# Uinta County OKs Huge Data Center, Some Fear They'll Get Left 'Holding The Bag' > Source: > Published: 2026-06-17 17:18:52+00:00 It’s a tug-of-war between hope and skepticism in Wyoming when it comes to massive data centers, and that was on full display at the Uinta County Commission meeting in Lyman on Tuesday. Commissioners met to consider the conditional-use permit for the 1.25-gigawatt Prometheus Hyperscale data center on 506.2 acres owned by the Thornocks,[ a sixth-generation ranching family](https://cowboystatedaily.com/2025/04/09/member-of-legacy-ranch-family-plans-huge-1-gigawatt-ai-data-center-near-evanston/) near the Utah border. In a packed meeting house, public comments ran roughly 50-50 for and against the project, as commissioners worked through a long agenda that ranged from mosquito control to scholarships. They saved the data center discussion for last, ultimately following the[ Planning and Zoning Committee’s recommendation](https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/05/28/uinta-county-planners-give-unanimous-ok-to-1-25-gigawatt-prometheus-data-center/) and approving the permit unanimously. That clears a huge hurdle for the massive facility, which will span eight to nine football fields. During the hearing, attorney Parker Jackson urged commissioners to seize what he believes is a rare chance for significant growth in the southwest corner of the state, framing the project as a test of Wyoming’s commitment to property rights and free-market principles. On the other side, data center skeptic and petition organizer Alex Rossi cautioned commissioners not to overlook the state’s long history of booms and busts, arguing that in Wyoming distrust of big promises isn’t cynicism but hard-earned self-defense. **A Generational Bet Or Next Bust?** Their clash distills [ the broader questions facing Wyoming](https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/05/23/opposition-and-pushback-on-data-centers-spreads-beyond-cheyenne-across-wyoming/) as AI-driven data centers and other large-scale projects have come calling. How does a state hungry for a new tax base and better-paying jobs reconcile that need with hard lessons learned from a boom-and-bust past replete with instances of deals gone wrong? Supporters see Prometheus as exactly the kind of long-term, high-capital investment Wyoming leaders have been trying to attract for years — a project that will anchor roughly 3,800 construction jobs for build-out and then create about 200 permanent technical and maintenance roles, along with generating millions in new tax revenue to support local schools and county services. Skeptics, meanwhile, look at the same 1.25-gigawatt, 500-plus-acre complex and see the risk that if markets, technology or corporate priorities change, Uinta County could be left with the footprint of an enormous project and far fewer benefits than advertised. **Booms, Busts, And Deals Gone Wrong** That’s a dynamic Rossi has already seen play out recently, when Evanston made a deal with a brewery that was to occupy a section of [the Roundhouse](https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/05/31/evanston-has-spent-decades-and-28m-restoring-its-historic-railroad-roundhouse/). At the time, the project was sold to the community as generating $2.8 million over 10 years, Rossi said, but it’s been five years since development and lease agreements were drafted, and there’s still no brewery in the space. The community, meanwhile, is out $4.8 million for its project rehabbing some of the space in the Roundhouse, giving Rossi the sense that the community is “holding the bag” once again for a project that never materialized as promised. “My concern is, Prometheus promises all of these things — and I’ve been in the business world for 30 years. I’ve met with many, many public, private-equity people,” he said. “They will say a lot of things, and at the time they kind of mean them, but if their investors come to them or their board comes to them and says, ‘You cut costs here', they’re going to cut costs there.” That won’t necessarily come with any defense of promises made to the community, Rossi said. “So my concern is, say something goes a little south for Prometheus,” he said. “And we end up holding the bag again as residents.” Rossi has organized a petition drive opposing the project, which so far has 86 signatures on change.org and another 55 handwritten signatures from residents worried about the data center and the speed of its approval process. Even though the data center has its conditional-use permit, Rossi plans to keep pressing for more transparency and answers, pointing out there are additional items looming, including a man camp to house construction workers. **‘I Didn’t Ask For Any Handouts’** Prometheus has not asked for any government funding to date. In interviews with Cowboy State Daily, founder Trenton Thornock has repeatedly said the data center on his family’s ranch land will be built with private equity. [ At a public forum](https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/05/26/prometheus-faces-skeptical-crowd-in-evanston-over-huge-1-2gw-data-center/) to answer community questions about the data