00:00A Wyoming city council just overruled its angry neighbors to approve a 1,200-acre data center.
00:07A St. Louis developer is suing the city over a $3 billion project.
00:13And Texas has frozen data center permits until the grid and water supply catch up.
00:20In Cheyenne, Wyoming, angry neighbors just lost a months-long fight.
00:25The city council voted 8-2 to annex and rezone the 1,260-acre Cox Ranch, clearing the way for
00:34a data center campus from Skybox data centers and via West Group.
00:39The ordinances were first introduced in April, and a vote scheduled for early May was paused until September while the
00:47developers worked on concessions.
00:50Even so, residents of the Rolling Hills area, just outside city limits, told the council the project would bring traffic,
00:59noise, and light into their quiet neighborhood.
01:02They do not get a vote on the council, but they showed up anyway.
01:07For opponents, the final tally is a reminder that raising your voice can delay a project, though it does not
01:14always stop it.
01:16That opposition is now making its way into courtrooms in St. Louis.
01:21The developer Tara Watt is suing the city over the conditions attached to its $3 billion.
01:29120-megawatt data center in the old famous bar warehouse in Midtown.
01:34Saying the requirements make construction impossible.
01:38Opponents have filed a separate lawsuit to stop the project altogether.
01:42The city's community benefit agreement is unusually tough.
01:47Tara Watt would pay $15,000 for every $100,000 of tax revenue.
01:53That falls short.
01:54And $2,000 for each job it fails to create.
01:58It owes the city $15.7 million.
02:02With about $9 million due by spring 2027.
02:05Mayor Cara Spencer says the goal is to recognize the economic benefit while protecting the community.
02:13Construction is slated to begin in August 2027.
02:18The same tension is playing out in upstate New York.
02:22Buffalo's Common Council was set to vote Tuesday on a two-year moratorium on new data centers and
02:28cryptocurrency facilities.
02:31Council member Joseph Golombik, the sponsor, says the goal is to buy time to update zoning before these facilities arrive.
02:40Pointing to the burden they could put on water and sewer systems he also wants developers to help.
02:47The surrounding communities pay for infrastructure.
02:50But the proposal has a wrinkle.
02:52Mayor Sean Ryan has flagged possible unintended impacts on existing operations at Roswell Park,
02:59M&T Bank,
03:01Kaleida,
03:02and the University at Buffalo.
03:04It shows how hard it is to write a ban aimed at future mega-campuses without catching the
03:10institutions that are already operating.
03:13And it is a fight many cities are about to face.
03:17And the reason these fights keep escalating comes down to one thing.
03:21Who pays for the power?
03:24In Texas,
03:25Excel Energy asked the Public Utility Commission for a new large load tariff that would make data.
03:32Centers and other big electricity users cover the infrastructure they require.
03:37Customers would have to sign minimum 15-year service commitments.
03:41Post financial security in case a project is delayed,
03:46shrunk,
03:47or abandoned,
03:47and make minimum monthly payments toward the equipment built for them.
03:52Early termination charges would recover project-specific costs.
03:57The tariff covers transmission,
03:59substations,
04:01interconnection upgrades,
04:02and new generation.
04:04Brad Baldridge,
04:06interim president of Excel Energy for Texas and New Mexico,
04:10said the rules make sure data centers pay for the power they use so it is planned and built.
04:16Responsibly,
04:17the commission must approve the tariff before it takes effect.
04:22The pressure on the grid is only half the story.
04:25Because water is the other half.
04:28And Texas is now acting on both.
04:31Governor Greg Abbott first ordered the Texas Water Development Board to enforce water use reporting.
04:37For major users on September 14th,
04:41a week later,
04:42he told the commission on environmental quality to stop issuing permits for data centers that need
04:48new grid connections.
04:50The commission must report compliance by October 19th.
04:54Projects must cover their own electrical costs,
04:58lower residential bills,
05:00and protect local water supplies.
05:03In Angelina County,
05:05two AI projects,
05:07AMPZ and HyperDataGrid,
05:09remain on hold.
05:11County Judge Keith Wright says that without tax abatements,
05:15the county has essentially zero control,
05:18which is why local leaders are lobbying lawmakers before the legislature convenes on January.
05:2412th.
05:25Local rulemaking is running into resistance, too.
05:30In Arkansas,
05:31Pulaski County Judge Barry Hyde vetoed data center regulations that the quorum court had approved.
05:3811 to 4.
05:40The rules would have required electrical load analyses,
05:44water and wastewater plans,
05:46land use suitability studies,
05:48and decommissioning plans.
05:50Hyde argued the regulations cannot be lawfully and effectively administered
05:55without exposing the
05:56county to legal and financial risk.
06:00Justice of the Peace
06:01Julie Blackwood plans to seek an override.
06:04There is a political twist as well.
06:07Hyde is a Democrat who was defeated in a primary by Wendell Griffin,
06:12the author of the ordinance.
06:14The override vote will show whether the court can muster the numbers to put its rules back on the
06:20books,
06:20and whether Arkansas' most populous county gets guardrails at all.
06:27Yet some communities are choosing rules over bans.
06:30In Michigan,
06:32the Saginaw City Council unanimously approved a data center ordinance after months of planning.
06:38And it takes effect October 9th.
06:41Data centers become special land uses in light and general industrial districts.
06:47Which means each project needs specific approval.
06:50They must sit at least 500 feet from residential districts.
06:55And noise cannot exceed 55 decibels at the nearest residential property line.
07:01Applicants must submit reports on water use and discharge,
07:05energy demand,
07:07noise,
07:08and heat mitigation,
07:09along with plans for tree preservation,
07:12emergency response,
07:14and eventual decommissioning.
07:16It is a blueprint other mid-sized cities may copy as they look for a middle path between welcoming
07:22these projects and shutting the door completely.
07:27And the financial commitment behind all of this construction is staggering.
07:32Samsung has committed $1 billion to Helix Digital Infrastructure,
07:37including $500 million from Samsung Electronics.
07:41Helix launched with more than $10 billion in committed capital.
07:45So the venture now has at least $11 billion behind it.
07:49It is anchored by KKR,
07:51with the Kuwait Investment Authority,
07:54NVIDIA as cornerstone strategic partner,
07:58and Vistra as preferred power provider.
08:00Adam Selipsky,
08:02the former Amazon Web Services chief executive,
08:05leads the company.
08:07Helix plans to build hyperscale data centers alongside the power generation,
08:13transmission,
08:14and fiber that feed them.
08:16And Vistra expects its generation fleet to reach nearly 50,000 megawatts by the end of this
08:22year.
08:24Bundling chips,
08:25power,
08:26and buildings under one roof shows how the industry is trying to solve its bottlenecks all at once.
08:40It helps us cover more of these stories.
