Construction is well underway in south Cheyenne on Meta’s mega data center called Project Cosmo. An agreement announced in January 2026 between TerraPower and Meta for up to eight advanced nuclear reactors across the U.S. has put Cheyenne in position to become home to a dual-unit Natrium nuclear plant, a TerraPower executive told Cowboy State Daily. (Greg Johnson, Cowboy State Daily)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nData Center Sentiment<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Not all places share Cheyenne\u2019s appetite for data centers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal reported that a bill in Maine is calling for a ban on major new data-center construction until November 2027 to allow that state to assess the impact of data center development on the electric grid and the environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Neighboring South Dakota is adopting a more cautious approach to data center development as lawmakers and residents there have expressed concern regarding the strain data centers could bring to water usage and the energy infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And in Ohio, a group of rural activists is attempting to put a statewide ban of large data centers on the November ballot by collecting signatures, according to the Wall Street Journal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At least nine other states are working on policies that address data center costs and the use of local resources, the Wall Street Journal reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
About 100 south of Cheyenne, Denver is considering a year-long moratorium on data centers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
While the proposal wouldn\u2019t affect data centers already permitted for or under construction, it would freeze new development, allowing the city to review and strengthen regulations around proposed data center sites, according to 9News.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Annexing And Tax Money<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFor us, keeping our population steady is important,\u201d Mayor Collins told Cowboy State Daily. \u201cIt\u2019s a direct consequence to our ability to fund the city.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Without annexing, Collins said that, \u201cMy fear is if the county would continue to grow but the city wouldn\u2019t. Yet we\u2019re providing the employment base and the recreational opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cheyenne makes up about 65% of Laramie County\u2019s population, Collins said. That means the city receives 65% of every sales tax dollar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cheyenne will benefit from the data centers located within city limits as it will receive the bulk of those data centers\u2019 property taxes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen a data center comes in, it helps us,\u201d Collins said. \u201cIt helps the whole state.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last August, Laramie County welcomed the 1.8-gigawatt Project Jade data center being built by Tallgrass Energy and Texas-based Crusoe Energy Systems. By January, that project had ballooned to 2.7 gigawatts, which is nearly triple the power use of the entire state of Wyoming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Collins said Cheyenne will see some economic benefit from the project, but the data center\u2019s property taxes will go to the county. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s on land far enough from city infrastructure to make its absorption into the city limits unreasonable, Hale said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt makes perfect sense for it to be in the county,\u201d Hale said, adding that the center will depend on its own power generation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think what Laramie County and the city have been able to do, working together on land use regulations and being very thoughtful about the future growth of the community, has been really well done,\u201d Hale said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Our local government and county leaders are more concerned with big tech megacorps and the money it brings than their residents, as I’d bet a lot of workers and contractors for these facilities will come from Colorado. And their annexing of properties and harassing a local farm stand paints the picture of representing land owners […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-wyoming"],"blocksy_meta":[],"featured_image_src":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Jason","author_link":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/author\/jturning\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16660"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16660\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16661,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16660\/revisions\/16661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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