Daily Smile

[{"type":"text","text":"Now let's all watch a dog enjoying the horse races..."}]

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Cowboy State Daily is Wyoming’s largest newspaper with Wyoming’s most experienced journalists. 

<title>Daily Smile: Thursday, May 18, 2023 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Now let's all watch a dog enjoying the horse races...

Daily Smile: Thursday, May 18, 2023

 Now let's all watch a dog enjoying the horse races...

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's business and tourism reporter, Renée Jean

Renée Jean

Government & Politics

CHEYENNE — Why can a project as massive as Microsoft’s planned 3,500-acre expansion avoid Wyoming’s Industrial Siting Council while wind farms and other major industrial facilities usually cannot?

The short answer is that Wyoming law exempts certain non-mineral processing facilities built in existing industrial or business parks designated by local governments from the state’s full siting review. 

That question, in one form or another, hung over more than five hours of testimony Monday night as the Cheyenne City Council considered a package of annexation and zoning ordinances tied to Microsoft’s next wave of data center growth on the city’s south side.

The biggest piece in the package was a 3,500-acre annexation called the Highlands, the largest annexation in Cheyenne history. 

Before Monday's vote, the property represented roughly 20% of the city’s existing footprint. The council approved the annexation on a 6-3 vote, with Councilmen Larry Wolfe, Mark Moody, and Pete Laybourn all opposed.

The approval hands control to Cheyenne over land-use, water, and sewer decisions for thousands of acres tied to Microsoft’s future plans.

Opponents argued the city was moving too quickly and surrendering leverage before the public had a fuller accounting of long-term impacts, while supporters said the annexation was necessary to secure investment and shape the city’s future.

Regulatory Workaround Or Just Business As Usual?

At the center of the dispute is a legal distinction that’s become increasingly important as Wyoming recruits hyperscale data centers. 

Under Wyoming statues, non-mineral processing facilities built in existing industrial parks designated by local governments are exempt from the Industrial Siting Act’s fee and certification procedures, though they must still furnish certain information to the state.

That means data centers in qualifying business park or industrial park settings can avoid the lengthy Industrial Siting Council Process that applies to many other large industrial developments. 

For critics of data centers, that’s a regulatory blind spot, while supporters see it as a system working as designed to avoid duplicative efforts when there’s already planned land for industrial use.

The distinction matters because it’s not a newly invented loophole or a data-center-specific workaround. 

It’s a standing feature of state law — even if that state law was crafted long before the huge data centers now being built.

Siting Council Wouldn’t Block Data Centers

Skipping the Industrial Siting Council review shaves as much as a year off construction timelines, as well as hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional regulatory costs.

If critics of data centers believe pushing those projects to the Industrial Siting Council will stop or block the projects, they’ll be disappointed, Rep. Cale Case, R-Lander, told Cowboy State Daily.

“The Industrial Siting Council doesn’t do what people think it (does),” he said. “You don’t have 10 projects and five get through and five don’t. All 10 are going to get through.”

What it will do is force additional accommodations to ensure they are “better neighbors.”

“Our laws are designed to let things happen, but try and minimize the impacts to other people,” Case said. “But there’s nothing that says you can’t do this if they follow the law and make the accommodations.”

One issue with that is that Wyoming’s Industrial Siting Act was created long before there were such massive data centers and is not really set up to handle data centers.

“Remember, data centers started off small. They were innocuous,” he said. "Now it’s suddenly a different animal. So they would undoubtedly meet the economic threshold, but they’re not considered an industrial facility.”

Another shortcoming, Case added, is that the law also doesn’t really have a mechanism for considering cumulative impacts.

“One area where the Industrial Siting law has clearly failed in my mind is the cumulative impacts problem,” he said. “Because it can do its analysis of each project piecemeal and the marginal impacts … are not deal breakers. 

"But yet, in the end, we have things like the wall of wind that people are talking about from Colorado to Converse County.”

Whether there’s any appetite to address such things isn’t yet clear. 

Case said he has not heard much talk about it himself, but expects that if such a measure is on the horizon, it will come up first in the Legislature’s Joint Revenue Committee.