center, Thornock told a councilwoman he isn’t even asking for any tax abatements. “I didn’t ask for any handouts,” he said. “The point here is not to extract from the community, it’s to inject economic activity into the community.” All of the equity will be raised with a bond offering managed by Morgan Stanley, coming from private investors, he said. It’s statements like those that have Jackson pulling for Prometheus Hyperscale. He sees it as a generational opportunity for his corner of the state, but he also fears that ignoring property rights and free-market principles would send the wrong message to other businesses. “What happens when the next project comes along, and maybe it’s something that’s more popular?" he said. “Is it going to be appropriate to apply the same treatment (for Prometheus) to that project down the road? I think we have to have a level playing field, both for property owners and for businesses, so that this doesn’t become an arbitrary process to get things like permits and zoning and all those things you need to be able to improve your property.” He also said he believes the data center brings more positives than negatives for Uinta County. “They’re going to have their own brand-new natural gas power plant, which is a great thing for the Wyoming energy industry,” he said. “And then, just two weeks ago, the president issued an executive order … promoting advanced artificial intelligence innovation and security. So this is something that we can play a part in this kind of broader national conversation about how to be leaders in this industry and also how to do it the right way, both when we’re talking about the infrastructure and the hardware.” **Strings Attached** By the end of all the discussion, Uinta County Commissioners had given the data center a green light with the conditional-use permit, but there were strings attached, many of which Rossi said appeared to answer concerns he and other community members have raised. Conditions included dust and noise limits, commitment to a closed-loop cooling design and ensuring electric rates aren’t adversely affected. Thornock said Prometheus plans a phased buildout of its data centers and said it plans to hire as many people locally as possible. He also reiterated that the data center’s cooling system will be closed-loop, and will not draw any water from Uinta County’s system. It will also make no wastewater discharges into local infrastructure. Ongoing water usage, mainly for on-site bathrooms and offices, will comprise 15 homes worth of water. Power will be generated on-site with a natural gas plant, Thornock said, keeping the data center off the public grid, and creating new demand for Wyoming natural gas production. **Exploding Demand, Outsize Opportunity** Prometheus’ project comes amid unprecedented demand for computing power, with AI, machine learning, and cloud services racing to capture market share. “I think it’s pretty obvious that there’s a demand for these types of data centers and the extra computing capacity,” Jackson said. “We’re all using our phones and computers more and more. AI is going to accelerate that obviously, so Uinta County is as good a spot as any to benefit from that.” Industry and economic development voices across the state have echoed that sentiment. “Literally to meet the hyperscaler demand for data centers over the next few years, there’s going to have to be thousands across the United States,” Dale Steenbergen, Wyoming Chamber of Commerce president and CEO, told Cowboy State Daily in a previous interview. “And I think the discussions we are having today with folks from Virginia and Indiana and Texas and Louisiana and Kentucky — we’ve got to have these data centers spread out across the country.” Innovation is making those data centers more efficient when it comes to water and power use, Steenbergen added. “They can be good for us,” he said. “If you’re a data center and you’re looking at buying Wyoming natural gas to run turbines to power your data center, that’s a win-win for us. We’re selling one of the products we have plentifully available.” Steenbergen has been in meetings with chambers from all over the nation, and said data centers and their impact have been a top issue for discussion. “People have concerns about what data centers might mean to them, whether it be about power rates or water use or all the other things,” he said. “But I think generally in Wyoming, we have done it right. We’ve set it up so that the data centers and their usage of our energy won’t impact the average citizen … and so that’s really good.” Data centers have also recognized that if they’re going to operate in an arid climate, they have to invest in technology to minimize water use. “So I think in general they’ve been good corporate partners,” Steenbergen said. “They’ve tried to respond to the concerns of folks as we go forward and as we look at the tax numbers … I’ve got a sheet of numbers about what they are already contributing to help us build better communities across Wyoming, so I think it’s a wonderful thing for us to see good companies expand their footprint in our communities.” *Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.*