Carbon County tables controversial 1,200-acre technology park, citing need for more information from developers

The Carbon County Planning Commission postponed consideration of a conditional use permit for a phased technology park covering roughly 1,236 acres east of Wellington. Altigen JS, LLC and Duct Tape, LLC proposed developing a natural-gas power plant, industrial facilities and infrastructure, with potential tenants including data centers, critical-minerals processors, semiconductor manufacturers and other energy-intensive businesses. The first phase would include a 250-megawatt power plant and is projected to create hundreds of jobs.

Planning Director Todd Thorne and commissioners said the broad application did not provide enough information about the project’s possible uses and environmental effects. The commission tabled the matter until Nov. 10 so county officials and developers could address outstanding questions. Although the meeting was not a public hearing, residents loudly objected and applauded calls for public open houses. Altigen representative Bernard Brown said the company is an energy developer rather than a data center operator, but acknowledged that data centers could become tenants; he also described plans for a wastewater treatment system that would recycle most water used by the project.