Daily Darwin

[{"type":"text","text":"Always try to re-create things you see on the Internet...."}]

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

<title>Daily Darwin: Sunday, May 5, 2024 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Always try to re-create things you see on the Internet....

Daily Darwin: Sunday, May 5, 2024

 Always try to re-create things you see on the Internet....

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

Renée Jean

Energy

Just last month, Microsoft announced it would triple its data center footprint in Cheyenne by adding 3,200 acres of land for new projects. 

That expansion is already growing, with an additional 420 acres, or an increase of about 13%, just announced.

According to an email from Microsoft and information filed with the city of Cheyenne, the company is adding two areas on top of its previously announced 3,200-acre plan. 

The two areas are on opposite sides of Cheyenne, but one of them, a 385-acre parcel, is near the 3,200-acre site, which is not far from Laramie County Community College.

Microsoft in an email to Cowboy State Daily described the parcel as east of College Drive near Cheyenne Business Parkway. 

On a map shared with Cowboy State Daily by Cheyenne LEADS Executive Director Betsey Hale, the parcel appears along the eastern edge of Laramie Community College. 

The other parcel, roughly 35 acres, is located near the North Range Business Park, where Hale said Microsoft already operates data centers and where utility infrastructure, including a major substation, is already in place. 

New Parcels Tucked Into Existing Industrial Corridors

Cheyenne Mayor Patrick Collins refused to comment on Microsoft’s expansion. Hale, however, told Cowboy State Daily that the 385-acre parcel sits in an area already surrounded by industrial-scale uses, including the Bison Business Park, large solar and oil-and-gas projects, and gravel pits.

“The property is surrounded by a business park and undevelopable ground bluffs which are going into a conservation easement,” she said. “And then the solar field — a huge, huge solar field — and then 5,000 acres of oil and gas.”

The proximity to existing industrial uses on the ground means a data center is one of the best use cases for the property, Hale said. 

“There isn’t any residential use close to the project, other than the small county subdivision,” she said.

That particular neighborhood was notified about the project, and a meeting was held Wednesday night with landowners to discuss it, Hale added. 

The meeting was not required by city regulations, but was held voluntarily by Microsoft under its community-first guidelines.

The new industrial piece at North Range Business Park, meanwhile, folds additional land into the existing data center cluster west of town, near the Walmart Distribution center and Microsoft’s original Cheyenne data center campus. 

That means most of the power and infrastructure needed is already in place there.

Expansion Comes Amid Rising Data Center Debates

The two additions are on top of the 3,200-acre proposal on ranch land east and southeast of Cheyenne, much of which is associated with U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis’ family holdings. 

That 3,200-acre tract has become caught up in a broader community debate about water, industrialization, and how much data center growth Cheyenne should host.

Councilman Larry Wolfe said it’s really no surprise that reaction to data centers in Cheyenne has sharpened. 

“I mean, you can see them from your front porch,” he said. “That’s why I keep telling people, and I said it at the meeting the other night, it’s the difference between having them out in these, where they have been, in the North Range Business Park.”

There, he said, they haven’t felt as big and imposing. 

“Now you don’t have to look very far to go around and see these just enormous construction sites,” Wolfe said. “In fact, you can buy homes where you can sit and watch the Tonka trucks moving the land and keep your kids entertained for the rest of his life, or at least, a couple of years.”

Microsoft Pushing 'Community-First Infrastructure' Message

Microsoft is trying to frame its expansion under a new “Community First Infrastructure” banner, emphasizing responsible growth and partnership with local communities, including a focus on job creation and contributions to the local tax base, according to an email message they sent to Cowboy State Daily.

The company confirmed that the 385-acre parcel is near its proposed 3,200-acre expansion, but declined to answer further questions about the additions. 

It did offer the Cheyenne community an open-house forum with a variety of stations to discuss water use, energy, jobs and community investments.

On its Cheyenne data center expansion update page, Microsoft says data centers are the physical infrastructure for all the technology modern society depends upon for everyday life.

