{"id":17127,"date":"2026-05-05T08:44:33","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T15:44:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/?p=17127"},"modified":"2026-05-05T08:44:33","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T15:44:33","slug":"with-up-to-70-cheyenne-area-data-centers-in-the-works-petition-calls-for-pause","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/2026\/05\/05\/with-up-to-70-cheyenne-area-data-centers-in-the-works-petition-calls-for-pause\/","title":{"rendered":"With Up To 70 Cheyenne-Area Data Centers In The Works, Petition Calls For Pause"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This is starting to get ridiculous here in Cheyenne with these data centers. Our local politicians are doing things sneakily with developers and others that are looking to profit, and the needs and interests of the local residents is taking a back seat. And I guarantee we’ll see a bunch of Indian H1-B visa holders in our local businesses as they come online, so far from bringing local jobs. And I’d bet a lot of construction workers are from out of state… And this disingenuous LEADS CEO downplayed the water use which is still there, with the pumping of contaminated water deep under underground, evaporation of pools… I say no thank you and time to reign it in by voting out local politicians who forgot their place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/cowboystatedaily.com\/2026\/05\/04\/with-up-to-70-cheyenne-area-data-centers-in-the-works-petition-calls-for-pause\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n

<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n
With dozens of Cheyenne-Area data centers in various stages of discussion \u2014 one city councilman put the number at as many as 70 \u2014 some residents want to hit the brakes. A petition is circulating, calling for a data center moratorium.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

By Ren\u00e9e Jean<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"With
With dozens of Cheyenne-Area data centers in various stages of discussion \u2014 one city councilman put the number at as many as 70 \u2014 some residents want to hit the brakes. A petition is circulating, calling for a data center moratorium. Above is Microsoft’s data center in the Cheyenne Business Parkway business park in east Cheyenne in a file photo. (Greg Johnson, Cowboy State Daily)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A grassroots petition circulating in Cheyenne calls for a moratorium on new data centers in Laramie County, amid a growing clash between local residents and the policymakers and economic development officials promoting the projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Cheyenne petition comes as other Mountain West counties and more than a dozen states weigh enacting temporary moratoriums on new data centers, reflecting a much wider national debate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Heather Madrid is one of the individuals circulating the petition in Cheyenne. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She said organizers of the petition are aiming for 7,000 signatures in all and already have hundreds in less than two weeks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Madrid said she\u2019s not personally opposed to data centers, but she feels they are flying into Laramie County at an unprecedented speed, and that it\u2019s not something the city\u2019s existing planning framework is ready for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At a recent \u201cCouncil and Coffee\u201d forum with Ward I Councilman Larry Wolfe, he told Madrid that Laramie County has 70 data centers in various stages of discussion right now. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wolfe also circulated a map with about a dozen of the data centers with more definitive plans surrounding Cheyenne. That, in particular, really got her attention. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe rate of these projects being filed and approved is alarming,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd know that the scale of these projects is just unprecedented. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We do not have appropriate regulations in place to account for the impacts of these hyper-scale data centers in these business parks in our communities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Data centers are needed for things like national security, she acknowledged, and she doesn\u2019t want to see existing projects that have already broken ground reversed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But she does want to see better regulations that \u201creflect the magnitude of these projects\u201d on future projects. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lack Of Transparency<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Madrid traces her alarm back to a proposed man camp near her neighborhood. That prompted her to become more aware of just how many data centers were landing in Cheyenne and Laramie County.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In her efforts to follow and track new data centers, she has come to feel that they\u2019re being handled in a less than transparent way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt feels like there is this slow drip of information that\u2019s not exactly information,\u201d she said. \u201cResidents of Laramie County are having to play detective to piece together what\u2019s going on. The whole process just does not feel like it\u2019s transparent.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It starts with a large annexation, Madrid said, followed by a couple of rezoning measures to get the property to light industrial \u2014 all without mention that the property is being rezoned for a data center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c(Annexations) are when the public has an opportunity to talk about and raise concerns, ask questions, or whatever,\u201d Madrid said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once the annexation is approved, meanwhile, she\u2019s not seeing many opportunities after that for the public to object. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt just feels like they don\u2019t disclose that it\u2019s a data center until it\u2019s already been annexed, already been rezoned, already (turned) into a business park,\u201d she said. \u201cIt feels like we should know before all of that. We should just be getting the truth up front.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Councilman Felt Blindsided<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Wolfe said the figures he shared with Madrid and others at the \u201cCouncil and Coffee\u201d event on Saturday were compiled by looking through Cheyenne LEADS documents and adding the 43 potentials being tracked there to both existing and announced data centers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said he enlisted the help of city planning and building departments to prepare the map, which shows the location of what\u2019s so far been approved and where.