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

<title>Daily Darwin: Monday, January 29, 2024 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

News you can use: How to remove the emblem from your steering wheel...

Daily Darwin: Monday, January 29, 2024

 News you can use: How to remove the emblem from your steering wheel...

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

Renée Jean

Government & Politics

Most of the Cheyenne Planning Commission members backed parts of Microsoft’s sweeping 3,200-acre southside expansion plans Monday night during a marathon five-hour hearing. 

But only one part of the plan — assigning agricultural zoning to the 3,050-acre Highlands area if it is annexed — will reach the June 8 City Council meeting with a recommendation to approve.

The remaining items — future land-use and zoning map amendments for two parcels in the vicinity of Laramie Community College — failed to get the four “yes” votes required by state law to give the land-use changes a formal thumbs up from the planners.

With two of seven commissioners absent, and the chair voting only in case of a tie, a single “no” was enough to flip majority support for the Highlands-related measures into a recommendation to deny. 

A majority, meanwhile, voted to outright deny changes for the nearby Read Property, which is already inside city limits.

That meant the future land-use map amendment and zoning map amendment for the largest parcel failed — even though three of the five commissioners present voted in favor of them. 

They will thus both head to the council with formal recommendations to deny. 

Plan Fits Long-Range Vision, Utilities Can Keep Up

During deliberation of the measures, city staff framed the changes as consistent with long-range planning for Cheyenne’s economic development. 

The staff emphasized that these areas could be served by city water and sewer and folded into the urban service boundary with appropriate infrastructure, including possible lift stations and extensions.

“The subject property is suitable for industrial development, noting the impacts of the industrial development will be minimal on the large vacant surrounding properties and the proposed amendment is consistent with the goals and policies within Plan Cheyenne,” Cheyenne Planner Connor White said.

 “The transportation network because this wasn’t part of the Urban Service Boundary, there really isn’t a transportation network for this area,” White added. "That would be developed over time.”

The property would eventually connect into Bison Business Park as it develops over time, which would involve subsequent applications that would go before the Planning and Zoning Commission.

Water and sewer lines would have to be extended to the location, which is up for annexation consideration at the June 8 council meeting.

The area’s county zoning already allows some light industrial uses, and there’s already a gravel pit and oil wells in the area, White added.

Commissioner Questions Scale, Impact Of Project

Commissioner Meghan Connor was first to question the project.

“This is about 18% of the city’s current size, nearly one-fifth,” she said. “How in the world can you even begin to understand the impact it’s going to have … when you can’t even fathom the size of this compared to the city? It overtakes the city.”

She wondered how it was concluded that the site is beneficial to the community.

“I’m really failing to understand that,” she said. “How do we know long-term impacts if we don’t even have one going? How can you determine that something one-fifth the size of the current city is going to be an appropriate fit for our community?”

Planning and Zoning Development Director Charles Bloom told Connor that from a long-range planning standpoint a majority of the area in question is already occupied by railroad lines.

“So it may seem artificially inflated,” he said. “There really are only small pieces that are available, excluding a couple of existing industrial parks like Swan Ranch.”

The additions Microsoft has requested, meanwhile, are what the company perceives as a need at this time, Bloom said. 

“Really, anything regarding how or why they’re looking at this large area, what their intent would be, I would just refer that to the applicant,” Bloom said. 

Connor also asked questions about how the city would know if a data center is polluting an aquifer or the air, or making too much noise.

“That’s a great question,” Bloom said. “One of the safeguards here is that this would be a development that will be located within the city limits. So it will be required to connect to city water and sewer.”

Cheyenne has is able to monitor data centers connected to its systems electronically. 

The city is also requiring that the data center not directly connect its closed-loop cooling system to the city’s wastewater treatment system, which means there’s no direct access.

Actual water use by data centers was another topic of discussion. Connor said she’s heard several times the “five households” figure bandied about. 

But she and Commissioner Amy Hernandez, both, said they’d like to know the figure in gallons, as well as how much water, overall, Microsoft is proposing to use on that 3,050-acre or so parcel.