“Whenever you open an app on your phone, join a virtual classroom or meeting, snap and save photos, or play a game online, you are using a data center,” the website continued. “Local businesses, government, hospitals, and schools rely on data centers everyday to deliver goods and services to you. 

"Investing in cloud infrastructure in Wyoming supports long-term digital growth and helps ensure that essential online services remain reliable and accessible.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"A Portal"}]

Hale said Cheyenne is continuing to evolve its public process tools and told Cowboy State Daily she has only recently learned of the city’s “Connect Cheyenne” website portal, which includes a tab that lists all of the city’s incoming development projects.

Those pages reveal upcoming dates for hearings on all of Microsoft’s planned additions, though each application associated with the projects are listed with coded numbers, rather than recognizable project names.

Hale recommended using city council agendas to find the numbers to projects of interest and then using those numbers to find the information pages available for each project. 

Each of the pages includes an email address to whichever planner is handling that particular application.

It’s “the clunkiest,” she acknowledged, and said she only learned of it herself last week.

“Please help people understand,” she said. “And if you want to, put my name in (the article) and say, ‘Please call Betsey, she’ll walk you through this information.’”

Hale said Microsoft also announced new transparency measures in January, something she said was spurred by the Trump administration.

“The president of the United States brought them in and said, ‘You know, we want a new corporate policy (like) community transparency,'” Hale said. “So they will now go into communities incredibly early and begin working with the communities very early and having conversations with them.”

The announcement included a pledge to end all non-disclosure agreements with local governments. 

Between Microsoft’s efforts to engage with the community sooner and the city’s efforts to evolve its transparency, Hale said she hopes the public will begin to feel more in the loop.

“It’s not necessarily that the city council or city staff were trying to hide anything from the public,” Hale said. “But the city has not done a very good job of explaining how long the process takes, how many times the public can comment.”

LEADS, meanwhile, will also be making an effort to help educate people on where to find information about proposed data centers, Hale said.

“I thought both sides of the (moratorium) issue did a fabulous job,” she added. “And I want to thank everyone who participated in it and did so well. They were professional, they were respectful, they stuck to their three minutes. 

"And the City Council was respectful, the mayor ran the meeting well.”

Good information from both sides was also presented, Hale said, and Cheyenne LEADS is already following up on many of the ideas and questions that surfaced.

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<title>Weeks After Unveiling 3,200-Acre Data Center Expansion, Microsoft Adds Another 420 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Just weeks after unveiling a 3,200-acre data center expansion around Cheyenne, Microsoft is adding two more parcels totaling 420 acres. The move comes amid a deepening debate over data centers, growth, and water.

Weeks After Unveiling 3,200-Acre Data Center Expansion, Microsoft Adds Another 420

Kolby fedore

Kolby Fedore

Crime & Courts

Law Enforcement

Body camera and dash camera video released Thursday shows the chaotic end of a high-speed Interstate 80 pursuit that topped 120 mph that authorities say ended with a wanted Wyoming woman getting struck by her own moving vehicle as she bailed out of it.

The Albany County Sheriff's Office reports chase began around 6:25 p.m. Saturday after a sheriff’s sergeant spotted a stolen vehicle traveling eastbound near mile marker 323 on Interstate 80 in Albany County.

Authorities identified the driver as Sarah Grazin, 45, who deputies said was tied to multiple felony warrants out of Sublette County. Law enforcement alerts also reportedly warned officers she had a history of fleeing police, violent behavior and narcotics use.

Investigators said Grazin was also considered a suspect in a recent vehicle burglary and larceny case in Laramie.

In a Facebook post featuring dashcam video of the end of the pursuit, the Albany County Sheriff’s Office plays the 1997 pop hit “Tubthumping” by Chumbawamba at its famous refrain, “I get knocked down, but I get up again” as the woman hits the pavement, then gets up to run from officers.

At first, deputies simply followed the vehicle while waiting for more units to help with a stop, but once officers tried to pull the vehicle over, authorities say Grazin punched it and took off down I-80, at times topping 120 mph.

An Albany County deputy and a Laramie Police Department officer eventually deployed stop sticks, flattening two tires on the fleeing vehicle.

