Daily Smile

[{"type":"text","text":"We're guessing 500....."}]

Smile 4 26 24

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

<title>Daily Smile: Friday, April 26, 2024 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

We're guessing 500.....

Daily Smile: Friday, April 26, 2024

Mac Watson

Daily Video News

It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming for Wednesday, July 15th.  I’m Mac Watson

This newscast is brought to you by the Wyoming State Fair. Wrap up your summer at the Wyoming State Fair, August 11th through the 15th in Douglas!

Rodeo, Demolition Derby, live music, entertainment and fair food await. Learn more at W-Y State Fair dot com. See you at the fair! This ad was paid for by Converse County Tourism.

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Some Teton County county commissioners say putting an employee housing complex on top of a morgue makes sense due to the housing shortage. But Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that the coroner's office is strongly against it. 

“So the coroner Brent Blue of Teton County is saying this. ‘Who would want to live above a morgue in an industrial area?’ Maybe consider temporary housing if you're going to push the issue. County commissioners, conversely, are saying, ‘To get two, maybe more housing units for a million bucks by stacking it on the morgue plans that are already underway – that's amazing for Teton County, which is riddled with dire housing shortages for workforce, including county employees. Why would we not?’”

Chief Deputy Coroner Russell Nelson, who’s running to lead the office, was less subtle, comparing it to being “downwind of the carcass disposal pit at the Transfer Station.”

The U.S. House passed a bill Tuesday to make daylight saving time permanent. But Cowboy State Daily’s Kolby Fedore reports that Rep. Harriet Hageman was one of only 22 Republicans who voted against it, arguing it would put schoolchildren in the dark.

“Wyoming's Representative Harriet Hageman voted against the measure, saying it would rob farmers and ranchers of precious sunlight. HR 139 would make daylight savings permanent if it is passed by the Senate and signed into law by President Donald Trump. The Senate has not yet scheduled to vote on the Sunshine Act. We reached out to Senator Barrasso. He told reporters, we'll see when it gets here.”

The 308-117 vote advances the act to the Senate, which if approved would make daylight saving time permanent. Most Americans would stop changing their clocks twice a year and instead remain on daylight saving time year-round.

The photographer who shot video of the Yellowstone bison attacking the 65-year-old grandpa ran after the animal when he saw it standing over the man. Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi spoke with professional photographer Mike MacLeod who says, "I just started running at the bison, yelling, jumping in the air, trying to be intimidating.”

“He rushed at the bison, trying to make himself as large and loud and intimidating as possible. But he didn't really frame that as heroic or brave. He said that was just what needed to be done, and he acted kind of instinctually. And when McCloud was with McDaniel waiting for Yellowstone EMS to arrive, he gave him a 9.5 out of 10 in terms of the landing after being tossed in the air, and McDaniel said, "Well, if you'd caught me a couple years sooner, I would have stuck it.”

Thankfully, other observers followed MacLeod’s lead, yelling and running toward the bison which was enough to send it running.

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. Cowboy State Daily’s Kate Meadows reports that the company is opting instead to release a statement addressing questions.

“I did talk to City Councilman Pete Laybourne, who expressed disappointment in the decision and said, you know, it's not really fair to lead people on thinking there's going to be this, and then to about face and say no, we're gonna we're gonna do something different. So city council, you know, Pete Laybourne is frustrated. Exie Brown, who's running for a house seat, also expressed disappointment and said, you know, it it sounds like the city is or the board of public utilities is just trying to be careful with their answers and don't necessarily want to be you know blindsided by follow up questions.”

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

I’ll have more news from Cowboy State Daily right after this.

Cowboy State Daily News continues now….

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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? Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean reports that it’s not a loophole or a data-center-specific workaround. It's state law.

“Some of the folks were clearly under the impression that this is a requirement, and that data centers are somehow illegally skipping that. But it's not the case. It's not illegal. and it's not a loophole, quote unquote. The state law created a carve out for projects that are meeting a certain set of standards by being in a certain zoning. And so if the city creates that zone, then data centers can locate there. They are still subject to the same requirements that they would have been subject to, but they don't have to do an additional step.”

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

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The judge in state Rep. Bill Allemand's ongoing DUI case may hit his defense attorney with a contempt charge for missing a hearing. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that the attorney says he “did not intentionally fail to appear” and calls the no-show a scheduling mishap.

“The magistrate Jeremy Kisling is saying to Alaman's attorney Mike Vang, "Hey, you missed a hearing. Get in here and show why I should not hold you in contempt for doing that. Vang said that it was an inadvertent scheduling glitch. The hearing didn't make it on his calendar. He didn't see it at the bottom of the order. In the meantime, Vang and the state's prosecutor Josh Stentis are having kind of a smackdown in the court filings, where Vang is saying that Stensis has deprived him of important evidence, and Stensis has said no. Here's my emails to your secretary.”