That’s also where measures dealing with eliminating the manufacturing sales tax exemption would also come up.

“We should deal with this manufacturing sales tax exemption as it applies to them,” Case said. “Absolutely, we should deal with it. If they can afford to bring in fuel cells to produce electricity they can afford to pay sales tax on the servers.”

Concerns surfaced repeatedly during Cheyenne’s Monday night session, with opponents arguing the projects should receive broader, statewide scrutiny such as what the Industrial Siting Commission would provide. 

Among these voices was Laramie County Democratic Party Chair Ted Hanlon, who is a candidate for state Senate District 5. 

He told the council he does not believe the city is staffed, structured, or funded enough to act as an industrial regulatory body, which is how he sees the business park exemption functioning.

“I’m not opposed to data centers,” he added. “I’ve been trying to figure out how to get jobs in Cheyenne all my adult life.”

But allowing the exemption for such massive projects is creating a “regulatory blind spot.”

“Effectively, (it’s) allowing mega corporations to bypass the oversight of the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality’s Industrial Siting Council,” he saiid. “Under Wyoming state law, massive industrial projects that exceed specific cost and infrastructure threshold are required to go through the IASC. This is a vital regulatory safeguard that’s been in place since 1975.”

The Siting Council helps ensure the impacts of a project are clear, whether those impacts are socio-economic or environmental, and also ensures there are community benefits agreements in place up front, to protect both local governments and taxpayers. 

“By approving this annexation without a fully realized master plan, you’re abdicating your duty to protect the public,” he said. “You’re giving up all of our leverage. Councilman Wolfe was entirely correct. Push for a dramatic reset and demand a formal community benefits agreement.”

Wolfe had earlier in the process proposed a delay to negotiate a $50 million community benefits agreement with Microsoft ahead of the annexation, a measure that was defeated.

“If these corporations want to create a huge footprint in our backyard, they must play by our rules, provide binding transparency, and directly mitigate the strain they place on our town,” Hanlon said. “Voting yes tonight sets a dangerous precedent that Cheyenne will compromise its own regulatory integrity for the promise of unquantified future tax revenues. 

"I urge you to vote no or postpone this ordinance until a full joint review can be conducted alongside the DEQ Industrial Siting Council.”

In later questioning, Hanlon said he’d work with lawmakers like Rep. Ann Lucas, R-Cheyenne, to remove data centers from the state’s exemption.

Lucas had spoken to the council prior to Hanlon, urging caution in its decision.

“This shouldn’t be instant-coffee decisions,” she said. “The people who choose to build homes there, they chose these homes in the past, deserve confidence that their quality of life has been carefully considered — traffic noise, lighting, future expansion, utility infrastructure, and just overall the cumulative effect of continued industrial growth all deserve thoughtful discussion.”

Rep. Daniel Singh, R-Cheyenne, outright said he opposes the annexation and further questioned the idea that data centers will attract people under the age of 30 to stay in Wyoming.

“When you look at polling of young people under age 30, they’re actually the most vehemently opposed to data centers themselves,” he said. “Over 50% if you look at Gallop polling, over 50% of young people are strongly opposed to data centers. 

"So to sit here and say … that we need to build these data centers so we can provide for the next generation and have the next generation stay in Wyoming and thrive — I would actually venture to say that’s the opposite of what would actually happen.”

A data center in the backyard for that age demographic would more likely be seen as a reason not to stay or move to Cheyenne, he added.

“This is campaign season, as you all know, and I’m not here to advocate for anybody in particular,” he added. “But as I’ve been going door to door, one of the consistent themes I’m hearing from my neighbors is that they came to Cheyenne for a particular atmosphere.”

The new developments run counter to that atmosphere, Singh said, and it’s already prompting some of them to move on, younger and older. 

“Many of them have said they sold their properties and are leaving town,” Singh said. “So the projected intention of gaining a new population, a new workforce, if that’s really what we intend to do, we need to look at the unintended consequences of building these things.” 

