Just outside Tonganoxie, Kansas, open farmland along Hemp Hill Road could soon become a sprawling industrial campus. A subsidiary of developer Cloverleaf Infrastructure has secured purchase rights to about 1,100 acres there for a huge data center project. The plan is now in county review, and the Leavenworth County Board of County Commissioners will decide whether it moves forward. Commissioners should say no.

This is prime farm ground, the kind of rich soil that grows food and can’t be replaced once it’s buried under concrete and warehouses. The land was once a cattle ranch. Neighbors Jim and Dee Karleskint are working to stop the project. Jim says the community doesn’t want the area turned into an industrial site.

Cloverleaf says the campus will meet all state and federal rules, use a closed-loop cooling system, pay for any power upgrades so local ratepayers aren’t stuck with the bill, and reserve 330 acres as permanently protected land. Residents remain unconvinced. Dee Karleskint notes that the promised economic benefits are measured over 30 years, but Kansas tax breaks for data centers only last 20. She also expects construction to take around a decade, pushing any payoff even further down the road.

Opposition here isn’t about party. Jim Karleskint, a former Republican state lawmaker, told Scripps News that among the neighbors organizing, “there is a consensus across the board that we’re opposed to it, and it’s not political.”

Farmland that’s paved over doesn’t come back. County commissioners have the power to keep this land growing food for generations to come.

Sign the petition to urge the Leavenworth County Board of County Commissioners to reject this data center plan before Tonganoxie’s farmland is lost for good.