Even then, the chase kept going, hitting speeds over 100 mph with two flat tires.

Albany County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Jeff Beeston said pursuits like Saturday’s are uncommon, but not rare. 

The pursuit finally came apart near mile post 348 just off I-80 in Laramie County when the vehicle crashed.

Then the video shows Grazin trying to get out of the still-moving vehicle moments after the crash. 

Authorities say she ended up getting clipped by her own vehicle while trying to make a run for it. Officers quickly caught her, and reported that she sustained only minor injuries. 

“Don’t flee from the police,” said Beeston when asked what message he hopes people will take away from the video. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Grinding Metal, Flying Sparks"}]

Retired Wyoming law enforcement officer Frank Groth said what happened during the chase — even the vehicle continuing at extreme speeds on ruined tires — is something officers around the country have seen before.

“You see people who are running from the police, and they'll get a tire or two, or sometimes even all four taken out by stop sticks, and they will keep going,” Groth told Cowboy State Daily.

Groth said he has seen pursuit video where tires completely disintegrated and fleeing drivers kept barreling down the road anyway.

“All that's left is the brake on the end of the axle and it's just grinding into the pavement and they're still doing 80, 90, 100 mph,” he said.

Groth said pursuits like this carry major risks for officers and the public, especially the deputies deploying stop sticks on the interstate.

“There have been a number of officers who have been seriously injured and killed deploying stop sticks,” Groth said. “Just getting them out there sometimes puts the officer in a very bad place.”

He added that suspects jumping from moving vehicles is unusual, but far from unheard of.

“It’s not an all-the-time thing, but it certainly has happened that drivers or passengers trying to foot bail get hit by their car, which they leave in gear and it’s still moving,” Groth said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Long List Of Charges"}]

A passenger in the vehicle, identified as Justin Coulston, remained inside the vehicle and complied with commands from law enforcement, according to the Albany County Sheriff’s Office.

Grazin was arrested on numerous alleged offenses, including felony warrants from Sublette County, possession of stolen property, eluding law enforcement, aggravated assault, reckless driving, speeding, controlled substance violations, larceny, vehicle burglary and multiple additional traffic and criminal charges.

[{"type":"text","text":"Coulston was arrested on allegations of meth and marijuana possession."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Authorities said the stolen vehicle was recovered."}]

Grazin had her first appearance in Albany County Circuit Court on Tuesday and is being held on a $12,000 bond, the court confirmed Thursday. A preliminary hearing on her charges has been set for June 2.

Contact Kolby Fedore at kolby@cowboystatedaily.com

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<title>Wyoming Woman Flees Police At 120 MPH, Gets Hit By Her Own Car | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Dashcam video released Thursday shows the wild end to a 120 mph Wyoming I-80 chase where a woman was struck by her own moving car as she bailed out and ran on foot. Even with two flat tires, she was still driving more than 100 mph, officials report.

Wyoming Woman Flees Police At 120 MPH, Gets Hit By Her Own Car

Courts

Nearly two years after the decomposing body of a Cody man was found in a house after a weekend drug bender with a female friend, the woman has turned herself in to authorities.

Brooke Messick said she wanted to “take accountability for my actions” and admitted she had not “felt like a good person” since the man’s death, according to an affidavit of probable cause made available Wednesday in Park County Circuit Court.

The last thing Messick says she remembers hearing before leaving a house after a prolonged drug binge was a guy "snoring loudly," something law enforcement says is a telltale sign of an opiate overdose. 

Now the Cody woman is sitting in the Park County Detention Center charged with involuntary manslaughter and delivery of a controlled substance after investigators say she admitted giving methadone to a man who was later found dead and decomposing in his bed.

Messick, who was charged Wednesday, is being held on a $50,000 cash-only bond. Conditions of her release prohibit her from leaving Park County or using illegal substances.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"'The Deceased Had Begun To Decompose' "}]

By the time investigators were called to the home on 20

 Street in Cody after a resident reported finding a dead man, his corpse had already begun to decompose, says the affidavit, written by Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation Special Agent J.W. Mcloud.