Allemand, a Republican from Midwest, Wyoming, was 

 with a DUI, which is a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in jail and $750 in fines. He’s set for trial Sept. 16th.

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. Outdoors Reporter Mark Heinz reports that some advocates said that’s not enough, arguing to suspend hunting wolves altogether.

“There's a wolf 1050F. That's a pretty famous wolf, the oldest known living wolf in Yellowstone. That pack has denned outside the park on the Shoshone National Forest in an area that falls within one of these wolf hunt areas. They expressed their concerns with Game and Fish that if the hunting seasons were designated as proposed, those wolves could potentially be hunted.”

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 season is less than half of last year’s.

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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. Cowboy State Daily’s Greg Johnson reports that the driver, 27-year-old Taron Hunziker-Ford, at one point looked at pursuing officers and shrugged.

“He had apparently had already eluded state state police in Colorado and was driving up by 25, made it all the way to Wheatland. But what's interesting is at one point, while they were in Wheatland, the original officer who was closest to him was the one following this guy. Yeah, he ran out of gas, and he details in there that he ran out of gas the police chief came and picked him up in his car because he was in the pursuit too, and they continued the pursuit. he is only charged in Wyoming with two misdemeanors, one for eluding police and one for reckless driving. However, it seems that he has much bigger troubles in Colorado because the Wheeler Police report that they have warrants for him on multiple felonies out of that state, so we'll see how fast he gets back to Colorado.” 

Hunziker-Ford was arraigned Monday and remains in the Platte County jail on a $3,000 cash bond, according to court records.

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And that’s today’s news. Get your free digital subscription to Wyoming's only statewide newspaper by hitting the Daily Newsletter button on 

 - and you can watch this newscast every day by clicking Subscribe on our 

 channel, or listen to us on your favorite podcast app.  Thanks for watching - I’m Mac Watson, for Cowboy State Daily.

News image 7 15 26

<title>Cowboy State Daily Video Newscast: Wednesday, July 15, 2026 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Wednesday's headlines include:
* Hageman Votes Against Daylight Saving Time
* Jackson Could Put Housing Complex On Morgue
* Microsoft Can Skip State Review For Data Center Land

Cowboy State Daily Video Newscast: Wednesday, July 15, 2026

Coy Knobel

Don Day Weather

Sunny in Wyoming on Wednesday, with a chance of afternoon and evening rain in areas of the west. Heat advisory, fire danger for parts of the east. Highs from the mid 80s to upper 90s. Lows in the 50s and 60s.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":" "}]

 Sunny and hot today with a high near 97 and wind gusts as high as 23 mph. Mostly clear and breezy overnight with a low near 61 and wind gusts as high as 25 mph.

 Sunny today with a high near 95 and cloudy, but gradually becoming partly cloudy overnight with a slight chance of rain before midnight, a low near 61 and wind gusts as high as 20 mph.

 Sunny and hot today with a high near 99 and breezy, gradually becoming mostly clear overnight with a slight chance of rain before 7 p.m., a low near 63 and wind gusts as high as 33 mph.

 Chance of rain after noon, otherwise mostly sunny today with a high near 86 and mostly cloudy overnight with a slight chance of rain before 9 p.m. and a low near 52.

  Increasing clouds today with a high near 94 and mostly cloudy overnight with a slight chance of rain before 7 p.m., a low near 58 and wind gusts as high as 20 mph.

Sunny and breezy today with a high near 86 and wind gusts as high as 24 mph. Partly cloudy and breezy overnight with a low near 58 and wind gusts as high as 36 mph.

 Slight chance of rain after 4 p.m., otherwise mostly sunny and breezy today with a high near 88 and wind gusts as high as 21 mph. Mostly cloudy overnight with a slight chance of rain before midnight, a low near 53 and wind gusts as high as 20 mph.

 Slight chance of rain after 2 p.m., otherwise mostly sunny today with a high near 88 and partly cloudy overnight with a slight chance of rain before midnight and a low near 52.

  Slight chance of rain after 4 p.m., otherwise mostly sunny today with a high near 88 and partly cloudy and breezy overnight with a chance of rain mainly before 9 p.m., a low near 53 and wind gusts as high as 28 mph.

 Chance of rain, increasing clouds and breezy today with a high near 85 and wind gusts as high as 25 mph. Breezy, gradually becoming mostly clear overnight with a chance of, a low near 52 and wind gusts as high as 23 mph.

