Weston County audience presses Gray on data centers’ water and tax impact

During a question-and-answer segment at a Weston County campaign event, attendees pressed Secretary of State Chuck Gray on the local and environmental effects of rapidly expanding data centers in Cheyenne and nearby counties.

A resident asked bluntly, "What's with all the data centers? Is that good for the state, bad for the state, good for us, bad for us?" Gray said he is "not a big fan of them," raised concerns about water consumption and energy sourcing, and noted a long-standing sales-tax exemption for data-center construction in Cheyenne that he said should be repealed.

Gray suggested several policy tools to limit harmful local effects: state-level moratoriums, statutory stipulations on water use and energy sourcing, or federal action encouraging off-grid power for major facilities. "I think the feds could do that as well," he said, adding that he would support a state moratorium if lawmakers proposed one.

Audience members raised ancillary concerns — higher local utility bills, light and noise pollution, and reliance on H-1B visas for specialized staffing — and Gray voiced sympathy with water-resource protections for rural communities. He tied water concerns to earlier opposition he described to a proposed wind-to-hydrogen project in Converse and Niobrara counties that he said would have been water intensive.

Gray's remarks framed data-center decisions as largely local permitting issues but left open roles for state and federal policy interventions; he recommended negotiating stricter stipulations in approvals and repealing certain tax exemptions as leverage.