Frank Strong, with the Board of Public Utilities, said it’s difficult to say how much overall water will be used, given that Microsoft itself has not yet developed any detailed plans for the parcel. Microsoft is billing the Highlands parcel as part of a long-range, 10-year-plus commitment to doing business in Cheyenne.

An individual household typically uses 80,000 gallons a year, he said. If one guessed that the 3,200 parcel would one day have 40 data centers — a round number Strong selected for ease of calculation — the overall gallons would be 16 million. 

“Where we are right now, we have a surplus of 2.7 trillion gallons,” Strong said. “So it’s a very small drop in the bucket of what we have.”

The amount of water all of Cheyenne’s existing data centers are now using, meanwhile, doesn’t equal out to the 2 million gallons of water HollyFrontier used to use for refining petroleum products. 

That’s put BOPU actively looking to sell more water, so that the economics continue to support the water system without requiring increased user fees.

“All the data centers that are online right now used about 93 million gallons last year, which is around a little over 2% of our water sales,” Strong said.

Connor also wondered about water use for power generation, questions Strong said he could not answer.

While some power generation methods use significant amounts of water, there are also newer approaches, with closed-loop cooling, that use much less water than power generation of old.

Resident Decries Outdated Maps, Misrepresentation

Residents also pushed back against the developments.

Heather Madrid, who has been circulating a petition that calls for a moratorium on data centers, chastised the city for relying on outdated plans and maps to make sweeping changes, and urged them to “consider the people who live here and have lived here for years over people and developers who do not live here.”

Madrid also questioned bringing the Highlands property into the city with an agricultural zoning, when clearly the intended purpose for the land is not agriculture.

“That seems like a very intentional misrepresentation of the intent,” she said. “And it’s kind of in line with — and worsening — this idea that there is not transparency. And it’s led to panic, quite frankly, and extreme hypervigilance within the public to even be willing to argue for almost two hours over landscaping. 

"This is very concerning to me. This isn’t a little bit of land, and the final intended use is actually not even remotely aligned with the future land-use map, which to my understanding is, again, grossly outdated,” Madrid added. 

“I don’t know why we continue to rely on that map for these massive annexations and projects,” she continued. “Which are, as someone stated earlier, locking the city in and preventing future growth in a diverse way.”

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

Charles Miller, meanwhile, agreed with Madrid’s criticism of outdated maps and called the overall approach to the project a massive “deception.”

“We are debating a 3,000-acre industrial expansion, about 18% of the current size of the city of Cheyenne,” he said. “Yet staff is attempting to characterize this as a minor incremental increase in utility demand. 

"However, the Board of Public Utilities just admitted that this parcel was never on their master plan and requires significant new infrastructure, including a dedicated lift station to even function,” Miller said. "You cannot reconcile the reality of a 3,000-acre industrial footprint with the claim that it will have a minimal impact on Cheyenne’s utility or water future."

The lack of a detailed design for the campus, meanwhile, means the city would be authorizing a zoning change for something that doesn’t yet exist on paper.

“You have no site plan, no traffic mitigation, no finalized utility plan,” Miller said. “To recommend approval of a ghost project of this magnitude is a total abdication of this commission’s fiduciary duty to Plan Cheyenne.”

Miller also questioned whether the annexation was an attempt to escape review of the project by the Wyoming Industrial Siting Council.

“That state-level process is the only mechanism designed to force developers to fund and mitigate impacts on schools housing, and roads,” he said. “By rezoning to Business park, you are knowingly creating a void that strips this community of its right to state-mandated impact mitigation for infrasound liability.”

Infrasound refers to low-frequency sound waves below 20 hz. While that can’t be heard by human ears, Miller said studies are showing it can still have negative impacts for both humans and wildlife.

“Director Bloom admitted on record that the city currently lacks forensic data to evaluate or regulate low frequency infrasound from these facilities,” he said. 

“You’re being asked to recommend a massive industrial expansion for a project known to generate these impacts, while the city openly admits it is still investigating the hazard.”