  Slight chance of rain after noon, otherwise mostly sunny today with a high near 90 and wind gusts as high as 20 mph. Mostly clear overnight with a slight chance of rain before midnight and a low near 53.

Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park

:  Slight chance of rain after noon, otherwise mostly sunny today with a high near 82 and mostly clear overnight with a chance of rain mainly before 8 p.m. and a low near 46.

Slight chance of rain after 5 p.m., otherwise sunny, breezy and hot today with a high near 98 and wind gusts as high as 23 mph. Breezy, gradually becoming mostly clear overnight with a chance of rain mainly before 11 p.m., a low near 63 and wind gusts as high as 26 mph.

:  Chance of rain after noon, increasing clouds today with a high near 89 and wind gusts as high as 22 mph. Gradually clearing overnight with a chance of rain mainly before midnight, a low near 62 and wind gusts as high as 23 mph.

  Slight chance of rain after 4 p.m., otherwise sunny, breezy and hot today with a high near 98 and wind gusts as high as 25 mph. Mostly cloudy and breezy overnight with a chance of rain mainly before 8 p.m., a low near 65 and wind gusts as high as 22 mph.

   Sunny today with a high near 94 and wind gusts as high as 21 mph. Partly cloudy and breezy overnight with a slight chance of rain before 10 p.m., a low near 65 and wind gusts as high as 24 mph.

  Flood watch from noon today until 3 a.m. overnight. Sunny and hot today with a high near 96 and mostly cloudy overnight with a slight chance of rain before midnight and a low near 62.

:  Flood watch from noon today until 3 a.m. overnight. Slight chance of rain after 1 p.m., otherwise sunny and hot today with a high near 94 and mostly cloudy overnight with a slight chance of rain before midnight and a low near 62.

Heat advisory until Thursday night. Sunny today with a high near 98 and wind gusts as high as 20 mph. Partly cloudy overnight with a low near 64 and wind gusts as high as 21 mph.

  Heat advisory until Thursday night. Sunny today with a high near 94 and wind gusts as high as 20 mph. Mostly clear overnight with a low near 69 and wind gusts as high as 20 mph.

:   Sunny today with a high near 92 and wind gusts as high as 17 mph. Mostly clear overnight with a low near 64 and wind gusts as high as 16 mph.

  Heat advisory until midnight tonight. Red flag fire warning until 8 p.m. tonight. Sunny and hot today with a high near 96 and mostly clear overnight with a low near 65.

  Heat advisory until midnight tonight. Red flag fire warning until 8 p.m. tonight. Sunny and hot today with a high near 91 and mostly clear overnight with a low near 61.

  Heat advisory until Thursday night. Sunny today with a high near 95 and wind gusts as high as 20 mph. Mostly clear overnight with a low near 62 and wind gusts as high as 21 mph.

  Heat advisory until midnight tonight. Red flag fire warning until 8 p.m. tonight. Sunny and breezy today with a high near 89 and afternoon wind from 15-20 mph. Mostly clear overnight with a low near 59 and wind gusts as high as 25 mph.

  Sunny and breezy today with a high near 86 and wind from 10-20 mph. Mostly clear and breezy overnight with a low near 54 and wind gusts as high as 30 mph.

   Red flag fire warning until tonight. Sunny and hot today with a high near 91 and mostly clear overnight with a low near 52.

  Sunny and hot today with a high near 91 and mostly clear overnight with a low near 58.

  Sunny today with a high near 89 and mostly clear overnight with a low near 54.

Sunset 7 15 26

<title>Don Day's Wyoming Weather Forecast: Wednesday, July 15, 2026 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Don Day's Wyoming Weather Forecast: Wednesday, July 15, 2026

Kolby fedore

Kolby Fedore

Government & Politics

Politics

Wyoming U.S. House Rep. Harriet Hageman was one of 22 Republicans to vote against making daylight saving time permanent as the House passed the Sunshine Protection Act on Tuesday.

For Wyomingites tired of changing their clocks every spring and fall, the vote was a big step toward ending the twice-yearly ritual that has been a divisive issue in the Cowboy State and across the nation.

The 308-117 vote advances the act to the Senate, which if approved would make daylight saving time permanent.

Most Americans would stop changing their clocks twice a year and instead remain on daylight saving time year-round, although states could choose to observe permanent standard time instead.

Hageman told Cowboy State Daily in a statement that her vote was made with Wyoming in mind.

"The Sunshine Protection Act robs Wyoming farmers and ranchers of precious sunlight and ensures the first hours of a student's day is in darkness,” she said. "The government isn't funded, our elections aren't secure, and Wyoming's legacy industries need help. 

