Sarcoxie Data Center, Sarcoxie, Missouri

Geronimo Power, based in Bloomington, Minnesota, is evaluating land south of the La Russell Energy Center in eastern Jasper County, Missouri, for a 400 megawatt data center park, plus a solar and battery farm to power it. The company told the Sarcoxie City Council about the project on March 3, but the site is outside city limits, so the council has no say. Whether Jasper County grants Geronimo tax breaks called Chapter 100 bonds is the open question, after commissioners told residents in March they opposed any such deal.

In March 2026 the Jasper County Commission signed a letter to Geronimo Power saying it was "unanimously opposed to any special tax treatment including Chapter 100 bonds for this or any development in Jasper County." By September, Rhys Hine said, Commissioner Jimmy Morris had told him the commission was now looking at Chapter 100 bonds at the company's request: "We just want them to be true to their word." The commission did not respond to KOAM's requests for comment.

Its own project page says the data center would use about 400 megawatts and promises closed-loop cooling, with sound at the property line similar to a household dishwasher. The solar farm and batteries would cover about 2,000 acres west and north of La Russell, 1,360 of them in Jasper County and 640 in Lawrence County, and could generate about 150 megawatts.

Ryan Butterfield, Geronimo's vice president of strategy, told the Lawrence County Record that the solar would cover only part of the load, so another power project would be needed or the data center would draw from the grid, and that neither project had yet found a customer.

Rhys Hine, who owns land within about half a mile of the site, heard about the project from a co-worker at the March 3 council meeting, posted the company's map on Facebook and started a group, "Say No to Data Centers: Keep Jasper and Lawrence Counties Rural," that drew 679 members in its first week. Hine said water use was the big worry, since "we're all in wells out there, so the water table will deplete," and listed noise and light pollution as well.

"Ultimately, we want to be where people want us and see value in what we're doing," Butterfield said, after dozens of residents turned out against the plan at the Lawrence County Commission on March 30. "Come talk to us. Our doors are open," said Lindsay Smith, Geronimo's vice president of external affairs.

Jasper County has no zoning, and Commissioner Jimmy Morris said, "Since we have no zoning, our main role is just being an advocate," pointing to road and decommissioning agreements. By late May opponents were pressing the county to use section 192.300 of state law, which lets a county of its class write ordinances on public health.

A coalition, Southwest Missouri Citizens Against Data Centers, held a town hall at the Gene Taylor Community Building in Sarcoxie on May 28, raising utility bills, well water, noise and health. No date has been set for the Jasper County Commission to vote on the Chapter 100 bond request.