After data center developer Prometheus Hyperscale abruptly dropped its project last week in Natrona County, the ranch where it was to be built says the plan is still on.
"This recent shift will expedite and elevate this project for Natrona County, and we couldn't be more excited about it,” Robert Hand, a representative for Falls Ranch, said in a Wednesday statement.
The Prometheus proposal drew fierce pushback from neighbors after it was announced in October 2025. At a June county commission meeting, residents called the project, and the man camp slated to come with it, a “travesty” and a “sin.”
Russell Gordy, the Texas billionaire who owns Falls Ranch, once objected to an energy project in the area himself.
In 2009, he went to the state with a proposed land swap to keep wind turbines out of the same hills where his ranch is now promising to push forward with a data center.
‘Not Have Windmills’
Back in 2009, long before data centers entered the conversation, Gordy’s strategy for the Muddy Mountain and Hat Six Road corridor was already sparking fierce public friction.
As the Casper Star-Tribune reported in 2010, Gordy proposed trading more than 16,000 acres of his own land for more than 14,000 acres of state trust land, one of the largest private-public land swaps in recent state history.
The deal would have let him consolidate his ranch from Muddy Mountain north to Hat Six Road.
Local hunters and landowners watched the unfolding land deals with unease, warning that Gordy’s growing footprint signaled an intent to lock down the mountain as an exclusive hunting escape.
Gordy told the Casper Star-Tribune at the time that his motivation was to block a commercial wind-energy proposal that threatened to industrialize the backcountry and drive away elk.
“That was the whole purpose of the trade, to not have windmills on the mountain,” Gordy told the Star-Tribune. “Here I was, trying to help Wyoming.”
Both projects ultimately unraveled.
The wind developer withdrew its lease application after grazing-lease holders pushed back, and Gordy pulled his massive land-swap proposal amid outcry from hunters.
Natrona County Commissioner Jim North told Cowboy State Daily that Gordy’s pivot from blocking wind turbines to pushing a massive data center in the same area has raised eyebrows locally.
“That creates a little bit of consternation for a few people,” North said.
Stacie McDonald, vice president of strategic communications for Harry Marketing, the PR firm representing Falls Ranch, did not respond to questions regarding the property's shift in stance on local energy development by publication time.
‘Karma Is What Karma Is’
It was not the first time Gordy has been on the other side of a wind project.
According to Montana court filings, ranch entities associated with Gordy were among the wealthy neighbors who sued in 2018 to stop Crazy Mountain Wind, a project two ranchers near Big Timber spent roughly two decades developing.
Gordy and the other plaintiffs argued the wind farm would bring noise, health hazards, lower property values and spoiled views. Natrona County residents have raised some of the same concerns about the data center.
The wind farm was never built, after a preliminary injunction jeopardized the developer’s ability to secure financing. Subsequent litigation continued, with some parties reaching settlements.
Natrona County Commission Vice Chairman Casey Coates told Cowboy State Daily he knows about Gordy’s role in the Montana wind case, but said it will not factor into how the commission views the project.
Ultimately, he said, the commission’s role is to consider the health, safety and wellness impact of any given project against the rights of the property owner to develop their land.
As far as Gordy’s history, Coates said that falls to the court of public opinion.
“Karma is what karma is,” Coates said. “If somebody puts up the fight that he put up in Montana, that’s something that he’s going to have to reckon with.”
‘Cart Before the Horse’
Falls Ranch has not publicly named a new developer, but McDonald told Cowboy State Daily that one is in place.
For Coates, that claim will mean something once there is a formal application. Prometheus never filed one, and the new developer hasn’t either.
“When we actually see an application, we have something to actually look at and can dig into the impacts,” Coates said. “Then it’s real it’s something for us to consider instead of just talk about.”
Coates said the Prometheus saga of a major developer making splashy announcements only to walk away is becoming a familiar pattern in Natrona County.
He pointed to Radiant, a California nuclear company that said in March 2025 that Bar Nunn was its top choice for a microreactor factory and that it had a letter of intent to buy 130 acres in Natrona County.
Radiant scrapped its plans last October and chose Tennessee instead, citing Wyoming’s ban on storing used fuel.
“I think there’s kind of a cart before the horse scenario that goes on a lot here in Natrona County,” Coates said.
For Coates, a serious project starts with an application, a land purchase and a rezoning request, not a vague announcement about potential plans that might never materialize.
“The people who have come here soliciting to maybe be partners come and they get the community riled up saying ‘We’re going to do X-Y-Z,’ but they never actually do it,” Coates said. “All it ever did was give the public a chance to be outraged about something that never happened.”
After two big announcements that ended in withdrawals, Coates said he has heard others suggest companies such as Radiant and Prometheus are just using the county for free publicity, though he doubts that is true.
Still, he said the pattern might point to a strategy of trial and error.
“It just doesn’t ever seem real,” Coates said. “It just really seems like they’re going to put the feelers out to see if this is something that they’re going to find any resistance to, and if they find the slightest bit of resistance they’re going to pull out.”
Falls Ranch says the next step is coming soon. Coates and North said commissioners will start paying attention once there is a real application in front of them.
Emma Jane Jackson can be reached at emma@cowboystatedaily.com.