"I will not vote for a time-wasting bill that puts Wyoming in the dark."

If enacted, the legislation would mean later winter sunsets but also later winter sunrises, giving people more daylight in the evening while making mornings darker.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Another Opportunity "}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Wyoming has been preparing for this possibility for years."}]

In 2020, the Wyoming Legislature approved a trigger law authorizing the state to adopt permanent daylight saving time if Congress first changes federal law and neighboring Mountain Time states enact similar laws.

As a result, Tuesday's House vote alone would not change anything for Wyoming.

Even if the bill ultimately becomes law, Wyoming would continue changing its clocks until the conditions outlined in state law are met.

Former state Rep. Dan Laursen, R-Powell, sponsored Wyoming's trigger law and spent years advocating for permanent daylight saving time.

When the U.S. Senate unanimously passed a similar version of the Sunshine Protection Act in 2022, Laursen

he hoped Americans had changed their clocks for the last time that November.

Instead, the proposal stalled in the House before reaching then-President Joe Biden.

[{"type":"text","text":"Now, four years later, Laursen believes Congress has another opportunity."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"\"It's fantastic news,\" he said Tuesday. \"I'm feeling hopeful.\""}]

Laursen said he hopes the Senate can "get something figured out" after unanimously approving a similar bill four years ago.

Asked what message he would send senators, Laursen said, "Let's do it," he said. "Trump wants it. I want it."

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Long-Running Debate"}]

Supporters of the legislation argue ending the twice-yearly clock changes would eliminate an unnecessary disruption while giving Americans more usable daylight after work and school.

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie, R-Kentucky, said permanent daylight saving time would improve traffic safety, strengthen the economy and give people "more time to exercise outside, visit family, attend concerts and sporting events."

"It also means more sunlight at the end of the day so Americans can return safely from work and children can return safely from school," Guthrie said.

[{"type":"text","text":"Not everyone agrees."}]

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine supports ending the twice-yearly clock changes but argues that Congress should instead adopt permanent standard time, saying it better aligns with the body's natural circadian rhythms and promotes healthier sleep.

If daylight saving time became permanent, Wyoming would experience later winter sunrises and later sunsets, leaving many children and commuters traveling before sunrise while extending daylight later into the evening.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Senate Faces Familiar Decision"}]

The legislation now heads to the Senate, which unanimously approved a similar version of the Sunshine Protection Act in 2022 before it stalled in the House.

[{"type":"text","text":"Its prospects this time are uncertain."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Wyoming's congressional delegation is split on the issue."}]

While Hageman voted against the House bill, Sen. Cynthia Lummis has 

backed making daylight saving time permanent, calling the twice-yearly clock changes "an unnecessary disruption" and saying advances in technology have made the original reasons for changing clocks obsolete.

[{"type":"text","text":"Sen. John Barrasso has taken a more cautious position."}]

Last spring he told Cowboy State Daily, "Every time we have to change the clocks, I hear about this issue at home in Wyoming. 

"While it would certainly be easier to not have to change our clocks, there are some real concerns with sending our kids to school in the dark. Congress must thoroughly debate all of the potential impacts before taking any action to change daylight saving time on the national level."

Asked Tuesday about the bill's chances in the Senate, Barrasso 

, "We'll see. You know, we had passed something like that once before, and then the House hit the snooze alarm on it, and we'll see what happens when it gets here."

Even if the Senate approves the bill and Trump signs it into law, Wyoming would not immediately stop changing its clocks. 

The state's trigger law requires not only congressional approval, but also neighboring Mountain Time states to adopt permanent daylight saving time before Wyoming could make the switch.

Cowboy State Daily reached out to Barrasso's office Tuesday for additional comment on the House-passed legislation but did not receive a response before publication.

Hageman clock tower 2 7 14 26

<title>House Passes Permanent Daylight Saving Time Bill, Hageman Votes Against | Cowboy State Daily</title>

The U.S. House passed a bill Tuesday to make daylight saving time permanent, but Rep. Harriet Hageman was one of only 22 Republicans who voted against it, arguing it would put schoolchildren in the dark and take morning sunlight from farmers and ranchers.

House Passes Permanent Daylight Saving Time Bill, Hageman Votes Against

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

Clair McFarland

Putting an employee housing complex on top of a morgue makes sense because of how dire Teton County’s housing shortage is, some commissioners say.

The Teton County Commission voted last week to incorporate employee housing units into the build plan of the new coroner’s facility. That advances, but doesn’t finalize the move, Commissioner Luther Propst told Cowboy State Daily.