City, LEADS Have Already Wrestled With Many Of The Questions

Betsey Hale with Cheyenne LEADS told commissioners many of the concerns being raised are things Cheyenne officials have already wrestled with over the last decade or so. 

“You have planning commissioners who have been thoughtful about this for 14 years,” she said. “And that’s why these projects are in business parks, because we have conditions, covenants, and restrictions.”

Putting them in business parks and connecting them to the city’s water and sewer system gives the city more enforcement capability, Hale suggested. 

As far as providing power, that’s accomplished through Black Hills Energy, which conducted a three-year study of transmission and their ability to provide power through a large-load tariff.

“For 14 years, we have done everything we can to protect the citizens of Cheyenne, the residents of Cheyenne, the ratepayers of Cheyenne, the water resources, the sewer capabilities,” Hale said. “I think we should actually celebrate the fact that in Cheyenne, Wyoming, and Laramie County, we’ve kind of done it right.”

Hale added that she appreciates Madrid and other commenters helping the city better understand their concerns so that they can ensure more of the community’s needs are really being met.

Part Of Microsoft’s Long-Range Plan In Cheyenne 

Microsoft’s representative, Rachel Irwing, told the Commission the rezoning is a “critical step in advancing a strategically planned data center campus and are intended to work together to ensure consistency between land use, zoning and long-term planning.”

The property is in the process of being acquired, she added, with a timeframe sometime this summer.

“Given the early stage of this effort, Microsoft has not yet advanced detailed designs for the campus,” Irwing said. “While we may not have all the answers today, regarding a specific design element or timing, we remain committed to being open and transparent with community, as we have been with our other local projects.”

Irwing said the company intends to ensure its projects continue to be consistent with Cheyenne’s “long-term growth vision and land-use planning objectives.”

“This will allow us to move forward in a coordinated way with infrastructure,  utilities, and development standards under city jurisdiction,” she said. “Together, the proposed business park zoning, the future land-use amendment, and the eventual annexation into the city provide a cohesive framework to guide development of the site in a way that aligns with the city’s planning goals.”

The planned infrastructure investments Microsoft will make, meanwhile, will support long-term economic development goals for the region.

“We recognize this is just the first step in a broader, multi-phase process that will include detailed engineering and additional opportunities for public review and input,” Irwing said. “We want to emphasize that Microsoft approaches projects like this with a long-term commitment to the communities where we operate.”

Ultimately, however, all the reassurance didn’t lead to approving recommendations for any of the measures, outside of the recommended agricultural zoning for the large, 3,050-acre Highlands parcel if it’s annexed into the city.

Still, it is the City Council who will make the decision on whether to annex the property and whether to approve the land and zoning use changes. That body has already rejected a moratorium on new data centers, amid rising questions and opposition in the community. 

Councilman Larry Wolfe, who was among councilmen who listened in on the entire session, said that for him, his vote will come down to Microsoft providing better answers for why it wants to annex such a large parcel of land into the city right now, if they don’t have development plans for it looking out 10 years or more.

Without that, “they can’t answer any of the important issues: water, energy, even the number of buildings because everything will have changed from a technology standpoint,” Wolfe told Cowboy State Daily. 

“What is the benefit to the city if we annex now, unless they are going to do some substantial things for the residents?” he asked. “Making (Sen. Cynthia) Lummis a lot richer is not a compelling reason. They failed to persuade the Planning Commission on the zoning changes.” 

Lummis’ family owns the 3,050-acre Highlands parcel that’s part of Microsoft’s future data center expansion plans.

Microsoft meeting 20260601 185712 6 2 26

<title>Cheyenne Planners Recommend Denial For Most Of Microsoft’s Data Center Expansion | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Cheyenne planners are recommending denial of most of the provisions in a huge 3,200-acre Microsoft data center expansion. “This is about 18% of the city’s current size. It overtakes the city,” said one resident during a marathon five-hour hearing Monday.

