Daily Darwin

[{"type":"text","text":"You know this is going to have a happy ending..."}]

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

<title>Daily Darwin: Saturday, January 6, 2024 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

You know this is going to have a happy ending...

Daily Darwin: Saturday, January 6, 2024

 You know this is going to have a happy ending...

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

Heinz mark

Mark Heinz

Outdoors

Hunting

An outbreak of canine distemper and other setbacks has left northwest Wyoming’s wolf population at a 20-year low, so the quota for the upcoming wolf hunting seasons is less than half of last year’s.

As of Jan. 1, there were 132 wolves in the wolf management area in northwest Wyoming, state Game and Fish Department biologist Ken Mills told the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission, during the commission’s meeting Tuesday in Sheridan.

The Game and Fish Department’s objective is for 160 wolves in that area, said Mills, a large carnivore biologist and wolf management specialist.

The department recommended setting the wolf mortality quota for the 2026 hunting season at 20, less than half of the 2025 44-wolf quota.

The mortality quota designates the number of wolves that can die, by any cause, before the hunt is shut down. 

If the mortality quota is met before the end date of the hunting season in that area, the hunting season is still shut down, regardless of how many hunters are left holding unfilled tags.

Hunters killed 31 wolves in 2025, falling short of the 44-wolf quota, Mills said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"What About 1090F?"}]

Fans of Yellowstone National Park’s famous Wolf 1090F said her pack is denning in one of the hunt areas.

Some asked the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission to carve out an exception to the proposed 2026 season regulations and suspend hunting in that area.

The commission voted unanimously to accept the wolf hunting seasons as proposed by the Game and Fish Department. Those include a quota of four wolves total in Hunt Areas 1 and 2 (Clarks Fork, North Fork).

Wolf 1090’s pack, the Mollie’s pack, is now denning on the Shoshone National Forest in Hunt Area 1.

The wolf hunt season there is set to run from Sept. 15 to Dec. 31.

In January, Wolf 1090F reached the age of 11 years, 9 months, making her the 

At that time, she surpassed the age of the legendary 907F, who died at roughly 11 years, 8 months old on Christmas Day in 2024 a few days after a fight with members of a rival wolf pack.

Just prior to the commission voting on the wolf seasons, Lisa Robertson of Wyoming Untrapped and Marke Cooke of Wolves of the Rockies called in to the meeting via Zoom to object.

Given the decline in the wolf population, Wyoming Untrapped and other wolf advocates would like to see wolf hunting suspended for two years, Robertson said.

Or, at least hunting should be suspended this year in Hunt Area 1 to protect Wolf 1090F and the rest of the Mollie’s pack, she said.

That would preserve an “internationally-recognized and highly-studied wolf pack,” she said.

Cooke also emphasized that the Mollie’s pack is prized by wolf researchers.

“Once they are gone, decades of irreplaceable knowledge are gone with them,” he told the commission.

Sparing the Mollie’s pack from being hunted could also bolster Wyoming’s image, Cooke said, adding that, "Wyoming is getting pretty beat up lately on some wildlife issues."

There have recently been high-profile cases of alleged wildlife abuse in Wyoming. 

Those include Daniel resident Cody Roberts capturing, tormenting and killing a wolf in February 2024. Also, a Unita County rancher allegedly videotaping two others 

Commissioner John Masterson noted that the Mollie’s pack is popular and frequently watched and photographed.

“From a pure management, scientific standpoint, is there anything substantially unique about that pack?” he asked the commission.

Mills responded that from the department’s perspective, “a breeding pair is a breeding pair, a pack is a pack” in terms of monitoring and managing wolves.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Numbers Down"}]

Wolves in Wyoming fall under three classifications, depending upon where they are in the state.

Inside Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks, they remain protected and may not be hunted.

In areas immediately adjacent to the park — in the Game and Fish wolf management zone — they may be shot by licensed hunters only during set seasons and within mortality quota limits.

Outside of the management zone, which is about 85% of Wyoming, wolves are classified as a predatory animal and may be killed at any time, with no limits or hunting tag required.

According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Wyoming is “committed” to maintain a population of 100 wolves, including 10 breeding pairs, inside the management zone, Mills said.

A breeding pair is male and female wolf that successfully raise at least two pups through the end of December.

