Nearly a week after Cheyenne's Board of Public Utilities identified the company responsible for contaminating the city's sewer reuse system with a rare bacterium, many of the biggest questions surrounding the incident remain unanswered.
Residents still don't know where industrial wastewater from Meta's massive data center construction project has been hauled since it was disconnected from the city's sewer system, why the public wasn't notified for roughly four months after the contamination was discovered or whether city leaders knew about the problem before it became public.
Conversations have played out on social media about why the public wasn't notified for roughly four months after the contamination was discovered, whether city leaders knew about the problem before it became public and where the contaminated water drained from a city retention pond went.
On Tuesday, the Board of Public Utilities told Cowboy State Daily it would not answer questions about the contamination and instead plans to conduct a press conference "in the next week or so."
Meanwhile, a Cheyenne resident has raised thousands of dollars to fund a public-records request that includes more than 8,000 emails between Mayor Patrick Collins, Cheyenne LEADS and area data centers, including Meta, Microsoft, ViaWest, Skybox and Related Digital.
“Transparency hasn’t been forthcoming,” Heather Madrid told Cowboy State Daily. “It seems like we don’t get any information unless we force the issue.”
Mayor Patrick Collins told Cowboy State Daily on Tuesday that BOPU handled the incident efficiently, given the gravity of the situation.
“While it’s regrettable, I think (BOPU) handled this quickly,” he said, adding there was no danger to the public.
Questions Continue To Mount
Last Thursday, the board announced that Goat Systems LLC, the corporate entity Meta uses during construction of its nearly 800,000-square-foot data center campus, was in "significant noncompliance" with the city's industrial pretreatment regulations after discharging wastewater contaminated with Cupriavidus gilardii into Cheyenne's municipal reuse water system.
The bacterium, which naturally occurs in soil and groundwater, is rarely associated with human illness and primarily poses a risk to people with compromised immune systems.
The lack of additional information has only fueled public concern.
Among the unanswered questions are where Fortis, Meta's general contractor, is now hauling industrial wastewater from the project and what safeguards are in place to ensure it is being disposed of safely.
Collins said he learned Tuesday where the contaminated water from the retention pond went. He told Cowboy State Daily it's a local water-treatment facility.
The mayor said he understands the public concern. He said the delay in the public being informed was because it took the BOPU, the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality and the EPA “a number of months to understand the issue.”
“They didn’t want point fingers until they were positive (of the issue and the industrial user),” he said.
The incident has also prompted questions about oversight within city government.
Because the Board of Public Utilities operates under the city's umbrella, some residents are asking whether Collins and members of the City Council were aware of the contamination months before it was publicly disclosed.
Collins told Cowboy State Daily he was aware of the issue when it occurred.
“They told me they had something going on in the water,” he said. “I appreciate them letting me know.”
Council member Pete Laybourn previously told Cowboy State Daily he had just learned about the issue himself, the day BOPU announced that Goat Systems LLC was the industrial user behind the contamination.
"I'm disappointed I didn't know more before this," he said.
Wastewater Going To Certified Facility
Fortis has not publicly identified where wastewater is now being taken, saying only that it is being hauled to "a certified offsite facility" despite Cowboy State Daily asking for a specific location.
Collins said he also asked Fortis that question.
“The folks who know were not available to tell me,” he said.
He added that the company is required to send it to a certified facility. A data center operator he spoke with assured him that's the case, he said.
"We have been in regular communication with the BOPU throughout this process and take our environmental obligations seriously," Fortis spokeswoman Sarah Hamaker told Cowboy State Daily.
Hamaker said Fortis launched its own investigation after being notified of the positive test for Cupriavidus gilardii, including repeated testing by independent environmental specialists.
"No trace of Cupriavidus gilardii was found," she said.
The Cheyenne project is the seventh data center Fortis has built for Meta.
Cowboy State Daily also asked Meta whether it maintains on-site environmental oversight during construction and whether another corporate entity could later assume responsibility for utility connections. The company referred Cowboy State Daily to its most recent public statement, which answers neither of those questions.
Business filings list Goat Systems LLC as located in Delaware, with Pamela Gregorski as president. Calls and text messages seeking comment were not returned.
Tighter Regulations for Cooling Systems
As a result of the contamination, BOPU now requires industrial companies that use closed-loop cooling systems to build separate collection systems so any water from cooling equipment goes directly into storage tanks provided by the data center developer, rather than the city's sanitary sewer.
“I think they’re going to have to and I think it’s a good policy,” Collins said.
The new policy adds a layer of regulation to closed-loop cooling systems. Data center proponents have heralded them as the answer to the demand for water, as the systems depend on less water than an evaporative cooling system.
However, the regulation will have little effect on Cheyenne data centers in the short term.
“The truth is, we don’t have anyone using a closed-loop system yet,” Collins said.
He said the first data center to use such a system would be Related Digital, later this year.
Resident Raises Money For Public Records
The lack of transparency around Cheyenne’s broader data center buildout prompted Madrid to pursue information herself.
Madrid recently raised roughly $2,800 through a GoFundMe campaign to pay for the public-records request.
The city quoted the public records request at $2,764.
Madrid said she has filed several public-information requests over the years but often abandoned them because of the cost.
The delayed disclosure of the sewer contamination convinced her this request was different.
"That was definitely concerning," she said.
Madrid launched the fundraiser believing other residents also wanted answers. Within about a week, she said, 23 donors had contributed enough money to cover the request, including an anonymous $1,000 donation that pushed the campaign over its goal.
"I was shocked," Madrid said.
She said she hopes the records ultimately reassure residents that proper procedures were followed but worries many documents could be heavily redacted because of nondisclosure agreements.
"Honestly, nothing concerning is what I'm hoping to find," she said. "I think it will be worth it to have that peace of mind."
Collins said he was confident peace of mind is exactly what Madrid will find.
“We have nothing to hide,” he said. “People are caught up in the emotion of this. That’s the way the system works. All my documents are public documents."
Madrid said the issue extends beyond the sewer contamination itself as Cheyenne continues to consider major data center projects and future annexations.
On Monday, Cheyenne’s Public Services Committee advanced the proposed annexation of a 3,500-acre county property into the city, helping clear the way for a Microsoft data center to be built and hook into city utilities.
The property is owned by the family of Wyoming Sen. Cynthia Lummis.
The proposed annexation will go to the City Council on July 13 for a final vote.
"I feel like it's urgent at this point that we have information," Madrid said. "It just seems like it's not stopping."
She added that while she believes most City Council members are trying to do their jobs, "it seems like even they are being left in the dark."
Press Conference Planned
Emails to BOPU members Jeff Fassett and Mary Guthrie were not returned Tuesday.
BOPU’s public-affairs coordinator Erin Lamb said an email to Cowboy State Daily that a press conference for media will be “in the next week or so."
Kate Meadows can be reached at kate@cowboystatedaily.com.
