News

June 11 North Omaha Town Hall: Senators Terrell McKinney & Ashlei Spivey to Discuss Data Centers With Guest Jane Kleeb

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 5, 2026

June 11 North Omaha Town Hall: Senators Terrell McKinney & Ashlei Spivey to Discuss Data Centers With Guest Jane Kleeb

Omaha – Nebraska State Senators Terrell McKinney and Ashlei Spivey will host a community town hall meeting on Thursday, June 11 to provide an overview of the recent legislative session, along with a discussion about data centers where the Senators will be joined by Bold Nebraska Founder and Executive Director Jane Kleeb.

  • WHAT: North Omaha Town Hall & Data Center Discussion
  • WHO: Nebraska State Senators Terrell McKinney & Ashlei Spivey; Bold Founder & Executive Director Jane Kleeb (Free and open to the public)
  • WHEN: Thursday, June 11, 6:00 – 7:30 p.m. (Refreshments will be provided)
  • WHERE: Nelson Mandela Elementary School, 6316 N. 30th Street, Omaha, NE

In addition to the traditional town halls that Senators Spivey and McKinney hold on a regular basis with their constituents, a discussion will take place on June 11 on LB 1111, a data center bill sponsored by Senators McKinney, Spivey and Machaela Cavanaugh, which was also supported by Bold Nebraska.

The law holds data centers accountable and provides for transparency that no other state has been able to pass. Jane Kleeb will join the Senators for the data center discussion. Nebraska is already home to more than 30 data center facilities, operated by tech giants including Meta, and Google.

Nebraska is believed to be the first state in the nation to pass a law requiring Community Benefits Agreements for data center projects. A Community Benefits Agreement is an actual contract between the developer and impacted local communities that require the developer to ensure local community members benefit directly from the development activity – so these billion-dollar data center projects are obligated to pay back millions of dollars annually to impacted communities.

Nebraska is also now one of the first states to impose a statutory requirement for data centers to implement decommissioning plans, so that rural communities are not left holding the bag when these massive facilities housing huge amounts of hazardous environmental waste go out of business or are no longer of use.

The public disclosures that data centers in Nebraska are now required to provide include:

  • The name of the proposed data center.
  • The names of the developers and owners of the proposed data center.
  • The physical size of the proposed data center in square feet.
  • The location of the proposed data center, including street address and County.
  • The annual electricity demand of the proposed data center.
  • The annual water usage of the proposed data center.
  • The sales and use tax exemptions that the proposed data center utilizes or expects to utilize.
  • Any incentive payments for the proposed data center under the ImagiNE Nebraska Act and the Nebraska Advantage Act.
  • All energy efficiency, load management, and conservation measures implemented by the proposed data center.
  • All commitments by the proposed data center to use renewable energy.
  • The service life of the proposed data center.

“My community is being polluted every single day by a coal plant that stays open largely to power data centers. This bill finally forces public disclosure of the electricity and water demands we’ve been demanding — and couldn’t get. It puts people in the driver’s seat with legally binding Community Benefits Agreements and decommissioning plans, so we’re not left cleaning up a corporate mess decades later,” said Nebraska State Senator Terrell McKinney.

“Communities deserve to know basic facts about data centers when deciding what’s best for their towns. Nebraska had zero guardrails on data centers before this law, and now developers must, if a community decides this is right for their town, enter into a Community Benefits Agreement and put a decommissioning plan in place. No data center should be able to run roughshod over a community while making billions of dollars,” said Jane Kleeb, Bold Alliance Founder and Director. “Communities and those who live near these massive projects deserve to generate wealth and be protected from any public health and environmental harms. This law provides guardrails to protect communities and put them first, not big corporations.”

“Ken Winston, Chapter Director of the Nebraska Sierra Club, stated: “We are pleased to see that the Legislature passed LB 1010 on a vote of 49 to zero to establish important guardrails on data centers, including requiring data centers to pay the full cost of electricity and ensuring that no costs are passed on to other retail customers. We greatly appreciate the leadership of Senator Machaela Cavanaugh, Senator Terrell McKinney and Senator Ashlei Spivey in introducing the original legislation and making sure that necessary amendments were added to LB 1010. We want to recognize the importance of requiring data centers to bear all decommissioning costs and requiring them to enter into community benefit agreements with communities affected by the data center. This legislation provides a great opportunity for local communities to tailor their community benefit agreements to meet the needs of their community. This could include projects that mitigate the data center’s use of water or other natural resources, or funding for projects the community cannot otherwise afford such as low-income energy efficiency programs, solar and battery powered community resilience hubs or assistance with affordable housing. These agreements should be funded at a meaningful level and funds should be provided throughout the operational life of the facility because the companies behind data centers are some of the richest corporations on the planet.”

The Bold Energy Builders project organizes unlikely alliances with the goal of justly building more clean energy, providing education, training, legal, communications and organizing support to rural communities who want to see more clean energy built in their towns. At the center of the Energy Builders project is working with local residents to develop Community Benefits Agreements, including an American Energy Dividend to those that live in the viewshed of wind and solar. We believe more money in people’s pockets, while adding more American-made energy on the grid, can change the game in rural America – putting those who live on the land and in our rural towns in the driver’s seat. We are looking at America’s next 100 years of energy.

MEETING REGISTRATION PAGE:
https://actionnetwork.org/events/boldnebraska_northotownhall_june2026

About Bold Energy Builders
Bold’s Energy Builders Project provides education, training, legal, communications, and organizing support to rural communities that want to see more clean energy built in their towns. (https://boldenergybuilders.us)

About Bold
Bold is a network of “small and mighty” groups in rural states working to protect land and water. We fight fossil fuel projects, protect landowners against eminent domain abuse, and work for clean energy solutions while building an engaged base of citizens who care about the land, water, and climate change. (https://boldalliance.org)