Rocky Mountain Voice

Menu

Tag: Data Centers

Colorado killed its only data center water bills. Cities are filling the gap themselves.
No Comments
Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Colorado killed its only data center water bills. Cities are filling the gap themselves.

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice Colorado spent a year trying to answer a basic question: should companies building massive AI data centers be required to disclose how much water they use? The answer, as of May 11, was no. Senate Bill 26-102 would have required operators of new large data centers to report annual water use to state health officials. A companion measure, House Bill 26-1030, sought to attract data centers through voluntary tax incentives tied to water efficiency standards. HB26-1030 died in committee on May 7. SB26-102 followed four days later. 238 lobbyists registered positions on one or both bills on behalf of 221 clients, according to Secretary of State records. Five days after the legislature adjourned, Denver City Council unanim...
Read More
Denver Council Considers Data Center Moratorium And Multimillion Dollar Contracts
No Comments
The Denver Gazette, Approved, Local

Denver Council Considers Data Center Moratorium And Multimillion Dollar Contracts

By Deborah Grigsby | The Denver Gazette The Denver City Council will introduce a bill on Monday that would place a one-year moratorium on the acceptance or processing of certain permit and site development plan applications in which a data center is the proposed primary use. Because data centers are not specifically regulated within Denver and have no specific permitting requirements, city officials want to press the “pause” button to give the city time to develop “thoughtful regulations” that address community safety and equity. If ordered published, a public hearing on the matter will be held May 18. Next, the council will also introduce legislation to establish an annual donation of bison to American Indian tribes and American Indian nonprofits. The City and ...
Read More
As Drought Deepens, Colorado Still Has No Rules For Data Center Water Use
No Comments
Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

As Drought Deepens, Colorado Still Has No Rules For Data Center Water Use

By Shaina Cole | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice In Aurora, data center proposals run through a simple filter. City officials compare total water use against how much of that water won’t come back—lost to evaporation. If either number gets too high, the project doesn’t move forward. When a developer wants to build in Denver, there is no matrix. That gap—two cities, two standards, nothing statewide connecting them—is the center of a question Colorado has avoided answering: who is responsible for knowing how much water AI data centers use, and when does that become too much? The question got harder to ignore this spring. On March 16, Governor Jared Polis activated Phase 2 of the state’s Drought Response Plan—the first activation in nearly six years—after federal ...
Read More
Wyoming Positions Itself As Energy Leader For The Mountain West Colorado Pushes Risky Bet
No Comments
Complete Colorado, Approved, Commentary, State

Wyoming Positions Itself As Energy Leader For The Mountain West Colorado Pushes Risky Bet

By Jon Caldara | Commentary, Complete Colorado Years ago, I interviewed a Canadian health-care broker whose job was helping his countrymen escape their own failing system. When their “free” health care turned into “free to wait until you die,” he’d save his clients by routing them to doctors in the U.S. who’d accept cash and rescue their lives. I asked him what advice he had for Americans. His answer terrified me. “I hope the U.S. won’t do what we’ve done with health care,” he said. I thought his reasoning was that he didn’t want to see Americans suffer and die because of medical socialism. But that wasn’t it. He said, “Because if you do, we’ll have nowhere to escape to.” That stuck with me. We are Canada’s health care lifeboat. Every bad sy...
Read More
Two visions of Colorado’s energy future collide in committee hearing
No Comments
Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Two visions of Colorado’s energy future collide in committee hearing

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Xcel shut off power Saturday afternoon in parts of Boulder and Jefferson counties—roughly 18,000 customers in all. The wind was up, fire danger was high, and outages weren’t limited to the shutoff areas—some hit in the foothills, others farther into the mountains, where crews were still working Sunday. House Bill 26-1246 had come up earlier in the week during a committee hearing. Rep. Ken DeGraaf pointed to those kinds of events as a warning. “Public safety power shutoffs… have become increasingly normalized,” he told lawmakers. What followed wasn’t just a debate over one bill. It was a clash between two different ways of thinking about how Colorado should power its future. At its core, the disagreement comes down to this: should...
Read More
HB 26-1246: Protecting Coloradans from rising power costs and a broken system
No Comments
Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