Coroner Brent Blue, who’s running against five other Democrats for the party’s nomination in three open Commission seats, spoke against the plan.

“I vehemently opposed it,” Blue said in a Tuesday phone interview with Cowboy State Daily. “Who wants to live in an apartment above a morgue in an industrial area? That’s just a pipe dream.”

Noting that the measure passed, Blue said the complex might work better as a bunkhouse or dorm for summertime or part-time workers who aren’t planning on settling above the morgue.   

The morgue maneuver reflects that “certainly housing is one of our critical problems for employees,” Blue said.

Chief Deputy Coroner Russell Nelson, who’s running to lead the office, was less subtle.

Blue sent Cowboy State Daily a letter that Nelson had sent the local newspaper after the vote in which Nelson referenced his past work for the Arizona State Museum’s Human Identification Laboratory. 

There, he said, he’d encountered undocumented migrants who’d died in the heat while trying to cross the Southern border, many amid a “brisk drug trade.”

“The bodies that came through our laboratory had been beaten with a variety of tools, shot, burned, dismembered or just left out on the desert floor,” wrote Nelson.

He said lab workers used an enzymatic detergent solution to loosen soft tissue for examining bone features, wrote Nelson.

“All this cooking — even under a fume hood — produced a significant aroma of decomposition in the surrounding areas,” the letter says. 

Nelson compared it to being “downwind of the carcass disposal pit at the Transfer Station.”

Nelson referenced “several” process-heavy cases, and “one rather high-profile, complete with paparazzi.”

Travel vlogger Gabby Petito was killed by her boyfriend in Teton County in the summer of 2021. 

Propst presented the motion at last week's commission meeting to include the housing  plans in the new morgue construction. The aye votes sounded, and no nay votes were audible on the 

Propst told Cowboy State Daily in a phone interview Tuesday that the vote was unanimous. 

He also believes Blue softened to the idea of temporary rather than “executive” housing during that meeting.

Blue said that he conceded the temporary housing idea as a compromise “if (they’re) going to force the issue.”

Propst noted, as Deputy County Attorney Keith Gingery did during the meeting, that housing has occupied that neighborhood. Blue had protested, however, that it’s an industrial area.

Commission Vice-Chair Wes Gardner told Cowboy State Daily on Tuesday that he voted for the addition. 

The county’s dire need, the thrift of building housing on an already-planned building, and the potential to mitigate some of the coroner’s concerns factored into his aye vote, he said.

The cost estimate for the potential two housing units is roughly $1 million of the approximately $ 5 million project, the 

Paying $1 million for two housing units is nearly unheard-of in Teton County, said Gardner.

Teton regularly ranks as the nation’s wealthiest county. Wealthy people drive up home values and with them, property taxes and other costs of living.

Many of the local workers commute from other towns, and workforce housing shortage problems have recurred for years. 

County and Jackson city governments have tried over the years to handle those pressures by subsidizing housing, charging mitigation fees of homebuilders, price-capping homes, among other strategies.

“I completely understand and appreciate where the coroner’s coming from,” said Gardner. “I wish I weren’t in a position where I feel the need to put housing on top of the morgue. Unfortunately, I am in that position.”

Gardner said that on the one hand, he’s faced with an “awkward” living situation and the potential for people to feel uncomfortable. 

“On the other hand, I’m looking at the stark reality facing Teton County and our housing shortage,” he said.

The plan is for the employees to pay a low rent to stay in county housing, he said. 

Gardner said the county government is short by fewer than a dozen employees right now — which is “pretty good” for it. But it has around 26 employee units and nearly 340 employees, he said.

Commission Chair Mark Newcomb told the board last Tuesday that “we also thought” that adding the homes to the new morgue could make the project eligible for a special purpose excise tax, which is slated in part for employee housing.

“(That) might give a little boost to helping with the whole project cost,” said Newcomb in the meeting, adding that he recognized the coroner’s concern.

Propst said he agrees with Blue about making it temporary housing. He called the plot “not where someone might want to live for their career,” but a “great opportunity to provide housing.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Newcomb did not return a voicemail request for comment by publication."}]

Brent blue jackson 2 7 14 26

<title>Teton County Is So Desperate For Housing It Wants To Build It On A Morgue | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Some county commissioners say putting an employee housing complex on top of a morgue makes sense due to the housing shortage but the coroner's office is strongly against it. They say the smell is like being “downwind of the carcass disposal pit."

Teton County Is So Desperate For Housing It Wants To Build It On A Morgue

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

Renée Jean

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.

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.”

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.

Daily Smile: Friday, April 26, 2024

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