CASPER — Representatives from data center developer Prometheus Hyperscale appeared before Natrona County commissioners Tuesday to outline their plans for a huge 1.25-gigawatt data center on the Falls Ranch property southeast of Casper.
Natrona County Commission Chair Jim Milne said the county was taking information from the company and not offering a public hearing on the project. Even so, the commission chambers were filled with county residents looking to learn more.
Prometheus Hyperscale founder Trenton Thornock told commissioners plans would encompass nearly 640 acres for the data center and another 300 for the power station that would provide its electricity.
“We’re currently envisioning to build everything at this point south of the interstate (I-25) on the Falls Ranch,” Thornock said.
He agreed with a question from Commission Peter Nicolaysen that the project would be entirely on the west side of Big Muddy Creek.
Thornock also declined to share a timeline, saying the “tenant” for the data center is not making a commitment until “they have a clear line of sight on the ability to permit the project.”
If the tenant sees the project likely will not get permitted, Prometheus has sites in Reeves County, Texas, near Pecos, and a site outside of Dallas that would be considered, he said.
During the presentation by Thornock and Eric Schlidt, Prometheus director of Build Wyoming, they outlined key issues they said would be constructed in phases.
Thornock said the company plans to use an industrial siting process that would still allow for the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality, Wyoming Game and Fish, and other state oversight agencies to review and have authority over the plans.
“Local control in my opinion is better than the state siting oversight,” he said. “You, the county commissioners, know your community and their needs better than any state siting council.”
Schlidt emphasized the company is offering jobs that would keep young people from leaving the area. He said the project would provide 3,000 construction jobs, and 150 operations jobs that would be “skilled, well-paying permanent jobs.”
Those jobs would each impact potential creation of six other jobs in the region at hotels, restaurants, retail stores, schools and more in a multiplier effect, he said.
Tax Benefits
The firm also estimates it will pay $100 million to $150 million in one-time sales taxes as part of its construction, $80 million to $115 million in property taxes and provide state coffers $150 million to $225 million in state tax revenue per year.
Schlidt cited a Loudoun County, Virginia, example where its data centers in fiscal year 2024 provided $875 million to the county, $35 million more than the county’s general operations budget.
Nicolaysen pointed out that Loudoun County is now putting a moratorium on new data centers and that Natrona County wants to avoid whatever pitfalls and mistakes were made there.
“I think that might not be an analogy that is best suited for Casper and Natrona County,” he said.
Thornock emphasized that his family goes back “six generations” in Wyoming and he started Prometheus as a “generational investment to a community and state that I and my family have long been part of.”
Thornock told commissioners plans will include on-site power and minimal water use through a closed-loop cooling system that would be 75% water and 25% propylene glycol. No municipal water would be needed and there would be no discharge of water.
The liquid would be changed every five or six years, he said.
“You can think of it as a car radiator but for computers,” he said.
Thornock said the center’s cooling system would require the equivalent of 15 homes usage of water annually.
On-site water wells would serve office buildings and bathrooms, not the data rooms or power facility, he said.
Power would be supplied through on-site natural gas engines and turbines and will not impact the public power grid or local electric rates, Thornock added. He said a line from Black Hills Energy would be the source for natural gas.
“We are converting that Wyoming energy into Wyoming jobs,” he said.
Nicolaysen asked if the company’s commitment to staying off grid and not impacting homeowner electrical bills would also translate to natural gas costs.
“I think most people in this room not only have an electrical bill, but a gas bill, too,” he said. “I think there may be a similar concern that their gas bills don’t go up.”
Thornock declined to commit to keeping all phases of the project off the electrical grid.
He said noise levels would be mitigated by generator placement in the design. A baseline study would be performed to determine noise levels before construction begins.
He said the company’s project in Uinta County has noise levels it has to meet.
Facility Outdoor Lights
Lighting at the facility would be directed down to minimize impact on neighboring properties and the night sky.
During the construction process, a management plan would be created to reduce disruptions. After construction, traffic would be comparable to any small business, he said.
Under questions from commissioners, Thornock said the company is willing to fund an interchange with I-25 to accommodate the project and Hat Six Road would be the secondary road for access.
Commissioner Dallas Laird asked that both men stand and look at the crowd behind them. Laird then asked everyone present who supported the project to raise their hands.
The majority did.
Laird told the men the county could benefit from the finances the project would generate.
“As long as it doesn’t hurt my residents, I’ll be happy about it,” he said. “We’ll find out about all that as we move down the line with our processing of the zoning.”
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