Singh also stressed that he’s not necessarily saying large computing centers should be barred. Rather, he wants to see it done more incrementally, with consideration for what the public has to say. 

“I just want to preface that with Article 10, Section Two of the Wyoming Constitution, which says that all powers and franchises of corporations are derived from the people and are granted by their agent the government, for the public good and general welfare,” Singh said. “And the right and duty of the state to control and regulate them for these purposes is hereby declared.”

For many residents who spoke against the Highlands annexation, the fight wasn’t just about processes or zoning categories. 

It was about trust after learning that a contractor working for Meta had 

contaminated the city’s wastewater system

. The incident prompted months of cleanup and compromised the city’s reuse water system, which is used for things like irrigating parks and golf courses. 

“Two months ago, I stood here to speak about the unknown health impacts of data centers here in Cheyenne,” Ward One resident Stacy Leach told the council. “I talked about the possibility of aerosolized bacteria and harsh chemicals entering our water supply. 

"As I shared my concerns, you sat here listening with the knowledge that it had already happened and you said nothing.”

Leach questioned why it took until July 9 to finally disclose that the industrial user had been connected to Meta. 

“You protected Meta,” she said. “You knew in February of this year that a Meta data center had compromised a highly used water system serving parks and golf courses where immunocompromised elderly people golf. 

"With your authorization, Mr. Mayor, the Board of Public Utilities shut down Cheyenne’s reclaimed water system due to concern that this rare,  untreatable, and deadly bacteria could become airborne. And you said nothing. You kept that information from the public.”

Collins told the crowd he had been notified in general terms that an incident had happened earlier in the spring, but that he did not receive full technical details right away and insisted there was no deliberate coverup. 

Board of Public Utilities Engineer Bryce Dorr said a detailed timeline is coming, along with answers to some of the public’s information requests. 

Supporters of the Highlands project focused on the long-term economic stakes.

While Wyoming’s average wages are fourth in the nation on paper at $82,000 per year, take out Teton County and the average drops significantly below the national average, Councilman Dr. Mark Rinne said. 

Councilman Ken Esquibel, meanwhile, talked in terms of watching his two daughters leave the state for better-paying job opportunities.

Stacy Balkin, who lives in Ward 2, said Microsoft data centers gave her a second chance and a new career. She’s watched the company work hard to be a “great neighbor” along the way.

“Since 2019, Microsoft data center investments have generated about $1.6 billion in economic activity, created thousands of local jobs, with more to come," she said. “They are the No. 1 taxpayer in Cheyenne and the No. 2 taxpayer in Laramie County.

“Since 2025 alone, Microsoft data centers have generated approximately $11 million in property tax revenue. That’s $11 million invested in our public services, which includes schools, infrastructure, and public safety.”

Lance Gold, who moved to Cheyenne 13 years ago for a job with Microsoft, said he and his family have grown to love Cheyenne, and said he sees it as a personal responsibility to ensure none of his company’s facilities do anything negative to the community or its environment.

“I have six kids that I brought here, and all six have stayed here,” he added. “My second, she moved away, went to school, and moved back. This has become home for my family of now nine.”

Microsoft, he added, goes above and beyond statutes and EPA requirements. 

“I know a lot of you might not agree with that, but that’s one of the things that I love about Microsoft,” he said. “I care deeply about the environment, about the water we have, and as I work with Microsoft as a build manager for these projects, for these data centers, I take it personally responsible to make sure we don’t pollute water, that our air is clean. 

"I’ve got skin in the game, and I’ve had skin in the game for over 13 years.”

Microsoft data center Cheyenne Business Parkway 2 4 14 26

<title>Why Microsoft Can Skip State Review For 3,500 More Data Center Acres In Cheyenne | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Why can a project as massive as Microsoft’s planned 3,500-acre expansion avoid Wyoming’s Industrial Siting Council while wind farms and other major industrial facilities usually cannot? It’s not a loophole or a data-center-specific workaround. It's state law.