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou have to be a little careful with it, because\u00a0‘data center’\u00a0itself hasn\u2019t been really well-defined,\u201d he added. \u201cIt can be a small building all the way up to a campus with three 800,000-square-foot buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c(The terminology) is fairly imprecise nomenclature.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wolfe agreed there has been less transparency around data centers than he would like. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The recent annexation of 1,200 acres of what used to be the Cox Ranch<\/a> is a case in point. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wolfe told Cowboy State Daily he didn\u2019t learn about the data center company connected to that until the morning of the meeting where the annexation was to be considered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNobody even knew what their names were,\u201d he said. \u201cI had just learned that morning who these two companies are.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s despite the fact the developers had been talking with city agencies for months beforehand, Wolfe added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut nobody told us about it until they just show up and say, \u2018Oh yeah, we\u2019re the people who have put this all together, and have an agreement with the landowner, which is the Cox family entity, to buy their property if it goes through all the permitting processes,\u2019\u201d Wolfe said. \u201cWe don\u2019t see any of that. That doesn\u2019t ever come before us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wolfe said he believes that\u2019s part of the reason why the council \u201crightly\u201d postponed the Cox annexation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot more we need to learn about that,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spreadsheet Of Issues<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Wolfe has driven around Cheyenne to see many of the business parks and their associated data centers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a pretty impressive thing to see all of these large facilities in various stages of development,\u201d he said. “And actually, the really impressive part is to go out east of town and see the Microsoft Project that\u2019s being built there already. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“And also go across, north, where Related has got that huge, huge building under construction.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One question Wolfe keeps asking, though, is: \u201cWhen do we reach a saturation point, where we think we\u2019ve got enough?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wolfe has been keeping a spreadsheet of issues the city needs to consider when it comes to data centers, from land consumption and infrastructure demands to neighborhood impacts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe data center boom has outstripped our ability, our city\u2019s ability to plan,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s moved so fast that really neither the city nor the county have been able to apply any kind of, \u2018Well, this is how we want to plan to deal with these things.’ And there are a huge number of issues \u2026 because they\u2019re enormously land consumptive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite that, Wolfe has not yet decided if he supports a moratorium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn my view, it would be premature to consider that,\u201d he said. \u201cYou can mark me down as undecided at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Data Center Campaign Has Not Been Secret <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Cheyenne LEADS CEO Betsey Hale pushed back on the framing that LEADS is somehow operating in secret when it comes to data centers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cData centers are not new,\u201d Hale said. \u201cIt\u2019s been a signature effort for 20 years now. So, it\u2019s an interesting timing that we\u2019re seeing where, up until about four weeks ago, there really wasn\u2019t a problem in Cheyenne and Laramie County about data centers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd you saw the Tall Grass-Crusoe project get resounding support from County Commissioners,\u201d Hale continued, adding that after the public hearing, people told Hale that the companies had made a concerted effort to listen and address their concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo I feel like there might be a little bit of subterfuge right now coming from some of these,\u201d she said, referring in particular to a full-page \u201cNo More Data Centers\u201d ad she saw in the Cheyenne Tribune-Eagle that claimed it had been paid for by \u201cCitizens of Wyoming.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That group doesn\u2019t seem to exist, Hale added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe wanted to validate who actually paid for the ad,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd there\u2019s no such organization as ‘Citizens of Wyoming.’\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hale said she\u2019s also had occasions where she tried to follow a comment back to the original poster\u2019s profile but found the profile had been removed and no longer existed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a chat bot or something getting into these social media streams,\u201d she said. \u201cThey\u2019re not even real people. They don\u2019t exist.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hale: New Data Centers Don\u2019t Guzzle Water<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Hale also implored the public to get truthful information about data centers as they exist today. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She told Cowboy State Daily that many of the complaints she hears constantly repeat the problems of yesterday\u2019s data centers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most data centers have gone to closed-loop systems that either use a different substance than water for cooling, or that recycle brackish water from far below the water table. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hale said they\u2019re no longer gulping down the amount of water that data centers of old did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As far as power use, data centers locating in Cheyenne have for a long time paid a large-load tariff to Black Hills Energy that\u2019s designed to ensure a business pays for all of the costs associated with serving it power. That\u2019s kept Cheyenne rate increases in check, Hale said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other cases, data centers such as Tallgrass and Crusoe\u2019s Project Jade have made plans to bring their own power, instead of requesting it from the existing grid. They plan to build natural gas generation on site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m not really interested in saying I do or don\u2019t love data centers,\u201d Hale added. \u201cWhat I\u2019m saying is \u2026  just get the facts. I\u2019m not here to say I\u2019m pro or against data centers. I\u2019m here to say they don\u2019t use water (anymore). