Some communities in the Mountain West are saying ‘yes’ to new data centers, while others are hitting the brakes.
In Denver, there’s now a one-year moratorium on data center development. City councilors also apologized for allowing a data center to be built in an already polluted neighborhood.
Other communities nationwide, from Oklahoma City to Huron County, Michigan, have also recently pressed pause on data center development. In recent years, Kootenai County in Idaho, plus Logan and Larimer counties in Colorado, have joined the line up.
And while Cheyenne, Wyoming, recently rejected a similar moratorium, opting to move forward with potentially dozens of centers, officials and residents still want guardrails in place.
The ‘Wyoming Way’
On June 3, Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon signed an executive order laying out a framework to develop data centers the “Wyoming Way.” It welcomes new data centers, while asking state agencies to ensure they’re developed responsibly.
“As America races to build the infrastructure needed to support advanced computing, artificial intelligence and our nation’s rapidly growing digital economy, Wyoming is uniquely positioned to lead,” Gordon said in a press release.
The order encourages centers to pay the costs for increasing energy demand in the area and provide permanent jobs to Wyomingites. It also asks them to protect water and wildlife, and to be transparent.
John Burrows, energy and climate policy director at the nonprofit Wyoming Outdoor Council, said it’s a good first step.
“Our hope is that the framework that this establishes actually has some teeth to address the concerns that Wyomingites care about and are speaking up about,” said Burrows, whose organization released a white paper with policy proposals earlier this year.
Gordon’s executive order itself doesn’t change any policies, but state agencies now have 60 days to provide recommendations for changes and potential legislative actions. This comes as community members grapple with a growing number of data center proposals around the region.
‘Blown out of proportion’
The plans for one AI data center, from Prometheus Hypescale, in southwest Wyoming, near Evanston, are moving forward.
“Potentially some of the concerns have been blown out of proportion,” said Bryan Ayres, the mayor of Mountain View, a town of about 1,000 residents near the proposed data center development.
Residents recently packed county meetings to speak out about Prometheus’ massive proposed data center, voicing concerns about water and energy use. But Ayres said some of those concerns may not apply to Prometheus, which says it will supply its own energy and not touch the area’s water supply.
Ayres, however, does want some guardrails.
“I don't wanna see 'em unfairly subsidized with excessive tax breaks,” he said. “Just make sure that they're paying their fair share.”
Ayres said as long as that happens, he welcomes new jobs and thinks it's a good fit for the energy-rich state.
“I'd like to see our energy used within the state of Wyoming rather than exported, which a lot of it is,” said Ayres.
The Uinta County Planning Commission has recommended approval of the Prometheus data center. County commissioners could vote on the proposal as early as June 16.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Boise State Public Radio, Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Northern Colorado, KANW in New Mexico, Colorado Public Radio and KJZZ in Arizona as well as NPR, with support from affiliate newsrooms across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Eric and Wendy Schmidt.