Cheyenne Planners Recommend Denial For Most Of Microsoft’s Data Center Expansion

Heinz mark

Mark Heinz

Outdoors

Wildlife

A young grizzly called Storm wasn’t prepared for an aggressive sandhill crane when she got too close to the crane’s nesting site.

Drawing itself up to its full height, the crane towered over Storm with its wings spread wide in a display of aggression during their close encounter on Saturday in Yellowstone National Park.

Storm made a couple of pensive moves toward the crane, but the gangly bird was having none of it. Eventually, the baffled grizzly had enough and scrambled away.

Wildlife watcher and photographer Linda Ghent captured video of an encounter that typically would end very badly for the crane.

“What cracked me up was the crane’s little hop at the end. That little victory dance,” she told Cowboy State Daily.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Upcoming Famous Grizzly"}]

Storm belongs to a famous Yellowstone grizzly lineage. She’s the daughter of Snow, one of the park’s most visible bears.

And Snow in turn is the daughter of Raspberry, likely Yellowstone’s most famous grizzly.

 for about a year and is feared by many of her fans to have died.

At age 2 last year, Storm split from Snow, who is now 3 and newly out on her own.

Ghent said that the bear’s youth and inexperience probably played in the crane’s favor during the encounter.

Ghent said she spotted Storm coming down off a slope on Saturday and settled in from a safe distance for what she assumed was going to be a typical grizzly-watching session.

However, the bear apparently got just too close for comfort to the crane’s nesting site, and the bird was all business as it came at Storm.

“They did their little ‘Sugarplum Fairy’ dance," Ghent said, referencing the familiar passage from Tchaikovsky’s holiday classic “The Nutcracker Suite.”

Ghent added that she didn’t see any crane hatchlings, which are called colts.

They’re so named because they have the ability to stand up and run almost immediately after hatching.

Some bird experts told Cowboy State Daily that they weren’t particularly surprised that a sandhill crane stood up to a grizzly.

Nesting cranes are nothing to trifle with, said Chris Helzer, the director of science and stewardship for The Nature Conservancy of Nebraska.

“Based on size, it looks like this was a fairly young bear (in the video), but sandhill cranes are well known for being strong and courageous defenders of their nests against predators of many sizes,” he said.

“The wing spreading and aggressiveness seems in line with other footage I’ve seen,” he added.

While they’ll fiercely defend their nests, cranes and other birds aren’t suicidal about it, Helzer said.

“There are plenty of other birds who show similar fearlessness against predators — small songbirds that mob crows or hawks, for example,” he said. "The size disparity in those cases is much bigger than the crane/bear example.

“The instinct to protect their progeny is strong, though they’ll rarely die in the defense of the nest. If they can’t drive the threat off, they’ll usually abandon the nest and try again,” Helzer added.

Courtney Rudd, a migratory bird and wetland biologist with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, said large birds like cranes are nothing to trifle with.

“The video is exactly how I would expect a sandhill crane to react to a threat at the nest,” she said. "Cranes and trumpeter swans are especially invested in their clutches/broods, and I'd put my money on the crane."

Birdwatcher and crane aficionado Gayle Irwin of Casper said she’s seen cranes stand up to animals many times their size.

“I watched a pair of sandhill cranes attempt to scare off a cow moose outside of West Yellowstone back in the early 1990s,” she said. “It was quite a spectacular thing to see.”

Crane faces down bear 6 2 26

<title>Sandhill Crane Gets Aggressive To Scare Young Yellowstone Grizzly Away From Nest | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A young grizzly called Storm got too close to a sandhill crane’s nest in Yellowstone, but the crane was having none of that and drove Storm off. "I'd put my money on the crane,” said a bird biologist about how protective sandhill cranes can be.

Sandhill Crane Gets Aggressive To Scare Young Yellowstone Grizzly Away From Nest

Kolby fedore

Kolby Fedore

Crime & Courts

Law Enforcement

A Gillette man bought a handgun and a box of ammunition at a sporting goods store there, then drove 11 hours and hundreds of miles across Colorado and, less than 24 hours later, allegedly opened fire on strangers in the Western Slope city of Montrose before taking his own life, the Montrose Police Department reports.