Why Microsoft Can Skip State Review For 3,500 More Data Center Acres In Cheyenne

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily reporter, Dale Killingbeck

Dale Killingbeck

Crime & Courts

Courts

CASPER — A 21-year-old Casper man pleaded not guilty Tuesday to his alleged part in a confrontation that led up to a fatal shooting at south-side apartment last year. 

Jadin Zander Tripplett is accused of being with an armed friend on May 11, 2025, when he pointed a gun at a man in the apartment — who was also his cousin —and pulling the trigger.

Triplett told Casper police the gun didn’t fire because he had forgotten to take his safety off. 

His accomplice, Anicio Bernard, 20, did fire his weapon as did the man in the apartment, leaving Bernard dead and the cousin wounded.

In Natrona County District Court on Tuesday standing beside his defense attorney Dylan Rosalez, Judge Kerri Johnson read Triplett the aggravated assault and battery charge he faces for the May 11, 2025, incident. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"He told her he understood the charge."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Johnson asked him how he would plead."}]

“Not guilty, your honor,” Triplett said.

The judge said she would order the case be put on the court docket for trial.

Rosalez asked that Triplett’s $100,000 cash or surety bond be continued.

Triplett pleaded not guilty in a separate file on July 9 to a charge of conspiracy to commit aggravated assault and battery related to the same May 11 incident. 

That charge and the aggravated assault and battery charge were separated in Casper Circuit Court due to a legal issue during Triplett’s first preliminary hearing on both charges.

The Natrona County District Attorney’s Office has asked to joint the cases again.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"The Background"}]

Charges against Triplett stem from an incident in the early evening of May 11, 2025, when court records state he and Bernard had gone to his cousin’s apartment to retrieve a weapon allegedly stolen from Triplett.

Both men put on masks before entering the apartment and they were accompanied by Triplett’s girlfriend, Neevah Marie Neeman.

A police affidavit states that at least four people were in the apartment when the pair entered the door and Bernard yelled out, “Give me all your shit, give me all your shit.”

Neeman told police that while walking into the apartment building, Bernard had chambered a round in his pistol. 

The affidavit states Bernard had gotten the weapon from Triplett a few weeks earlier. Neeman also said Triplett had a handgun as well.

Once inside, Triplett’s cousin pulled out the weapon he had and the shooting began, according to the affidavit.

A handful of witnesses interviewed by police inside and outside the apartment estimated that seven to 11 shots were exchanged, the affidavit states. 

Police recovered two 9 mm shell casing and 11 10 mm casings.

Triplett’s cousin was hit in the heart and gall bladder causing “extensive damage,” the affidavit states. 

He was transported to Banner Wyoming Medical Center and then sent by life flight to Colorado for further care.

Bernard was also transported to the hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Last Word: ‘Run'"}]

Witnesses told police that Bernard was lying in a pool of blood on the concrete outside the door wearing a ski mask and in possession of a pistol.

Triplett and Neeman both told police following the shooting that Bernard’s last word to them was “run.”

Bernard’s girlfriend, who remained in the car outside the apartment, said prior to going into the building that she and Bernard had taken off their religious necklaces, put them together and said a prayer.

None of the trio called 911, they just took off in the car to gather weapons at Triplett’s residence to give to a friend.

Witnesses interviewed by police described the cousin and shooting victim as someone the apartment renter wanted out of the place. 

Triplett told police that initially he thought that he and Bernard were going to be “pressing” his cousin with their fists, but when he saw Bernard pull out his gun, he continued because he did not want to be labeled a “pussy.”

The affidavit states Triplett admitted pointing his gun at his cousin with a round in the chamber, but when he tried to pull the trigger he had forgotten to release the safety.

“Triplett stated he took this as a sign and left the apartment,” the affidavit states.

The police investigation included a recording sent from a “reliable” and “unnamed source” after the shooting where Triplett and his girlfriend were heard talking about the shooting,” the affidavit says. 

On one recording Triplett is heard stating that “KB (Bernard) had his blick.” 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Blick is a slang term for a weapon."}]

In a second recording, Triplett is heard describing what he would tell police who maybe would find his fingerprints on shell casings or the gun.