HB 26-1246: Protecting Coloradans from rising power costs and a broken system

By Rep. Ken DeGraaf | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Editor's update: House Bill 26-1246 is scheduled to be heard in the House Energy & Environment Committee today, Thursday, March 12, 2026, at 1:30 p.m. in the Old State Library. Coloradans may listen live at leg.colorado.gov/agenda/committee/202622308545820. Colorado is facing a turning point in energy policy. For years, families and businesses across our state have watched their electricity bills rise while our landscapes are increasingly carved up by massive transmission projects stretching from horizon to horizon. Forests, prairies, farms, and communities are being cut apart in the name of electrification and “grid modernization.” Meanwhile, the people paying the price are the very citizens the system is su...
Read More
U.S. Energy Secretary Warns Colorado Energy Policies Could Raise Prices Drive Jobs Away
No Comments
The Denver Gazette, Approved, State

U.S. Energy Secretary Warns Colorado Energy Policies Could Raise Prices Drive Jobs Away

By Scott Weiser | The Denver Gazette U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright on Monday warned that Colorado’s energy policies could lead to higher electricity prices and deter businesses, such as data centers, from locating in the state. Wright, a former executive of a Colorado-based energy company tapped by the Trump White House to lead the energy department, urged state policymakers to focus on natural gas and nuclear power during a news conference with U.S. Rep. Gab Evans at Xcel Energy’s Fort St. Vrain Generating Station on Monday. State policymakers have maintained that Colorado’s energy policy is balanced, taking into accounts the needs of consumers in their push for “net zero” carbon in just a few decades. Democrats have also argued that Colorado should take advantag...
Read More
Xcel Warns Grid May Need Coal Plants Longer Amid Delays In New Energy Projects
No Comments
The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

Xcel Warns Grid May Need Coal Plants Longer Amid Delays In New Energy Projects

By: Mark Jaffe | The Colorado Sun The plants in Pueblo and Hayden were slated to phase out between 2025 and 2030. Now the company has proposed running all their units for four more years. Xcel Energy, facing what it says is a shortfall in electricity generating capacity for the next two years, is proposing to run its four coal-fired units until 2030. Comanche Unit 2, in Pueblo, was supposed to close at the end of 2025. One unit at the Hayden Station is to close in 2027 and the second unit is slated to shut in 2028. Comanche Unit 3 is set to close in 2030. Comanche 3 suffered turbine damage in August taking the unit offline. Xcel Energy initially said repairs would be completed in June, but in a March 2 report to state regulators the company said it h...
Read More
Denver Leaders Face Tough Questions After Data Center Company CoreSite Skips Community Meeting
No Comments
DENVER7, Approved, Local

Denver Leaders Face Tough Questions After Data Center Company CoreSite Skips Community Meeting

By: Maggie Bryan | Denver7 DENVER — During a town hall on Tuesday night, residents of Denver's Globeville and Elyria-Swansea neighborhoods demanded answers from city leaders, state officials, and business representatives about the impacts of a new data center being built in the area. CoreSite, the company building the data center, did not attend the town hall and cited safety concerns as the reason it refrained from participating. A spokesperson for CoreSite told Denver7 its leadership team was concerned after seeing social media conversations about the community event, but did not elaborate further. The company is currently constructing a 170,000-square-foot data center at Race Street and E. 49th Avenue in Denver, which will be one of three buildings as part of CoreSi...
Read More
Trump Champions Middle Class Growth And Government Accountability In Marathon Address
No Comments
The Epoch Times, Approved, National

Trump Champions Middle Class Growth And Government Accountability In Marathon Address

By Jacob Burg, Andrew Moran, Troy Myers, Ryan Morgan, John Haughey, Jackson Richman | The Epoch Times The president unveiled new policies including a retirement program proposal, lower energy costs tied to data centers, and a task force to combat fraud. President Donald Trump highlighted his economic agenda in a record-long State of the Union address, declaring the United States is “bigger, richer, and stronger than ever before.” In his 1-hour 47-minute-long speech, the president introduced multiple guests to spotlight the impacts of his policies, from no-tax-on-tips to Trump Accounts. The president awarded the Medal of Honor to a Korean War hero and to a helicopter pilot wounded in the mission to capture Venezuelan Leader Nicolás Maduro, and announced that he w...
Read More

FD863768-0ACF-495E-9D21-2EF784DFFA6B[1]

Join us at RMV's Freedom Festival

Click Here for Tickets!

This will close in 0 seconds