Game and Fish wolf objectives include a “buffer” above the federal commitment, Mills said.

The department’s objective is for 160 wolves and 13 or 14 breeding pairs inside the wolf management zone, he said.

At the beginning of the year, there were 132 wolves in 22 packs, including 10 breeding pairs, Mills said.

The decline in wolf numbers might be largely due to an outbreak of canine distemper, which started in the fall of 2025 and has been especially hard on wolf pups, Mills said.

Wolf populations tend to recover quickly, he added.

For the wolf population stabilize at 160 by the end of 2026, as many as 63 could die of all causes, he said.

Of those, 35 could be “human-caused” wolf deaths by year’s end, Mills said.

Allowing for 15 wolves to be killed for such things as attacking livestock, that leaves a hunters’ quota of 20 across the entire wolf management zone, he said.

Howling wolves 7 14 26

<title>Wyoming Game And Fish Commission Cuts Wolf Hunt Quotas By More Than Half | Cowboy State Daily</title>

With northwest Wyoming’s wolf population at a 20-year low, the state Game and Fish Commission on Tuesday cut the wolf hunt limits by more than half. Some advocates said that’s not enough, arguing to suspend hunting wolves altogether.

Wyoming Game And Fish Commission Cuts Wolf Hunt Quotas By More Than Half

Kolby fedore

Kolby Fedore

Crime & Courts

Courts

A summer camp drive through Cody took a disturbing turn when, investigators say, a group of children allegedly found themselves looking out the windows of their van at a man driving alongside them without pants and pleasuring himself while making eye contact with those in the van.

Court records show that rather than let him disappear into traffic, two camp counselors followed the vehicle through Cody, photographed its license plate and called law enforcement.

Cody police officers say they quickly realized the registered owner was someone they already knew.

Andrew Crawford, a Cody resident born in 1988 and a registered sex offender, has been charged with felony indecent liberties with a minor and several public indecency misdemeanors spanning multiple years. 

who was convicted of public indecency in April 2023 after he repeatedly exposed himself to female baristas at Cody coffee kiosks during the fall of 2022.

Those incidents continued for weeks before one barista responded by dumping scalding 170-degree water into Crawford's lap after he exposed himself. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"6 Juveniles "}]

Park County dispatch got the report about Crawford's more recent allegations at about 4:34 p.m. on Friday, court records show.

One of the camp counselors told investigators that he and another counselor were traveling through Cody with six juveniles when a blue Chevrolet Impala pulled alongside their van.

The counselor reported that the driver had removed his pants and was masturbating while looking through the van's windows. He told deputies all six campers and both counselors witnessed the alleged conduct.

Dispatch identified the vehicle as being registered to Crawford, whom the investigating officer wrote he recognized from prior law enforcement contacts involving similar allegations.

Court records show he was accused of exposing himself to two girls and their mother in a Cody Walmart parking lot in 2011 — this while under investigation for allegedly possessing child pornography while serving in the U.S. Air Force in 2009. 

He was sentenced in 2012 to 72 months in federal prison followed by a lifetime of supervised release.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Witnesses Identified Crawford"}]

Investigators presented the counselors with a six-photo lineup, according to an affidavit of probable cause filed in the case.

Before the officer had finished explaining the identification process, a counselor said he already knew who the suspect was and immediately identified Crawford's photograph. 

He told investigators he recognized him by his bald head, facial hair and face shape, saying the only difference was that the driver had been wearing glasses.

The other counselor also identified Crawford as the man he said he made eye contact with during the incident, says the affidavit.

The following morning, investigators reviewed the counselors' written statements. 

"Both witness statements corroborate the emotional distress and shock of the juvenile campers after they all witnessed the same exposed genitalia and masturbating motions with his hand on his penis," says the affidavit. 

Investigators also confirmed with camp's operations director that the van's windows were not tinted and that passengers inside were clearly visible from outside.

Because Crawford has prior military and Wyoming convictions involving public indecency and sex offender registration violations, the investigating officer asked prosecutors to expedite an arrest warrant, he wrote. 

[{"type":"text","text":"Deputies arrested Crawford later that afternoon without incident."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Court Proceedings"}]

Crawford made his initial appearance in Park County Circuit Court on Monday, where a judge set his bond at $100,000 cash only.