“Know what I’m gonna say? This (n***a) was just in my crib, he got two warrants, and he robbed my blick,” the affidavit states was on the recording. 

The affidavit states prior to May 11, Triplett was offering people $500 to get his weapon back from his cousin. 

A police search of Triplett’s cellphone found a message sent to his cousin on May 9 that read, “I’m coming for you cuz.”

Both the aggravated assault and battery and conspiracy to commit aggravated assault and battery carry potential penalties of 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Neeman was charged with accessory after the fact in the case and faces arraignment next month in Natrona County District Court.

Jadin Tripplett 7 14 26

<title>​Casper Man Pleads Not Guilty To Role In Deadly Apartment Shootout | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A 21-year-old Casper man pleaded not guilty Tuesday for his alleged role in a deadly shootout at an apartment complex in May 2025. He’s accused of trying to shoot his cousin over a stolen gun during an armed raid that touched off a gunfight.

​Casper Man Pleads Not Guilty To Role In Deadly Apartment Shootout

Employee kate meadows cropped

Kate Meadows

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's general assignment reporter, Clair McFarland.

Clair McFarland

Executive

Cheyenne’s Board of Public Utilities will not move forward with a press conference this week to discuss details surrounding the contamination of the city's wastewater reuse system by a Meta data center contractor, despite publicly saying last week that it would.

Frank Strong, BOPU’s engineering and water resource division manager, told Cowboy State Daily in a phone call Tuesday that the board is “not able to” do the information event as initially planned. 

[{"type":"text","text":"He said he's unable to discuss why."}]

Instead, BOPU is putting together a list of questions it has received from media and members of the public and is working on drafting concise answers.

“We’ve received a lot of questions, a lot of inquiries,” Strong said, adding that he hopes the document would be publicly released Wednesday or Thursday. 

The public upswell over the contamination has built for weeks after the BOPU made the contamination public months after it happened.

On July 2, the BOPU  announced that Goat Systems LLC, the corporate entity Meta uses during construction of its nearly 800,000-square-foot data center campus, was in "significant noncompliance" with the city's industrial pretreatment regulations after discharging wastewater contaminated with Cupriavidus gilardii bacteria into Cheyenne's municipal reuse water system. 

The board had issued a public notice June 26 that laboratory staff identified the contaminant in a February sampling from Meta’s closed-loop cooling system.

Meta would not comment publicly on the BOPU’s decision, nor would it comment on whether closed-loop cooling systems are safe and reliable for limiting water consumption from its data centers, whether it would publicly share the results of its own water quality tests and whether it plans any sort of community outreach in the wake of the incident.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Hageman And Meta"}]

sent a letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg

, asking pointed questions about the contamination and asking the company to release all information it has about the Cupriavidus gilardii bacterium that had been discharged into the city’s wastewater system.

Hageman's strongly-worded letter had demanded answers of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. 

For example, she asked why the public announcement about the contamination came more than four months after the Meta contractor disrupted the city’s reclaimed wastewater system with the rare bacterial contaminant.

Meta called Hageman’s office within 24 hours, the representative said in a Tuesday phone interview with Cowboy State Daily.

“First of all, I want to commend them. They called us immediately,” said Hageman. 

That first phone call was between Meta personnel and Hageman staffers, she said. She took to X.com to call that first call “productive.” 

Hageman said Meta’s stance was essentially that, “We want to be a good neighbor, be responsive, we recognize this is something that’s been announced (as coming) from our facility and we’re doing the investigation to find out what happened and address it.”

Hageman said she joined a second call with Meta officials Tuesday afternoon in which the tech officials said they are working with the Board of Public Utilities to “figure out what happened here.”

The representative said she sees her approach to this issue less as a federal lawmaker and more as an advocate for Wyoming.

“One of the things I’ve encouraged them, and other people either wanting to come to Wyoming or who are in Wyoming bringing ... different types of businesses expanding our workforce is,  you need to work with the communities where you intend to go,” she said. 

“Talk with city leaders. Have public meetings. Talk about what you intend to do. Make sure you’re doing that public outreach so people can engage with you and understand what it is you intend to do in the state of Wyoming,” Hageman added.

