A potential small data center is taking shape in eastern Fremont County near the Lost Cabin Gas Plant, and local officials say they don't know much about it. The development could prompt new conversations about how the county should regulate data centers in its unincorporated areas.
Fremont is one of only a handful of Wyoming counties without countywide zoning outside municipal boundaries. That means no county zoning regulations specifically governing data centers in much of the county are in place.
County officials say they have limited information about the project.
“We had heard rumor that they were going to (build a data center),” Fremont County Commissioner Michael Jones told Cowboy State Daily on Wednesday.
Jones said he first heard about the project from County Commission Chairman Larry Allen, who lives near the unincorporated community of Lysite, a dot on the map nearest to Lost Cabin. Allen is familiar with activity in the area.
Allen asked County Planning Director Steve Baumann about the project during last week’s County Commission meeting, although the matter was not on the meeting agenda.
Neither Allen nor Baumann returned Cowboy State Daily calls Wednesday before publication.
Calls to the Lost Cabin Natural Gas Plant were also not returned.
Eight Natural Gas Generators
The Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality’s Air Quality Division is proposing to approve a request from ETC DC OpCo LLC to install eight natural gas-fired emergency generator engines at a site roughly 3 miles northeast of Lysite, according to a DEQ public notice reviewed by Cowboy State Daily.
The Air Quality Division is accepting public comments on the proposed approval through Sept. 14.
ETC DC OpCo LLC is associated with Related Digital, the data center development and investment platform launched by New York-based Related Companies. Related Digital has identified Wyoming as part of its broader data center development pipeline and is behind a $1.2 billion data center campus being built in Cheyenne.
The Lysite project appears to be considerably smaller.
Jones said he does not know the specifics, although Allen said at last week’s commission meeting the facility would use natural gas for fuel and operate on a closed-loop system.
“I’m still somewhat surprised that they’re moving ahead with this,” Jones told Cowboy State Daily. “If you would have asked me a year ago I would have been surprised that anyone would be looking locally for that.”
Baumann said at the commission meeting he was aware of a small data center coming to the area because the developer requested a rural address.
“There certainly is potential for there to be some sort of data center activity,” Baumann said.
Few Local Regulations
The project is emerging in a county where traditional land-use zoning is intentionally limited.
Fremont County does not have a countywide zoning ordinance or building code covering its unincorporated areas. Certain specialized regulations do apply in specific locations.
As a result, Baumann said data centers are “essentially an allowable activity within the county.”
That lack of zoning is not an accident.
“Our culture in Fremont County is somewhat anti-zoning,” Jones said. “Our values have been like, ‘Keep your laws off me.’ We’re very careful about things like that.”
Fremont County historically has taken a relatively hands-off approach to development and relied on state regulations in areas where county officials believe additional rules are needed.
The county has adopted regulations for wind and solar development, for example, but Baumann said those rules largely piggyback on existing state requirements, including provisions concerning setbacks from residences and reclamation.
The county could develop regulations for data centers if commissioners decide they are warranted, Baumann said. But no such effort is underway.
Jones said he does not expect the county to suddenly impose comprehensive zoning.
Instead, commissioners could consider targeted requirements for issues such as site remediation or other concerns specific to data centers.
“We have a little homework to do here,” Jones said. “It’s a new area for us.”
Internet Access Could Limit Growth
Even without zoning restrictions, Baumann said there are practical limitations on where data centers could be located.
“There are very few places in the county where a data center makes sense because we don’t have a tremendous amount of large, fast Internet connectability,” he told commissioners.
Areas with access to major transmission or communications infrastructure could be more attractive for development, he said.
That could mean the Lysite project is either an isolated development or an early sign of more interest in the region.
For now, county officials do not know which.
“There seems to be an awful lot of uncertainty, not only in the county but in the state,” Baumann said.
DEQ Could See More Permits
The DEQ is already involved through the proposed air-quality approval for the eight natural gas-fired generators.
Jillian Scott, a DEQ spokesperson, said depending on the project’s scope and how it develops, additional permits could be required.
For example, a project that discharges water would need to submit a permit application to the DEQ Water Quality Division.
“Sometimes these projects will come in for information conversations to find out what kinds of permits they may need,” Scott said.
Large industrial projects also can be subject to Wyoming’s Industrial Siting Act, which provides a state-level review independent of local zoning. The Lysite project does not appear to meet the threshold for that level of review based on available information.
A New Question For Fremont County
The data center’s arrival comes as Wyoming communities grapple with how to respond to a rapidly expanding demand driven by artificial intelligence and cloud computing.
Related Digital describes data centers as a major growth sector and has a multibillion-dollar development pipeline across North America.
Fremont County Commissioner Ron Fabrizius said data centers, like other forms of development, can bring both benefits and concerns.
“Like anything, you could take electricity, and if you use it improperly it’s a bad thing but if you use it properly, it’s a very good thing,” Fabrizius said.
Allen also raised questions about the potential impact of data centers on communities during a May discussion with Wyoming Business Council officials about economic development.
For Fremont County, however, the question might be more basic: What happens when a new type of industrial development arrives in a county that has intentionally chosen not to regulate most development through zoning?
“My guess is that a lot of small communities that are facing this are going to have to put some rules and regulations together,” Jones said.
Kate Meadows can be reached at kate@cowboystatedaily.com.
