A petition that seeks an administrative review of permits granted to Prometheus Hyperscale has been filed with the Uinta County District Court of the Third Judicial Circuit.
The permits at issue cleared the way for Prometheus to build a massive data center located outside of Evanston near the Uinta County border with Utah.
The petition, obtained from the Uinta County Clerk, was filed July 16 by Christy Katzl, Wilhelm Katzl, and Marijke Rossi.
It asks for an administrative review of Uinta County permits issued to Prometheus Hyperscale, and for those permits to be set aside.
The document alleges that representatives of Prometheus Hyperscale and certain county officials engaged in non-disclosed, non-public planning for the data center project and that some had familial ties to Prometheus Hyperscale founder Trenton Thornock.
The document also accuses county officials of failing to properly review the project for strain to the electrical grid, water supplies, noise pollution and wildlife disruption, and said the public was denied transparent and timely public disclosure of the project’s parameters and timelines.
Commissioner Mark Anderson denied all of the allegations in the document, and said the familial relationship he was accused of having is by marriage through a second or third cousin.
“Years ago, when Trenton Thornock came to the commission, I did not even know who he was or if he was tied to the community,” he said. “I do know some Thornocks in the area, but I’m not related to them.”
Anderson didn’t learn of his distant relationship to the Thornock family until opponents mentioned it, but said he doesn’t feel the relationship poses a conflict of interest, and that distant relationships like this through marriage aren’t uncommon.
Anderson denied there were ever any “secret” meetings.
“Every time there’s been a Prometheus representative talking to any member of Uinta County, they have always been on a published work session meeting that is published prior to those meetings happening,” he said. “It’s all public record. There’s never been a closed-door meeting that anybody has been to. We followed our land use plan and every letter of the law.”
Prometheus Responds
A company spokesman for Prometheus Hyperscale said the company has been transparent about what it is doing and that it has no plans to pause its work.“Prometheus Hyperscale has participated in a transparent and public permitting process for our Uinta County project,” the statement said.
“That culminated in 13 safeguards and conditions as a part of the Conditional Use Permit. We will continue to move forward with the community in the same transparent manner as we have with the permitting process.”
Prometheus President Trevor Neilson said the appeal by the group “has no merit.”
The company declined further comment about the matter, including an update on the project’s construction progress.
Growing Opposition
Katzl told Cowboy State Daily she filed the petition to hold Uinta County accountable.
"We decided to file this petition for administrative review because the citizens of Uinta County are completely exhausted by a closed system where a tight, interconnected network of local officials makes monumental decisions behind closed doors," she said in a prepared statement sent to Cowboy State Daily. "We filed this petition because public service is supposed to be about the public. If our elected officials refuse to uphold the Wyoming Open Meetings Act and basic ethical boundaries voluntarily, the citizens will use the court system to force that accountability."
Katzl has made many public comments opposing Prometheus Hyperscale’s data center project leading up to the petition filed on Thursday.
“This is a big issue that should be decided by a majority consensus and public discussion,” Katzl wrote in May on a Facebook poll that asked whether people in Evanston Wyoming Happenings are for or against a data center in Uinta County.
“Are you in favor of having the Prometheus data center built here or not? Right now they cannot because the zoning is wrong for the land where they want to build it. However, a meeting is scheduled for next week to discuss rezoning the land.”
Thursday she posted a message inviting people to come to the Evanston Public Library to sign the petition for administrative review, as well as seeking people concerned about a “massive, 2,500+ bed worker camp (‘man camp’) planned for the 150-acre parcel located immediately adjacent to Bear River State Park.”
“If any of it will affect your life or activities in any way, you are needed,” Katzl wrote. “If you care about protecting our state park, water rights, property values, and community peace, we need your help to keep this fight alive.”
Katzl goes on to explain in her post that the petition is for an administrative appeal, not a trial.
“There are no juries or witness blocks,” she said. “You will not have to stand up in a courtroom. The case is handled almost entirely through written legal paperwork.”
The administrative review will only happen if brought by people directly affected by the decision, Katzl added. That includes nearby landowners or others directly affected by the action.
“By lending your name, you give our community the legal key required to open the courtroom door,” she said. “Without the local landowners (or other affected individuals) listed, the county’s lawyers can get the case thrown out on a minor technicality.”
In a subsequent comment on her post answering a question about timing, Katzl said she had received a number of inquiries from people who want to be involved.
“The landowners who did come to me, no one out there is happy about this,” she said, adding that she planned to start a GoFundMe to assist with filing fees and other expenses associated with the effort.
Wyoming Not Built By Scaredy Cats
Not everyone is happy about the opposition to the data center’s construction.
Eric Wyatt, a resident and business owner in Lyman, is among those speaking up for Prometheus Hyperscale.
Wyatt stressed he’s only speaking for himself, as a citizen, but, as someone who has been involved in local economic development efforts, he’s personally aware of how difficult it is to attract new investments to the area.
In his view, the proposed hyperscale data center near Evanston represents a rare chance to diversify an economy that’s long been tied to the boom-and-bust cycles and shrinking traditional industries.
Wyatt doesn’t dismiss the worries raised by opponents to the data center.
He understands there are questions about land, water, and power use, but he believes that can be mitigated and argues that preserving county heritage doesn’t mean saying “no” to every modern project that comes along.
“Wyoming wasn’t built by people who were scared,” Wyatt said. “It was built by people who took a chance. People who sat there and looked at this area.”
Prometheus has gone through all of the legally required steps, Wyatt added, including some that were not even required, such as the large community forum it sponsored in Evanston to answer hours of questions from the community.
“A lot of people are saying, ‘Well we haven’t heard of this,’ and I have pointed out to people that it’s in the newspaper, it’s on the agendas that the county posts online,” Wyatt added.
“It’s just people don’t go to any of the public meetings that they’re allowed to…and then they say they haven’t heard of anything that’s happened or is going on, and they think that something’s trying to be fast-tracked around them, but it’s not. They just haven’t been aware of what’s going on.”
Not Just A Job
Wyatt has noticed that Prometheus and other contractors involved with the project are making an effort to hire local residents, and that’s something he appreciates.
“It’s not just a job,” Wyatt said. “There’s a family that’s benefitting from that job. It impacts a whole family, whether that family is just a husband and wife or a couple with children. And then that person goes and supports local businesses, because maybe they want a cup of coffee before they go to work. Or maybe they want to go to a movie on the weekend or go out to dinner … That benefits the area.”
The opportunity that data centers present for local jobs in a different sector than energy is something Wyatt believes his community cannot afford to simply pass up.
“I’m on the economic board, and I’m not speaking as a representative of them right now, but we’re constantly trying to find businesses to come to the area,” he said. “And it is a struggle to get businesses to come in. Lyman itself is suffering with decline of business.”
Wyatt has heard the refrain over and over again, “we used to have this, we used to have that.”
“Then when someone comes along, people don’t want it because it might change the fabric of what they’ve become accustomed to,” Wyatt said.
“But I think Target, Prometheus — and I’ve said it in public meetings — this is a way for us to show the rest of the state and the country how to do this the right way.”
Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.