[{"type":"text","text":"If released, Crawford must remain in Park County as a condition of bond."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"A preliminary hearing is scheduled for July 22 in Cody."}]

Andrew Crawford Cody sign 7 14 26

<title>Repeat Cody Sex Offender Accused Of Pleasuring Himself Next To Van Of Camp Kids | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A registered Cody sex offender is accused of exposing and masturbating alongside a van of camp kids while making direct eye contact with those in the van. He’s the same man convicted in 2023 for repeatedly exposing himself to female coffee baristas.

Repeat Cody Sex Offender Accused Of Pleasuring Himself Next To Van Of Camp Kids

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's managing editor, Greg Johnson.

Greg Johnson

Despite a Wheatland police officer running out of gas during a harrowing chase of up to 112 mph through two towns, the driver of a white BMW failed his second attempt to elude law enforcement.

Taron Hunziker-Ford, 27, had already eluded Colorado State Troopers prior to driving north on Interstate 25 to Wheatland on Sunday, Wheatland Police Department Officer Jesse Walton says in an affidavit filed Monday in Platte County Circuit Court.

Walton wrote that Wyoming officials had been alerted to watch out for Hunziker-Ford, who was wanted on “multiple felony warrants out of Colorado.”

When he saw the white BMW with no back bumper and a temporary Colorado registration tag driving north on I-25 at about 7:09 p.m. Sunday “traveling at excessive rates of speed,” Walton says in his affidavit the pursuit was on.

At one point, Hunziker-Ford attempted to get off the interstate at exit 87, “but the exit is too sharp and his speeds were too fast,” the affidavit says. “He pulled out of the turn and continued northbound.”

By that time, Walton wrote that he was driving more than 100 mph and having trouble keeping up with the BMW.

When Hunziker-Ford got to highway 26, he took it east toward Guernsey, and Walton followed, the affidavit says.

[{"type":"text","text":"From there, the BMW led police on a dangerous 26-mile ride to Guernsey."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Ran Out Of Gas"}]

“I could see the vehicle still ahead of me and what appeared to be passing other vehicles on the right shoulder — and my speed was at 111 mph shortly there (when) the BMW turned southbound on Highway 320 and continued back south toward Wheatland,” Walton wrote.

While topping 112 mph, the officer reports that he was having a hard time trying to catch this vehicle.

In the meantime, the BMW also failed to stop for other law enforcement in pursuit and set up in its path, the affidavit says.

When Hunziker-Ford got back into Wheatland, Walton hit another obstacle in the chase.

“At about this time I reached Oak Street and my vehicle ran out of fuel and I lost site (sic) of the vehicle,” he wrote.

Walton was not out of the chase for long, as Wheatland Police Chief Bradley Otte picked him up and they continued after the BMW, as was a Wyoming Highway Patrol trooper and Guernsey police.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"‘Gave Us A Shoulder Shrug’"}]

With the BMW ahead of Walton and the police chief, and other officers in front of the fleeing vehicle, “we tried to attempt to make a stop on him,” the affidavit says.

That’s when Hunziker-Ford “stopped at the stop sign there at 317 and looked at us, gave us a shoulder shrug, and continued eastbound,” Walton wrote.

By then, the end was near for Hunziker-Ford because Guernsey police officers had set up spike strips in his path ahead, which he ran over.

“(The chief) and I continued to follow the vehicle for another 3 to 4 miles when he finally was unable to keep the vehicle on the road and he drove it off the south side of 27 into the ditch, through the fence, spun out about 75 yards into the field,” the affidavit says.

Law enforcement was right behind and approached the BMW with their weapons drawn, but “the driver did not respond to any commands,” the affidavit says.

Hunziker-Ford appeared incoherent and was unresponsive, so was pulled from the BMW and handcuffed.

After being evaluated at a hospital in Torrington, Hunziker-Ford was booked into the Platte County Jail on suspicion of fleeing or attempting to elude police and reckless driving.

Both are misdemeanor charges, punishable by up to six months in jail and fines of up to $750.

Despite a Wheatland police officer running out of gas during a chase of up to 112 mph through two towns Sunday, the driver of a white BMW failed to elude law enforcement. The driver also at one point looked at pursuing officers and shrugged.

Daily Darwin: Saturday, January 6, 2024

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