About 100 Adams County residents packed the Anythink Wright Farms Library in Thornton on Saturday to talk about data centers, water, power, noise, wildlife, and something government tends to discover only after citizens start asking uncomfortable questions: accountability. The meeting was organized by the Adams County chapter of Democratic Socialists of America, which means I probably disagree with half the room before breakfast. But that does not make every question they asked wrong.
According to Denver7, residents heard a presentation about data-center impacts elsewhere in the country and zeroed in especially on water consumption. Attendees also questioned potential conflicts involving elected officials whose professional roles intersect with the electric utility business. Those questions deserve careful answers, not because a crowded library automatically proves data centers are evil, but because government is supposed to show its work when projects this large start knocking on the door.
Colorado needs economic growth. It also needs water, electricity, infrastructure and public officials whose decision-making can survive daylight. We are allowed to care about all of those things at the same time. Apparently this is now considered a sophisticated position.
The Bullet Point Brief
- Roughly 100 residents showed up on a Saturday morning. That is a decent indication people are paying attention. Citizens voluntarily attending a government-related meeting before lunch is usually nature’s way of telling elected officials that somebody better have answers.
- Water was the headline concern. Residents repeated figures presented at the meeting about water losses and daily consumption by large data centers. Denver7 reports those claims as statements made by attendees, not as independently established numbers for a specific Adams County project. That distinction matters. So does getting the actual numbers before approvals start flying.
- People also raised concerns about power, noise, agriculture and wildlife. Some of those effects may vary dramatically by facility, technology and location. Which is precisely why “trust us, it’ll be fine” is not an infrastructure plan.
- Potential conflicts got uncomfortable fast. A resident pointed to Thornton Mayor Jan Kulmann’s role as COO of United Power. Kulmann told Denver7 that her utility experience can inform her decisions and that she is subject to ethics and conflict-of-interest requirements, adding that she will recuse herself if required. Commerce City Mayor Steve Douglas, also a United Power board member, declined an interview about a proposed six-month data-center moratorium because of that role. None of that proves misconduct. It does prove disclosure and clear conflict procedures matter. A lot.
- Commerce City is already considering hitting the brakes. Its council was scheduled to hear the first reading of a six-month moratorium on data-center site development. A temporary pause is not a declaration of war on technology. Sometimes it is what adults do before signing paperwork with consequences measured in megawatts and millions of gallons.
My Bottom Line
I am not joining the Democratic Socialists of America fan club. Don’t send me the tote bag. But conservatives should be especially comfortable asking a very old-fashioned question when government and big business get together around a massive development proposal: Whose money, whose resources, whose decision, and where are the receipts?
Data centers are not inherently bad. They are part of the modern economy, and Colorado is going to see pressure for more of them. Fine. Make the case. Tell the public what infrastructure they require, what water they will consume, where that water comes from, what electrical capacity must be built, who pays for upgrades, what approvals are required, and what happens when projections turn out to be wrong. Put the documents somewhere ordinary taxpayers can actually find them without earning a master’s degree in county website archaeology.
And when an elected official has a professional connection to an industry that could be affected by these decisions, disclose it plainly and manage it publicly. That is not an accusation of corruption. It is how you prevent suspicion from becoming the default assumption. Public trust is much easier to keep than rebuild after everybody decides the deal was cooked before the meeting started.
Colorado can welcome technology without putting common sense into airplane mode. Growth has costs. Water has limits. Infrastructure has limits. Public patience definitely has limits. If Adams County wants residents to trust major decisions about data centers, then give them facts, documents and a process they can see. Transparency is cheaper than another glossy presentation, and considerably more useful than a bowl of stale meeting mints.
Source: Denver 7
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