Hageman said she has not been in touch with the BOPU on why it isn’t planning to have a press conference this week and doesn’t have insight there, but believes that the entity should engage with the public also.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Priced Out Of Transparency"}]

Erin Lamb, BOPU’s administrative and public affairs coordinator, has said that the company will pay for all remediation costs associated with the incident.

Exie Brown Jr., a Republican vying for a House District 9 seat in the Wyoming House of Representatives, submitted public records requests to the BOPU regarding the contamination, saying on social media, “These are legitimate questions about public infrastructure, water quality, and public health.”

Cost estimates to retrieve those records are estimated at $500 from the city of Cheyenne and more than $1,300 from the Department of Health, he said.

“These are not trivial amounts for an individual citizen seeking information that directly affects the community,” he said. “While agencies are permitted to recover reasonable costs for processing complex requests, fees of this magnitude on matters involving public health and ratepayer-funded infrastructure create real barriers to transparency.”

Brown expressed skepticism over BOPU’s decision against a press conference, saying it appears the board wants to craft its answers carefully. It also means it won’t be open to follow-up or other questions from those attending the press conference.

“It tells me they don’t want to have to try and answer any potential unexpected questions,” Brown told Cowboy State Daily in a Tuesday text message.

BOPU board member Jeff Fassett told Cowboy State Daily in an email Tuesday that he was checking with senior staff on the status of the agency's answers.

[{"type":"text","text":"“I had expected some replies before now,” Fassett said."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"‘We Did Not Want To Create A Public Panic'"}]

More than four hours into Monday night’s lengthy Cheyenne City Council meeting, Laramie County resident David Knisely confronted Mayor Patrick Collins with a direct question: “Do you all promise to tell us anything that you know, immediately, that might affect us?”

The mayor responded he and the council would do everything they could to be transparent.

“So what happened with respect to contamination at Meta? Why was it five months or six months before we knew anything?”

After a pause, the mayor said, “I honestly don’t know why it took six months.”

[{"type":"text","text":"“When did you know?” Kniseley asked."}]

The mayor responded that he was told “sometime this spring that an incident had happened and that BOP was looking into it.

“And then I think all of us learned the extent of that just a week or so ago,” he added. “But honestly, I did hear that an incident had happened. Not a lot of details, sir.”

Bryce Dorr, an engineer with BOPU, said at the meeting that the board will provide a detailed timeline of what happened, “as well as some answers to some of the questions we have seen.”

[{"type":"text","text":"He reiterated that the issue was never with the city’s drinking water."}]

“We’re trying to get more answers,” he said. “We’re trying to understand further what has happened.”

Dorr addressed Knisely directly, saying that news about the contamination “has kind of been an explosion.

[{"type":"text","text":"“I get why you’re scared,” Dorr said."}]

The holdout of waiting four months before informing the public was because “There was not a risk,” he said. “We did not want to create public panic.”

“If there is not an immediate risk to public health, it’s not something we want to create public panic over,” Dorr said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"‘Do It Immediately'"}]

Dorr said he has taken a pay cut to work for the city, and what he values most about his position is that he has a role in protecting the community.

“And I know that’s what these people are here to do, too,” he said, acknowledging the City Council.

“But there are only certain things that we can control,” he said. “We are doing our best to protect the community and do what’s best for this community.”

Council member Pete Laybourn told Cowboy State Daily on Tuesday the BOPU has a clear responsibility “to detail every element of this and do it immediately. These circumstances certainly seed a narrative of complete distrust.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Laybourn questioned the way the BOPU is handling the situation."}]

“You should not raise expectations of a press conference and then say you’re going to study it some more,” he said. “My guess is there’s a lot of studying that’s been going on for the past five months.”

[{"type":"text","text":"“This couldn’t possibly have come at a worse time,” he added."}]

Despite promising a press conference this week to address the Meta data center contamination of Cheyenne’s wastewater system, the Board of Public Utilities now says it won’t, opting instead to release a statement addressing questions.

Daily Smile: Thursday, May 18, 2023

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