Wyoming Governor's Executive Order on Data Centers Faces Legislative Criticism
Wyoming State Senator Cheri Steinmetz criticizes Governor Gordon's executive order on data center development, arguing it prioritizes fast-tracking projects over protecting the state's resources and citizens. She raises concerns about water usage, electricity rates, land use, and the bypassing of the legislative process. The senator emphasizes the need for strong standards to protect Wyoming's water, power grid, and existing industries before approving data center projects.
Wyoming State Senator Cheri Steinmetz published a guest column criticizing Governor Gordon's executive order aimed at fast-tracking data center development. Steinmetz argues that despite public concern over water, electricity rates, and land use, the Governor's order reads more like a development plan than a protection plan for Wyoming citizens and resources.
Senator Steinmetz contends that the executive order prioritizes coordination, efficiency, and investment attraction, while failing to establish meaningful new protections for water sustainability, ratepayer protection, or safeguarding existing industries like agriculture and energy production. She highlights the order's implementation clause, which states it alters none of the existing statutory authority, permitting requirements, or regulatory obligations, leading her to question its necessity and true impact on strengthening safeguards.
Additionally, Steinmetz raises a constitutional question regarding the separation of powers, asserting that major statewide policy decisions on data centers, water consumption, and electrical demand should be debated publicly by elected legislators, not set by executive order. She notes that she, as a sitting state senator, was not consulted before the statewide framework was unveiled, despite ongoing legislative committee work on these issues.
The senator concludes by emphasizing that Wyoming's future depends on protecting its foundational resources, especially water, and ensuring that development serves Wyoming's interests, not the other way around. She calls for the legislature to act by requiring large industrial users to prove they will not harm the state's water, electric grid, taxpayers, or existing industries before permits are issued.