The energy company working to power a 2.7-gigawatt data center for Google in Cheyenne is donating $105 million to conservation and education efforts in Yellowstone National Park.
Tallgrass government and public affairs representative Steven Davidson confirmed Monday to Cowboy State Daily that the energy company is funding the gift into a new Conservation and Stewardship Fund slated to give permanent support to the park.
“Where we kind of started the conversation, all our commodity lines, all our business is tied in Wyoming,” said Davidson in a phone interview.
He noted that of the company’s 10,000 miles of pipelines nationally, 3,000 are in Wyoming.
“We wanted to try to find a way to be a force for good outside of the city and county lines,” Davidson said, pointing to the company’s earlier philanthropy toward the University of Wyoming and its sports programs.
A Blackstone Infrastructure portfolio company, Tallgrass is headquartered in Kansas, operates primarily out of Colorado, and runs oil and natural gas infrastructure as well as carbon-sequestration operations.
Gov. Mark Gordon voiced gratitude to the company in a Monday phone interview with Cowboy State Daily.
“I think what I loved about (the gift idea) is, Yellowstone needs infrastructure,” said Gordon.
“The research the Yellowstone Forever Foundation does is super important — and what’s particularly valuable for Wyoming is the fact that (the gift has) programmed money for kids all through Wyoming to learn more about Yellowstone, which means learning a lot more about wildlife migration, looking a lot more about how precious Wyoming is. And all of that is good.”
The gift intends $50 million toward research and conservation efforts, $35 million toward a new visitor-education center at Norris Geyser Basin, and $20 million to build a long-term funding corpus dedicated to helping more students and families visit and learn about Yellowstone.
Yellowstone’s announcement of the gift Monday says the National Park Service will retain full authority over park management decisions, and projects supported through the fund will be consistent with applicable laws, policies and park priorities.
“Wyoming has been part of the Tallgrass story from the beginning, and Yellowstone captures something timeless about the spirit of this state,” said Crystal Heter, president and chief executive officer of Tallgrass, in the statement. “We’re proud to do our part to preserve what makes Yellowstone so extraordinary and to strengthen its connection with the next generation.”
Private-Public
Gordon said he suspects not everyone will feel as “copacetic” about private enterprise being involved.
“But the fact of the matter is that private enterprise has always been involved in our parks,” he said.
The governor referenced a President Teddy Roosevelt quote: “Conservation means development as much as it does protection. I recognize the right and duty of this generation to develop and use the natural resources of our land; but I do not recognize the right to waste them, or to rob, by wasteful use, the generations that come after us.”
Meanwhile, In Cheyenne
Tallgrass hasn’t run short of controversy in Wyoming.
Cowboy State Daily this summer reported that the mystery client for which the energy company is working to power a 2.7-gigawatt data center is Google.
Earlier in the year, Secretary of State Chuck Gray raised an opposition effort on the State Board of Land Commissioners against approving an easement for the energy facility’s subsidiary Cheyenne Power Hub.
In June, however, Gray voted in favor of granting a 35-year easement to that same company.
Disputes around data centers have thronged nearly every political campaign in Wyoming this year. Proponents point to their high energy demands as a good feature for energy-rich Wyoming. Opponents cast them as water-hungry encroachments into the state’s agricultural legacy.
The Legislature, meanwhile, has tackled data centers’ and other businesses’ demands for large electrical loads via at least three committees.
The question of whether, and how, independent energy suppliers can feed large operations or join the grid is becoming one of the most pressing and time-consuming questions heading into the 2027 legislative session.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
