Uinta County Planners Give Unanimous OK To 1.25-Gigawatt Prometheus Data Center

Uinta County's Planning and Zoning Commission has unanimously recommended permit approvals for Prometheus Hyperscale's massive 1.25-gigawatt data center, proposed for a 500-acre, off-grid campus on the Thornock family ranch near Evanston. The commission's decision came after a packed meeting where residents raised questions about the project's environmental impact, including coolant leakage response, water consumption for its closed-loop cooling system, diesel generator emissions, and noise frequencies.

Prometheus founder Trenton Thornock addressed public concerns, stating the facility would use approximately three Olympic swimming pools' worth of water for its initial coolant fill, which lasts six years per building, and that the coolant would be properly disposed of under EPA rules. He also committed to fully scrubbed diesel backup generators meeting EPA and Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality standards for air permits. Thornock highlighted the data center's design differences, such as generating its own power off-grid, eliminating demand on the public grid, and a closed-loop cooling system that he claims makes it more environmentally responsible than 98% of existing data centers.

Residents like Keaunna Archuleta expressed continued skepticism regarding the vagueness of details on natural gas usage, job training, and accessibility for local workers. Thornock emphasized his commitment to the community, outlining plans for 3,800 temporary construction jobs and 200 long-term operational positions. He also agreed to add stipulations to the conditional use permit for public water usage monitoring, bridge repair on County Road 1818, and a heat dispersion analysis.