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Colorado Springs Bucks State Trend on Data Centers With Project Taurus Approval
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, State

Colorado Springs Bucks State Trend on Data Centers With Project Taurus Approval

By Alexander Edwards | The Denver Gazette Data centers have been thrust into the limelight in the past 12-18 months as more companies seek to build them while concerns grow about their use of natural resources. That’s led some Colorado communities to reject data centers, while others welcome them in hopes of economic gains. As Colorado Springs forges ahead with Project Taurus, a planned AI data center being built in an old computer chip manufacturing facility at 1615 W. Garden of the Gods Road, other locations in Colorado have imposed temporary moratoriums on data centers. Larimer County imposed a moratorium on data centers that expires on Aug. 25. On May 18, the Denver City Council unanimously approved a one-year moratorium on new dat...
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GOP Divided As Wyoming Weighs Coal Future And Data Center Growth
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Cowboy State Daily, Approved, National

GOP Divided As Wyoming Weighs Coal Future And Data Center Growth

By: Clair McFarland | Cowboy State Daily Wyoming’s coal sector is startled at Republican candidates who oppose data centers. Industry leaders say the revival of coal is driven by demand for energy from data centers. "It's frustrating," said Travis Deti, of the Wyoming Mining Association. Wyoming’s coal sector is startled at Republican political candidates who oppose the data center buildout. Data centers are large warehouses full of servers that power parts of the internet and, increasingly, artificial intelligence (AI). Wyoming has between 20 and 30 operational data centers. President Donald Trump has touted the sector’s expansion as part of a coal industry revival, and part of beating China in a technology advancement race. Many Wyoming Republica...
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Longmont Approves Data Center Restrictions to Safeguard Power and Water
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DENVER7, Approved, Local

Longmont Approves Data Center Restrictions to Safeguard Power and Water

By: Maggie Bryan | Denver7 Longmont City Council voted 6–1 Tuesday night to ban hyperscale data centers, capping facilities at 5% of regional grid capacity or 100 megawatts, whichever is lower. LONGMONT, Colo. — Longmont is drawing a line against hyperscale data centers, passing an ordinance Tuesday night that sets limits on facility energy consumption to protect the city's power grid, water supply, and neighborhoods from impacts seen elsewhere across the country. In a 6-1 vote, Longmont City Council passed a city ordinance capping data center energy usage at either 5% of the region's grid capacity or 100 megawatts, whichever is lower. City staff said 100 megawatts is enough to power between 10,000 to 30,000 homes on a hot summer day. Longmont joins a growing ...
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From coal transition to data centers: JOLT summit heads to Grand Junction
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

From coal transition to data centers: JOLT summit heads to Grand Junction

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Before JOLT became an annual summit, local leaders across Northwest Colorado were wrestling with a difficult question: What comes after coal? Now they’re holding their fourth summit, and this year’s program includes discussions on geothermal energy, data centers, critical minerals, electric cooperative power supplies, workforce development and Colorado River issues. "I don't think that with JOLT, the mission has changed," said Ray Beck, chairman of JOLT — Joint Organizations Leading Transition. "We're still trying to educate people on different sources of energy." Founded by local officials, educators and industry leaders, JOLT was created as Northwest Colorado communities searched for answers about economic transition and long-term op...
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Colorado killed its only data center water bills. Cities are filling the gap themselves.
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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...
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Denver Council Considers Data Center Moratorium And Multimillion Dollar Contracts
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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 ...
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As Drought Deepens, Colorado Still Has No Rules For Data Center Water Use
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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 ...
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Wyoming Positions Itself As Energy Leader For The Mountain West Colorado Pushes Risky Bet
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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...
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Two visions of Colorado’s energy future collide in committee hearing
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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...
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HB 26-1246: Protecting Coloradans from rising power costs and a broken system
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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...
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