County Commissioners Howdy Lawlar and Craig Hystad, along with farmer and rancher Nathan Brenna and host Meghan Taunton recap an educational trip to Cheyenne, Wyoming with a 16-person delegation of local officials and landowners to learn about data center development. They describe hearing from the City of Cheyenne, Cheyenne LEADS, Microsoft, Meta, Black Hills Energy, utilities, and planners. Throughout their discussion, the group describes their take away lessons on zoning and permitting, partner expectations, infrastructure costs, water and wastewater handling, and noise levels.
The episode also previews the upcoming data center open house on June 25 from 5:30–8:30 PM at the McKenzie County Ag Expo to answer questions and share McKenzie County-specific information.
00:00 Introduction
02:04 Cheyenne Trip
05:45 Choosing the Right Partner
08:09 Crypto Data Centers
08:32 Cheyenne Data Centers
14:08 Why Do We Need More Data Centers?
16:23 Water Use
19:33 Job Opportunities
22:44 Cheyenne Data Center Moratorium
23:36 Noise and Power Grid Concerns
28:55 Youth Retention
31:15 Unanswered Questions
34:22 Data Center Open House
38:39 Permitting
39:52 Open House Details
42:02 Closing