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“They\u2019re in our business parks. They\u2019re not contaminating the water, she added. “The water is monitored when it goes back to the treatment plant. Everything is tested. If there\u2019s an issue, it can be shut down.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The data centers also have to follow all the covenants associated with the business parks they are located within, as well as pay for their own roads, as well as any sewer, water, and utility upgrades. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hale\u2019s broader message is that Cheyenne has spent the last two decades building a tech-friendly business park strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s not something that\u2019s been done in secret.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou\u2019re not going to engineer a solution with a moratorium,\u201d Hale added. \u201cWhat needs to happen is the city and the county need to do a Plan Cheyenne update. This is all about land use, not about data centers right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Need To Consider Cumulative Impacts<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

State Sen. Cale Case, R-Lander, is among lawmakers who have been wrestling with the implications of data centers on a more statewide basis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHow did things get so out of control?\u201d he said when shown Wolfe\u2019s map, outlining the locations of all the data centers that are already in progress around Cheyenne.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Case said he\u2019s sympathetic to the idea of a temporary moratorium. Not to block them, but to ensure that the state\u2019s framework is set up to ensure they\u2019re not having undue effects on energy rates, water usage, and overall land consumption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said there tends to be an overall momentum to things once one data center has been accepted. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen the 11th one comes in, you say, \u2018Well, we can\u2019t cut them off now, because it\u2019s not fair. We did this for these other ones.\u2019 Things get kind of locked in,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe truth is, you can do whatever you need to do, from a policy perspective, to protect your water, to protect your land use, and to protect the interaction with people on their electricity needs,\u201d Case added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cumulative impacts of developments are not necessarily benign and are not something that Wyoming agencies have really considered before, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been bothered by this,\u201d Case said. \u201cLike, even our Industrial Siting (Council), they don\u2019t really look at cumulative impacts. Every time they come in and say, \u2018Well how many eagles will this wind farm kill?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd this is what the Feds do as well. They look at that wind farm in isolation,\u201d he continued. “But when you start looking back and realizing you\u2019ve built a wall of wind across the region, the impacts are greater than the sum of individual additions. Suddenly, you\u2019ve given these birds no choice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The same principle applies to groundwater use and other natural resources, Case said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd remember, we\u2019re not getting a lot of taxes out of data centers, and that is a problem,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat Cheyenne is getting is the electricity tax, but we\u2019re going to change that in the legislature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to take that money and use it to support the direct distribution to other small towns and counties,\u201d Case continued. \u201cI\u2019m going to bring that forward again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Residents Want More Say, Transparency<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Madrid knows that some critics may paint her and other petition organizers as anti-tech or anti-growth, but what she really wants to see is a more transparent and thoughtful approach to the issues data centers pose. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI just don\u2019t like the idea that local residents are being treated like we\u2019re stupid,\u201d she said. \u201cThis community is full of hydrologists and mechanical engineers and cyber-security professionals and public-health analysts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey deserve to be listened to,\u201d she added. \u201cJust as much as Meta deserves to be listened to.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking at the map, where a growing number of data centers surround Cheyenne, Madrid believes it\u2019s natural to feel uneasy and to think things need to slow down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s just a huge amount of acreage,\u201d she said. \u201cToo much of a good thing is a bad thing. We\u2019re overdoing it a little bit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m not saying everything should come to a screeching halt and let\u2019s shut down what\u2019s already here,\u201d Madrid continued. \u201cI don\u2019t think that\u2019s helpful or necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are impacts that just need to be sorted through first, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI hear our rates aren\u2019t going to increase,\u201d she said. \u201cOK let\u2019s say that\u2019s true. But there are these service fees that continue to creep up, and if I need a plumber to come to my house, I have to wait seven weeks because they\u2019re all working on the data centers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That also means she\u2019s ultimately paying more for that plumber, too, because local companies had to boost their employee\u2019s wages to keep them. That means her services now cost more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo, there are indirect ways the community is impacted by these data centers,\u201d she said. \u201cWhich I don\u2019t think are talked about often enough.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is starting to get ridiculous here in Cheyenne with these data centers. Our local politicians are doing things sneakily with developers and others that are looking to profit, and the needs and interests of the local residents is taking a back seat. And I guarantee we’ll see a bunch of Indian H1-B visa holders […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tech","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\/17127","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=17127"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17127\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17128,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17127\/revisions\/17128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}