They believe the man may have been dead for about three days before his body was discovered on Aug. 17, 2024, according to the affidavit.

Detectives found meth and drug paraphernalia scattered through the residence and a small amount of meth in the bed next to the body.

Toxicology later delivered the hard answer: The man died from what the death certificate called “mixed illicit drug toxicity” involving methadone and meth.

Investigators say multiple confidential sources identified Messick as one of the last people to see the man alive.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"'lmaaoooo'"}]

One source told investigators Messick had talked about the man “snoring” and worrying he may have overdosed before his body was discovered, the affidavit says.

Another source claimed Messick admitted she had provided methadone around the time of his death and “snuck out” of the residence afterward.

During an October 2024 interview with investigators, Messick allegedly denied giving the man methadone, though she acknowledged spending most of the weekend with him while they used fentanyl and meth together, according to court documents.

Investigators later searched Messick’s phone and reported finding messages they believed showed attempts to sell or distribute controlled substances in Park County, including methadone. 

The affidavit also says investigators found internet searches related to injecting methadone and methadone tablets.

A Snapchat message recovered during the investigation showed a message allegedly sent by Messick to the man at 12:19 p.m. Aug. 14, 2024, after she had left the residence.

“I tried to wake you up and let you know that I had to head out but you wouldn’t wake up lmaaoooo but don’t worry you were snoring and breathing so I didn’t narcan you :)” the message stated, as recorded in the affidavit.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Alarm Bells Went Off"}]

Investigators also reviewed activity from the dead man's cellphone, including alarm logs that showed an 8 a.m. alarm sounding for roughly 15 minutes the morning of Aug. 14  without being shut off. 

Investigators believed he was already incapacitated or dead by that point, wrote Mcloud.

The case took another turn Monday, nearly two years after the man's death, when investigators say Messick voluntarily appeared at the Cody Law Enforcement Center wanting to “turn herself in” regarding the DCI investigation.

She reportedly told investigators she and the man had spent the weekend “off and on getting high together” and that she gave him what she described as a “small dose” of methadone sometime around 10 or 11 p.m. the night before she left.

Messick reportedly said she woke up the next morning around 11 a.m. and found him still snoring heavily.

She told police that before she left the property, she went back in the house in a final attempt to wake the man, but he didn't wake up. 

“I was distraught. I did not know what to do," she told police, according to the affidavit. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"'I Did Not Do What Was Right' "}]

Investigators say Messick also admitted cleaning up drug paraphernalia linked to fentanyl and other opiates before leaving the house.

At various points during the interview, Messick said she believed she had “neglected someone” and that "I did not do what was right.”

[{"type":"text","text":"The interview ended after Messick requested an attorney."}]

If convicted of involuntary manslaughter, Messick could face up to 20 years in prison under Wyoming law. She also faces a felony delivery of a controlled substance charge connected to methadone distribution allegations.

[{"type":"text","text":"Her preliminary hearing is scheduled for June 4 at 10 a.m."}]

Brooke Messick 5 28 26

<title>Cody Woman Turns Self In Nearly 2 Years After Decomposing Man Found In Bed | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Nearly two years after the decomposing body of a Cody man was found in a house after a weekend drug bender with a female friend, the woman turned herself in to authorities this week. She said she wants to “take accountability for my actions."

Cody Woman Turns Self In Nearly 2 Years After Decomposing Man Found In Bed

Government & Politics

Executive

EVANSTON — Uinta County’s Planning and Zoning Commission chamber was packed from wall to wall Wednesday night with residents spilling into the hallway as Prometheus Hyperscale’s massive data center on the Thornock family ranch came up for a key vote.

But when it was time for the public to step up to the microphone, only a handful of people did.

After weeks of questions and skepticism at public forums and on social media, most of the standing-room-only crowd listened quietly as commissioners voted unanimously to recommend zoning and conditional use permit approvals to Uinta County commissioners for the proposed 1.25 gigawatt, 500-acre, off-grid campus.

