Roughly 100 Adams County residents packed a meeting room at the Anythink Wright Farms library, demanding that local elected officials take a harder line against the wave of data center proposals sweeping the region. The gathering, organized by the Adams County chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, drew both Thornton Mayor Jan Kulmann and Commerce City Mayor Steve Douglas as attendees pressed for opposition to the massive computing facilities and raised pointed questions about potential conflicts of interest among the officials tasked with regulating them.
The Saturday meeting came just two days before the Commerce City Council is set to hold a first reading on an ordinance that would impose a six-month moratorium on data center site development, a vote scheduled for Monday. As reported by Denver7, Douglas attended the community meeting and said he wanted to see what happens at the Commerce City Council meeting before commenting further, while declining an interview about the proposed moratorium and data centers generally. Douglas also cited his position as a United Power board member when the topic of conflicts of interest came up.
Residents Demand Answers on Water, Noise and Wildlife
DSA representatives presented information about data centers built in other parts of the country, walking attendees through concerns tied to water usage, power usage and noise, according to Denver7’s reporting. Kai Pegg, who lives in Brighton, told the outlet she wants to protect her city, its animals and its residents. Oliver Stanton raised concerns about the facilities’ effects on infrasound, agriculture, wildlife and pets.
Chris Cook, another attendee, said data centers have a bad track record of damaging communities and described potential Adams County facilities as huge megaplexes that drain resources. Cook said he is concerned about what data centers in Adams County could mean for his daughter, and cited figures indicating the facilities can lose 60 to 80 percent of reclaimed water. A separate figure attributed to Same Barnes at the meeting put water use at 5 million gallons per day. Attendees also raised questions about conflicts of interest involving data centers and the elected officials who oversee them.
Mayors’ Utility Ties Draw Scrutiny
The scrutiny is rooted in dual roles held by two of the region’s most prominent officials. Kulmann, who did not attend the Saturday meeting, is chief operating officer of United Power, the Brighton-based electric cooperative that serves Adams County. Douglas sits on United Power’s board. The cooperative operates a large-load interconnection policy requiring developers of projects exceeding 10 megawatts — the threshold for hyperscale data centers — to pay upfront hardware, design and engineering costs rather than receive economic development rate discounts, according to Big Pivots…