Inside a conference room on the outskirts of Gillette, about 100 residents gathered to discuss concerns and questions they have about growing data center development across Wyoming. The discussion mirrored growing national concern about the large-scale projects, known as hyperscalers.
Questions at the forum, hosted by the Wyoming Outdoor Council (WOC), ranged from how data centers may influence energy markets to how they may affect the health of people and livestock.
For Wyoming, developers are drawn to the state due to its limited exposure to natural disasters, access to fiber and transmission lines, and more relaxed taxes compared to neighboring states, according to WOC’s Data Center Policy Manager Jocelyn Wulf.
“We're seeing this just being kind of a firebrand issue across the state,” Wulf said. “We really want to hear from communities about what they're thinking, what they're concerned about, even what they're excited about with regard to data centers.”
The forums are just one element of WOC’s involvement in understanding the industry’s rapidly-growing presence in the state. The forums closely follow ongoing industry support from the Trump administration and an executive order by Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon, calling for development to be done the “Wyoming way,” namely, with respect to the environment and their new neighbors.
WOC also presented two approaches it’s proposing will ensure community protections.
Gillette concerns and excitement
WOC’s Gillette community forum was one of seven hosted across the state in an effort to understand how to best advocate for more regulations regarding data center development. The questions asked in Gillette, Wulf said, were similar to those asked at the other community meetings across Wyoming.
A recent survey by the University of Wyoming found about 70% of Wyomingites oppose hyperscale data center development. Similar sentiment was present in Gillette.
“We are absolutely against the data centers,” resident Mandy Steward said after the forum. “I feel like it will deplete resources. They're not gonna be held accountable.”
Questions and concerns about the energy and water use needed to fulfil energy production came up in the discussion numerous times. Resident Vicki Swenson said that she came to the forum to get more information.
“I want to see how much water they can use,” Swenson said when talking about the potential for data center proposals in Campbell County. “I want to see what they're gonna do for air pollution or water pollution. I want to see the regulations and what the plans are.”
Data center developers have reassured locals elsewhere that increased power generation will not affect ratepayers and that protections are in place to protect nearby water. Microsoft’s data center in Cheyenne has pledged to provide the community with more water than it consumes.
The Trump administration calls hyperscale data centers that support AI advances a matter of national security. Many Wyoming leaders have highlighted the economic benefit these hyperscalers may bring to the state, though elsewhere, projects begin with thousands of construction workers and eventually scale back to a few hundred permanent jobs.
“The impact of data centers goes beyond technology or trade,” U.S. Senator John Barrasso said in a statement shared by the economic development non-profit Cheyenne LEADS. “This is about the future of freedom. While America invests in innovation, China is pursuing censorship, surveillance, and state control. America must lead the AI revolution.”
Cheyenne LEADS estimates that data centers have contributed about $7 billion in tax revenue across the state from 2010 through 2024. From 2018 through 2024, the organization estimates data centers contributed about $27 million in sales tax on power.
In early October, Google signed a deal with Wyoming energy provider Black Hills Corp. to power its planned Cheyenne data center. When finished, it could have the capacity to use up to 10 gigawatts of electricity – more than five times the amount of energy used in the entire state. To support the demand, Black Hills plans to invest $1.8 billion over the next three years in new, company-owned natural gas generation.
While data centers benefit from a sales tax exemption for equipment, other taxes on energy use may support state-funded, public services like schools and road repairs.
For some, like Gillette resident Levi Jensen, those benefits may be worth accepting if other concerns can be addressed well.
“My mind is open to them,” Jensen said. “I wanna see good information roll out. There's a lot of different things you see talked about in the public, and I just wanna see accurate information conveyed.”
In June, Gov. Mark Gordon signed an executive order that acknowledged this economic benefit, while establishing that hyperscale development needed to be done “the Wyoming way.”
“Wyoming’s growth must reflect the values embodied in the Wyoming way of life, including stewardship of natural resources water and wildlife, respect for local communities, transparency, personal responsibility, and good neighborliness,” Gordon’s order outlined.
Those developments are a growing part of Wyoming’s landscape. As of August, Cheyenne LEADS reported 15 data center developments in the construction and proposal phases in the city.
WOC presented two ideas at the community forums it believes could help ensure Wyomingites’ concerns are accounted for in companies’ plans.
The Industrial Siting Act
Since 1975, Wyoming has required major industrial projects to follow environmental, social and economic conditions set by the state. The Industrial Siting Act applies to commercial wind and solar projects, oil and gas facilities, pipelines and others.
“They're looking at the socio-ecological impacts, the economic impacts,” Wulf said. “They're requiring reclamation bonding. They're requiring impact assistance fees, financial aid to impacted communities, all of this stuff. It was our response to the coal boom of the '70s, so it's fairly robust.”
But if developers build on a plot of land zoned as an industrial park as designated by local governments, they can avoid the state review, according to WOC. The law exempts processing facilities in existing parks from fees and certification procedures, but those projects still need to share information with the state.
Wulf said all of the considerations about costs, impacts and bonding falls onto the local government’s shoulders as a result.
“Local government certainly has far less capacity to do that than the state,” Wulf said, estimating that the state review can take six months.
In a petition, WOC is calling for Wyoming’s leaders to close this “major loophole” and ensure all data center development undergoes state review. The group says this will only work if the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality and the Industrial Siting Council have the funding and staff to keep up with new projects.
Data center developers have shown interest in these parks in Casper, Evanston and Cheyenne.
Community benefit agreements
WOC’s second key point during the forum said that the best way for communities to ensure developers’ promises are met is through community benefit agreements.
Community benefit agreements (CBAs) are legally binding contracts between a developer and locals that outlines requirements for the company to operate. These can be specific safety thresholds, added jobs into the community or reclamation requirements. Most critically, Wulf said, these agreements come with legal consequences if they are not upheld.
“The best time for a community to enter into one of these agreements is really before a project is approved, before a project is sited, while that community still has the leverage they need to have a seat at the table and ask for what they want,” Wulf said.
In June, Cheyenne City Council considered a $50 million community benefit agreement with Microsoft. The council ultimately voted against the CBA, echoing a vote against a one year moratorium on new data center development. Wulf said Cheyenne LEADS has been the primary entity communicating with developers about needs of the community.
The first, and only, community benefit agreement currently in the works, Wulf said, is in Evanston.
The idea was presented by the developer, Prometheus Hyperscale, according to Wulf. She said that Evanston residents told her that Prometheus asked for community volunteers to help draft the agreement and share what the community may want. That draft is still in the works and has not yet been publicly released.
For now, the Wyoming Outdoor Council views community benefit agreements as one of the strongest ways for communities to advocate for themselves. And most important, Wulf says, ensure that developers’ promises are upheld.
In the upcoming legislative session, lawmakers will consider increasing taxes for data center developments, which currently benefit from notable tax exemptions in the state. Wulf says she is hopeful lawmakers may consider closing the industrial park loophole as well.
The final community forum will be held in Lander in early December.