The quiet was a stark contrast to the tone of an earlier meeting the night before, where hundreds turned out to ask questions, and at times became emotional.

Uinta County resident Keaunna Archuleta, one of those who did step up to speak Wednesday, told Cowboy State Daily she’d filled “five notebooks” with questions about the project that wants to become Evanston’s neighbor.

“In regards to the coolant system, in the event of an emergency, like a leakage, what kind of response plan do we have for that?” she asked in the packed meeting room. 

“As far as what that could look like, you know, severe weather, fires, things like that. I think that’s an important thing to know about,” she said.

Archuleta also wanted to know how much water would be needed to charge the closed-loop cooling system Prometheus founder Trenton Thornock had mentioned during his presentation at the beginning of the meeting. 

“What happens to the coolant?” she asked. “Where does it go? How does that affect the environment?”

And what about the facility’s diesel generators, she wondered. 

“Those are generally the size of a rail-car,” she said. “How many of those are going to be used, and what type of emissions are going to be contaminating our air? I think these are things that affect everyone and need to be considered. Those are my questions, thank you.”

Roddy Martin, meanwhile, who lives in Lyman, wanted to know how much natural gas the turbines would use to produce 1.25 gigawatts of power and Barbara Lowe wanted to know just how many decibels and what frequencies the data center would cause. 

“You mentioned the decibels were low,” she said. “My question is about the frequencies and how it affects our animals and wildlife and people’s livestock.”

Thornock had earlier said the sound levels would be between 60 to 70 decibels at the fence line — about the same as a dishwasher running in the kitchen. 

Another 1,000 feet away, the decibels drop to between 45 and 55, which Thornock said is quieter than a normal conversation, and quieter than his current speaking tone.

Holly Pfeiffer, who lives up in Robertson, wanted to know what makes Prometheus Hyperscale different than all the other data centers being protested around the country. 

“People are having problems with contamination of their water, their soil, their air,” she said. “Others have no water, they ran out of water. 

"How is that any different from what they’re doing, what you guys are doing here? If I could get that answered, that would be fantastic.”

The questions came out rapid fire, in intermittent batches toward the end of each hearing. What stood out just as much was how many people never spoke at all. Most had come simply to listen.

Prometheus Will Be Cleaner, Quieter, Off-Grid

Thornock took notes on each question, and answered them in small batches.

“So regarding the frequencies, there have been a number of studies done,” he said. “Most low frequency comes from natural sources like thunder, waves, earthquakes, and some unnatural sources like concealed nuclear tests. We will study all of the frequencies that are available to us when we do our acoustic study.”

That study will include a baseline before the data center is built. 

“We’ll be happy to share ongoing measurements once we start the facility,” he said.

As far as the coolant response plan, the data center will have catchment basins that are part of its engineering plan from the get-go, he said.

“In the unlikely event there is a spill, it will go into a containment area,” Thornock said. “How much water does it initially use? Well, it’s 75% water and 25% propylene glycol. 

"It will take approximately three Olympic swimming pools worth of fluid to do the initial fill, which lasts six years for each building.”

Even though propylene glycol is nontoxic, coolant will not be discharged, Thornock added. 

“The same supplier who supplies the coolant will be responsible to remove the coolant and dispose of it properly under EPA rules,” he said. “Diesel backup generators are fully scrubbed with the latest scrubbing technology. 

"The emissions are subject to the EPA and the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality, so we will be applying for the appropriate air permits when it’s time.”

The data center Thornock has proposed to build on his family’s ranch land is different, he said, because he has seen the problems the woman mentioned and decided to try and solve them.

“The problem that I saw with the industry when I started is that the industry did not care how much power it consumed,” he said. “It did not care how much water was consumed for the compute. The whole point of starting this company was to provide a new type of infrastructure that was more environmentally responsible.”

The closed-loop system Thornock plans to use alone makes his data center different from 98% of them out there, he said. 

“If you go to Dulles, Washington, on the Washington River, the Umatilla tribe fought for years, filed lawsuits to find out how much water Google was using on a daily basis, because everyone had signed NDAs, including the city officials,” Thornock said. 

