Weld County Citizens Collecting Signatures to Block Data Center
A Weld County citizens group has begun collecting signatures for petitions challenging commissioners' approval of Global AI's proposed 41-acre data center near Windsor. The petitions would trigger a referendum on the project and require voter approval for future data centers, with opponents citing water, energy, noise and other environmental concerns.
Protect Our Water and Energy Resources, or POWER, is collecting signatures on two petitions after the Weld County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved Global AI's proposed data center near Windsor. One petition would place the approval on the ballot, while the other would require voter approval for any future data center occupancy permit in the county. Each measure needs 9,103 valid signatures within 45 days.
The project would be built on the former Carestream Health site and initially have 27.5 megawatts of capacity, with plans to expand to as much as one gigawatt. Opponents, including campaign manager Matt Cheroutes and environmental activist Patricia Garcia-Nelson, say residents' concerns about water and energy use, noise and other impacts were not addressed. Global AI says its closed-loop cooling system will minimize water consumption and projects approximately 1,500 construction jobs and 200 permanent positions.