Authorities have identified the man as Eduardo Garcia Barrera, 42, a part-time resident of Gillette, and say they have no motive for why he opened fire on random motorists and a pedestrian, or why he did so in Montrose.

In an incident that unfolded over roughly 35 minutes Saturday morning, Montrose police say Barrera fired at moving vehicles as he entered the western Colorado city.

He then shot a 22-year-old pedestrian before crashing his vehicle at a local burger joint and dying from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, Montrose police report.

According to the Montrose Police Department, officers were first dispatched around 10:16 a.m. after reports that a man driving a green Honda sedan with Wyoming license plates was shooting at vehicles while driving westbound on U.S. Highway 50 into Montrose.

Police say Barrera was driving erratically and approached vehicles from behind before firing shots.

The occupants of the first vehicle reported to police that they were not hit, and investigators found no damage to their vehicle.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"‘Risk To Public Safety Was High'"}]

Over the next several minutes, dispatchers received numerous reports of the Honda weaving through traffic and passing vehicles as it traveled along East Main Street.

At about 10:21 a.m., police say Barrera pulled alongside a 22-year-old man walking in the 200 block of North San Juan Avenue and fired through the passenger-side window of his car, hitting the pedestrian in the lower left side of his body.

He then crashed into a restaurant called Crash Burger, where Barrera was found with a gunshot wound.

Cowboy State Daily reached out to the restaurant manager Tuesday morning, but they said none of the employees saw the shooting take place. 

The pedestrian was taken to a hospital and was reported to be in stable condition, police wrote. 

Having a motorist driving around town shooting at people apparently at random was a very dangerous situation, Montrose Police Chief Blaine Hall 

“The risk to public safety was high from multiple incidents, including the first report, where it was reported there was shooting at vehicles on our highway,” Hall told the Daily Press. “We’re fortunate the suspect hit the (decorative) gas pump instead of going through the building. We could have had potentially more injuries, even fatalities.”

The chief also called out the actions of bystanders who provided medical help to the shot pedestrian until emergency responders could arrive.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Gun Bought The Day Before"}]

Cowboy State Daily spoke with Montrose Police Department spokesman Paul Eller on Monday. Eller confirmed Barrera was a "part-time" resident of Gillette and said the case remains under active investigation.

Eller said investigators have not found evidence that any vehicles were struck by gunfire. He also declined to say whether anyone other than the wounded pedestrian may have been struck during the incident.

He would not discuss whether investigators have identified any significant events in Barrera's life leading up to the shootings. 

Investigators say Barrera bought a 9 mm handgun and a box of ammunition at a sporting goods store in Gillette on May 29, one day before the shootings.

Eller also declined to identify the sporting goods store where the gun was bought.

According to police, Barrera left Gillette that evening and traveled south through Wyoming, then through Colorado Springs and Pueblo before continuing west on Highway 50 toward Montrose.

At about 10:34 a.m., officers were dispatched to a crash at 646 E. Main St., where they found Barrera's Honda resting against a raised concrete platform, a bollard and a decorative gas pump.

Police say Barrera was alone inside the vehicle and dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Montrose investigators said they have found no identifiable ties between Barrera and the city.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Searching For Answers"}]

Police say they are continuing to interview victims and Barrera's family members in an effort to determine what prompted the shootings.

Cowboy State Daily found no criminal cases filed against Barrera in Wyoming's court system dating back to 2000.

Many details about Barrera's background and his reason for traveling to Montrose remain unclear, police say.

Authorities have not released any evidence suggesting the victims were targeted for a specific reason, and police have not announced a motive.

The investigation remains active, and officials say additional information will be released as it becomes available.

Montrose Press Crash Burger Montrose Press 6 2 26

<title>Gillette Man Goes On Shooting Spree In Colorado Town Before Shooting Self | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Police in Montrose, Colorado, say a Gillette resident bought a gun in Wyoming, drove hundreds of miles and unleashed a shooting spree before taking his own life. “The risk to public safety was high,” police say, adding they don't know why he did it.