“Eventually, that had to be disclosed,” he added. "The Umatilla tribe got their wish, and I supported them in their efforts. So that’s how we’re different.”

Before public questions and comments, Thornock tackled the “sell-out” accusation he’d heard the night before at a three-hour public forum Prometheus Hyperscale hosted at Evanston’s Roundhouse, which drew hundreds.

“I want you all to know this,” Thornock said. “This for me is home still. This land in the community matters to me in a way that goes well beyond business.”

As far as leaving the state goes, the story behind that is short and telling. It’s the same story for a lot of his classmates too, who left Wyoming to find high enough paying jobs to support a family. 

“The day after I graduated from high school, I went to work for a company in Afton called Trio Electric as a welder,” he said. “Trio, at that time, could not find any work in Wyoming, so I moved to Colorado. That’s the end of my story.”

Thornock said he’d rather earn everyone’s trust with facts than ask for approval without facts.

“I didn’t start Prometheus and then come here looking for land,” he said. “I started it after looking at the land with my brother. We have known for a long time, and we saw an opportunity to bring generational wealth to a community that we’re already a part of.”

Thornock first put up slides showing exactly where his project will be. 

“As things have evolved, the section of land that we’re proposing to build a data center campus on has shifted, and we are now in Township 15 North Range 118 West, Section 13,” he said. “It’s right off exit 13 on Interstate 80. Most people blow by that, unless they’re working on the wind farms on the north side of the freeway. We are on the south side.”

The data center would be 500 acres, a size Thornock said would allow the company to maintain a buffer around the data center to help minimize its visibility to neighbors.

“The closest land use to us is the Evanston Silver Eagle refinery, which you can see is the postage stamp to the left of the little BLM section,” he said. “The rest of the land is vacant.”

The initial campus will support more than 1.25 gigawatts of computing capacity, which Thornock said would be developed over five phases. 

“The build footprint, which is the actual buildings, is expected to cover roughly eight to nine football fields worth of space,” he said. “And for perspective, your county planner and GIS specialist asked me to arrange a tour for them of an operating data center that’s more or less like this one. 

"It exists in West Jordan, Utah, and in that case it’s directly across from a single-family subdivision.”

Water use, once the facility is completed, will be around 15 homes’ worth.

“That’s the entire campus, not per building,” he said. “And again, your county planning folks have seen a facility very similar to this one in size, and it uses that amount of water. They can say that because they’re up and running.”

Water will not be drawn from Uinta County’s water supply, Thornock added, nor will waste water be discharged to any local systems. 

“The cooling system is closed loop, which means it circulates internally,” he said. “The only wells on site serve the office buildings and bathrooms for basic domestic use. We understand that water supply is foundational to this county. Our design was built around that reality. 

"From Day One, zero demand on the county and zero discharge. It’s not a footnote, it’s a core design requirement that we gave to our tenant.”

Power, meanwhile, will be generated on site and off-grid. 

“It does not draw from the public grid, because it’s not even connected,” he said. “That means your power bills cannot be affected. The reliability of electricity for homes and businesses in Evanston is not affected. We’re not competing with you for grid capacity. We’re building our own.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Job Promises "}]

Thornock is taking extra care when it comes to hiring locally, he said. 

“I know this is not a technical requirement of the subdivision process or the conditional use permit,” Thornock said. “This is presented to you just for color.”

Thornock has instructed his contractors that any person with a Wyoming license wins when it comes to a “tossup” during the hiring process. 

“This project will create 3,800 temporary construction jobs,” he said. “These folks are not all going to show up at once. There’s going to be a long ramp. It’s going to take a while for us to spool up.”

Once the earthwork is done and the project goes vertical, there will be hundreds of positions for electricians, iron workers, pipe fitters, fiber technicians, HVAC crews, and surveyors.

Uinta County planners voted unanimously Wednesday to recommend permit approvals for a huge 1.25-gigawatt data center. “Officials need to do their research on data centers,” said one of the few people from the standing-room-only crowd to speak out.

Daily Darwin: Sunday, May 5, 2024

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