceased and tangled up on a barbed wire fence.

COLUMBIA — On his day off from cleaning rivers, a Columbia man hopped into a fridge in the Missouri river and paddled it ashore.
Steve Schnarr is the race director for Missouri River Relief, an organization aiming to educate people about the Missouri River, as well as host races and clean up trash on it.
He said he saw a Facebook post of some paddlers who brought the discarded fridge to Cooper's Landing, but couldn't get it ashore.
"The general manager (of Cooper's Landing) was just like 'so we have this refrigerator tied up to our wing dike, can you get this?'" Schnarr said in an interview Sunday.

He had some free time on Thursday to look at it and got help from a friend.
"I went down there on my day off just figuring, whatever, I'll figure this out," Schnarr said. 
He got to the fridge, which was missing some interior parts and floating in the water. That gave him an idea, and later, a solution.
"I'll just paddle this thing to the dock," Schnarr said. "It was actually not a big deal at all, just hopped in that thing."

He also said fridges are a common find in the river.
"We had just finished a cleanup, a 50-day cleanup from Kansas City to Columbia," Schnarr said. "That crew had picked up 16 refrigerators along the way."
He said fridges can get dumped by people who don't want to pay to dispose of them and can be swept away by high waters.
"We've actually tracked refrigerators," Schnarr said. "We've seen refrigerators go 550 miles in one year, and that's not uncommon. That can happen in one flood event."
He and his friend brought the fridge to a property where Missouri River Relief keeps its removed trash. Schnarr said it will eventually be recycled.

I just drove through Missouri on a cross country roadtrip. Whoever thought “let’s destroy 1,000,000 miles of road, have everyone drive between two concrete walls with ¼” of leeway on each side, and then leave it under construction instead of doing this like 20 miles at a time, is a true genius. How else will we better accelerate the robot takeover if we don’t prove to them we are all completely incapable of reason?

Apologies, I’m sure there are great things in other parts of the state. 😛

https://shsmo.org/join

We just moved from a state that sends a detailed voters’ guide before every election that lays out the issues/initiatives and the candidates, along with their platforms, who endorses them, and who donates (big) to them. Missouri apparently sends nothing. I’ve tried vote411.org and it is painful to navigate.

Does anyone have any suggestions on where to expeditiously find info on all we need to know prior to next Tuesday? (Why do they make this so hard? 🙄)

Thanks!

Got a colorful flyer in my mailbox. Picture of Dale Brouk, who is running as an Independent for Platte County Commissioner. Cool. There's a list of stuff he wants to do (I'm going to paraphrase because I can't remember exactly what it said): expand funding for mental health services, redirect resources for children's safety and youth outreach, build stronger safety net for vulnerable families.

All this stuff sounds pretty good, right? I can get behind this.

Then I flip the card over and it's all THIS IS BAD AND YOU SHOULD NOT WANT ANY OF THIS BECAUSE SOCIALISM AND WE CAN'T AFFORD TO HELP THE POORS AND DEPRESSED AND THE CHILDREN OMGBBQ!!11!!

The card was published by Jason Maki's campaign or campaign adjacent. Do they really think that offering services to help people is a bad thing we should avoid??

I will be so glad when the election is over.

Have mandatory 10 days in jail (DUI) but trying to get work release.. what should I expect?? Also have bad anxiety. Will they give me meds in there for anxiety?? Or what meds can they give me? help please

I am interested in finding out about restaurants in the smaller towns in Missouri the places that most of us will never go to, I wanted to try seeing the state more and I figured eating thru Missouri would be something to try. I can find the big cities ones, so the KC and STL areas stand down for now unless you have suggestions of other cities.

I got home Friday for a three-day break in my work travel schedule and managed to get my early absentee vote in at the courthouse. I encourage anyone reading this to get that done by the way, early voting is open every day at your local courthouse and no excuse is required. You show them your ID and they give you the ballot right there, you complete it and feed it into the scanning machine, it only takes a few minutes.

Anyhow, on that ballot (on the back, specifically, is where you will find all of the amendments) was amendment 3. Amendment 3 is essentially a testament to the GOP/MAGA legislature in this state's INABILITY to learn or self-reflect on ANYTHING they have ever done up to this point.

Besides covering multiple subjects which are unrelated (transgender surgeries for minors is already illegal in Missouri), it seeks to re-empower the state government to draw lines and make decisions about abortion care for women without considering their exact individual medical circumstances. Missouri's state government had this power TAKEN AWAY from them by a majority of its people during the last general election BECAUSE they abused it so viciously and with a complete lack of compassion. When last the Missouri state government had any power over women's reproductive health, they completely banned abortion no matter what the reason and criminalized doctors who performed them no matter why. No exception for minors who were molested. No exception for sexual assault victims. No exception for ectopic pregnancies. The most draconian and illogical policy in the nation, and they did this as a policy choice, in a vacuum, without sending it to the ballot for voters to approve.

Now, they want this power back, and they are pulling out every stop to get it. They have not offered any public explanation for "what has changed" or any kind of acknowledgement that they erred or made mistakes the last time they were in the drivers seat on this issue. In fact, many of them have said "this doesn't go far enough" all without acknowledging what the existing law says or WHY they lost the power to set policy on the issue of abortion during the last general election in the first place.

Missouri has elected a rare breed of people to the state legislature. Setting politics aside, we are dealing here with a group of people that view accountability or acknowledgment of prior mistaken conduct as a persecution of themselves, no matter how badly they abused their power or how depraved their public statements or behavior around a particular issue may have been. I am left wondering, honestly, if for a majority of Missouri's state lawmakers, if we should really consider calling in some doctors to assess the problems with these individuals mentally and whether medication can help them.

Crisp fall Sunday morning in Hannibal, MO.

Yes on 6 the rest are tricks!
Heard this ditty the other day and had to share. Makes it easy to remember.

I grew up in missouri and moved, in 2021 for work, across country. I moved back at the beginning of 2025. This last week I got a letter for unpaid taxes in 2024 from Missouri.

I didn't live or work in missouri in 2024 and paid full state taxes in the state I was living/working.

I plan on calling the department of revenue this upcoming week but beside my W2 and tax documents what all do I need to file a protest?

And why?

Should the legislature impeach? Based on what?

Seems like Missouri history has been much less forgiving than the current situation, which seems odd considering how bad things are.

Feels like an era of accountability is more than necessary. Make a plan to vote. Make a plan to make your voice heard.

Went with my wife and son to early voting today in Lees Summit. It was my wife's first time voting and my son's second. Pulled up about 930am and line was already extending well out of the building. Made it inside and this cycle is using touch voting on tablets. Once completed, you get a chance to review your selections and get a printed completed ballot that comes out similar to a long CVS receipt. (IYKYK). Placed ballot into machine. Verified it was received and got my sticker.

Got out a little after 10am. Line was even longer than when I went in. Great sign for turnout! No hassles or issues.

Remember to vote!

Nearly $60 million has been raised for ballot measure campaigns alone, while Republicans hold a financial advantage in key legislative races