Gillette Man Goes On Shooting Spree In Colorado Town Before Shooting Self

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

Clair McFarland

Politics

U.S. House candidate Chuck Gray’s recent campaign poll contained subjective attacks, 

images of the poll questions provided to Cowboy State Daily, coupled with an interview,

 that Gray sent a poll by high-profile pollster Fabrizio, Lee & Associates, which worked with President Donald Trump’s campaigns.

The poll showed Gray leading at 21% support, with nine other candidates trailing at 14% and less. There also were 33% who registered as “strong undecided."

The poll also contained a push phase, where recipients received “information” about Gray and two of his opponents, Casper-businessman Reid Rasner and Teton County philanthropist Steve Friess, according to a methodology breakdown included in the poll memo Gray sent Cowboy State Daily.

After the “information” dump, Gray’s percentage points doubled, while Rasner’s and Friess’s sunk.

The “information” comprised bizarre and subjective campaign attacks, a survey recipient told Cowboy State Daily soon after the 

Former state Rep. Ember Oakley, a Republican and former legislator who now lives in Kemmerer, was one of those who took the poll. She sent Cowboy State Daily screenshots she said she took while answering the May 13 survey.

[{"type":"text","text":"'His Family's Wealth'"}]

“Steve Friess is a Jackson Hole elitist who has never held a real job and has lived his entire life off his family’s wealth,” one screenshot says. “The same out-of-touch privilege that leaves him completely disconnected from the struggles of working families in Wyoming.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Friess told Cowboy State Daily prior that he’s worked in finance."}]

He has been active as a philanthropist, and helped form executive order drafts to offer to Trump upon the president’s first inauguration in 2017.

Friess and his wife also founded a Christian school, Jackson Hole Classical Academy, in 2014.

[{"type":"text","text":"Oakley said she found the push poll’s information laughable."}]

“That was straight irony,” she said. “Chuck Gray, as far as I know, and I’ve asked, hasn’t had a career or a real, legitimate job before he got into Wyoming politics."

Gray, who is 36, told Cowboy State Daily prior that he worked in his father’s radio business. He has been in Wyoming politics since at least 2017, when he joined the Wyoming House of Representatives.

“His campaign money and everything, his finances, have been 

,” said Oakley. “To write that Friess is out of touch because he’s lived off his family’s wealth and hasn’t had a real job is, like, describing Chuck.”  

[{"type":"text","text":"Oakley then laughed. "}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Friess’s campaign manager declined to comment Monday."}]

The “information” the poll reportedly dispatched about Rasner contained more objective information, but at least one subjective theory and some loaded framing.

“Reid Rasner married his gay husband in New York, hyphenated his name like a Hollywood celebrity, then divorced him in Wyoming and hit him with a strict gag order — banning his ex-husband from using his name mentioning his job, or even referring to details of their marriage on podcasts or social media,” says one of the screenshots.

While many of those facts are correct, nothing in the court documents that underpin them accuses Rasner of behaving “like a Hollywood celebrity.”

Rasner had married a man in New York, New York in 2012, and the pair divorced in 2020, Wyoming court documents show.

 the pair not to make derogatory comments about one another. After the ex-husband took to his podcast and the Internet to talk about Rasner, the judge ordered the 

 man to show cause, then issued a stipulated order in 2022 containing numerous specific bans.

“Defendant shall never insinuate any facts about plaintiff that would negatively impact his type of employment as a financial planner” or say other, certain salacious things about him, the judge ordered.

Rasner’s campaign spokesman did not respond by publication to a text message request for comment.

[{"type":"text","text":"‘Propaganda’"}]

The poll U.S. House candidate Chuck Gray touted Monday leveled disparaging claims about opponents Reid Rasner and Steve Friess. It claimed Friess "never had a real job" and Rasner acted like a "Hollywood celebrity" during a marriage to "his gay husband."
 

Daily Darwin: Monday, January 29, 2024

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