Rally held to demand a pause on hyperscale data centers in Missouri

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (NBC, KYMA) - People from all across Missouri gathered outside the capitol Wednesday to demand a pause on data centers.

The Missouri Rural Crisis Center is leading the charge, asking to put a pause on hyper-scale data centers until more regulations are put in place.

The peoples hearing listed demands they'd like to see implemented including: No tax incentives for data centers, complete transparency and community buy-in, and big tech shouldering the full utility burden.

For one protester, Frankie Miller, the issue is personal. She said her son recently lost his job as a computer programmer to AI.

"There's a place for everything and human jobs and human people and their livelihoods are very much more important than a bunch of zeros and ones," Miller expressed.

NBC affiliate KOMU tried to reach out to representatives for their perspective on the issue, but none were available as lawmakers were in a veto session.