<body><div>KIOWA, Colo. — More than 100 Elbert County residents attended a county planning commission meeting Nov. 4 about a proposal to develop a massive ranch that could include Colorado’s largest data center.Developers are seeking to rezone Colorado Plains Ranch — a 5,672-acre parcel of land in eastern Elbert County — to allow development for a mix of businesses and industrial uses. If approved, the industrial portion would include a 540-megawatt data center, on-site natural gas and renewable energy generation, battery storage and biochar and regenerative agriculture. The project developer, Colorado Plains Project, LLC, selected the location because it is relatively isolated from established communities, surrounded by open land with easy access to Interstate 70 and the State Highway 86 corridor, and close to existing natural gas and electric transmission infrastructure. Locals are divided over the proposed rezoning of the ranchland. Some oppose the construction of a data center, while others welcome the economic investment and potential tax revenue it could bring to the community. Still others say they are only now learning about the project and want to slow the approval process.Leon Vick, a cattle rancher whose cow-calf operation sits on the Big Sandy River in Hugo, is concerned about the scarcity of water in eastern Colorado and opposes the development of a new data center. Large data centers are notorious for their substantial water needs, using up to 5 million gallons a day to cool the servers and equipment that store and process data.“Our wells are already starting to dry up. If they continue to do these kinds of projects, the ranches in eastern Colorado will not exist,” Vick said. “We have land for probably 200 head of cows … We have water for 70 head of cows at the same time. If they continue to use our water, it will get harder for us to operate.” Bill Rigler, a spokesperson for the Colorado Plains Ranch project, said the proposed data center would use “less water than an Olympic-sized swimming pool,” or approximately 500,000 gallons in total, through a closed-loop cooling system.According to Gregor Henze, a professor of civil, environmental and architectural engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder, closed-loop cooling systems continuously circulate the same fluid through sealed pipes, pulling heat away from servers and releasing it into the outdoor air through large dry coolers.Colorado Plains Ranch, LLC has applied for groundwater rights from the Laramie-Fox Hills aquifer — which sits directly beneath the property — for agricultural, domestic, commercial and industrial uses. The maximum water that the Colorado Plains Ranch can use annually under Elbert County’s 300-year rule is 187 acre-feet annually, according to the project proposal. Final approval is still pending. Even if the developers’ application is approved, they say the water used by the data center would not come from the Laramie-Fox Hills aquifer, according to Bruce Lytle, a water consultant with Moore Engineering. Instead, the deionized water, or water from which minerals and dissolved salts have been removed, would come from an industrial facility offsite, Lytle said. Henze said dry closed-loop cooling uses very little water but requires more electricity, especially during hot weather when cooling demand is highest. Potential impacts could include high energy use, fan noise and, in rare cases, cooling fluid leakage. According to the Colorado Plains Ranch website, projected tax revenues will support critical community infrastructure and services in Elbert County annually, including more than $10 million for the Road and Bridge Authority, $15 million for the Agate and Big Sandy fire districts, $46 million for the Agate and Big Sandy school districts, $10 million for public safety and more than $20 million for the county's General Fund.“This could be a model for what data centers could look like in terms of generating their own power using a fraction of the water of these legacy systems,” Rigler said. “This project alone will generate more than $79 million each year in new property tax revenues. I mean, it’s an enormous investment back into this community.” Christina Nowak of Agate, a community of fewer than 700 residents in eastern Elbert County, is an EMS paramedic who supports the development. She said rural EMS services in her community face significant challenges because they cover enormous distances with limited personnel and funding. “A heart attack in Agate is just as deadly as a heart attack in Denver. Our lives are not worth less just because we live farther apart,” Nowak said. “A strong tax base can help build a future where EMS response doesn’t depend on a handful of exhausted individuals.” A resident from Elizabeth, Laura Putzier, voiced opposition to the data center due to the health risks that come with it. “It’s reasonable to assume that fossil fuels will power new data centers,” she said. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, natural gas and coal together generated about 58% of U.S. electricity in 2025. Coal-fired power generation in the U.S. also increased by 13% that year, marking a resurgence in carbon emissions after several years of decline. An EIA report pointed to growing electricity demand from data centers and increased reliance on coal as contributing factors to the rise in carbon emissions.“Air, water and land pollution emitted by all types of fossil fuel power plants creates high health costs as pollutants lead to higher asthma rates and heart and lung disease,” Putzier said. “We’re hearing that this is an agricultural project. I beg to differ.”Other residents questioned whether the county has adequate regulations to oversee the project. Gary Davis, whose land borders Colorado Plains Ranch to the west, urged the Elbert County Board of Commissioners to place a moratorium on the data center portion of the project and take time to establish strict guidelines for data centers and their developers.Tim Craft of Craft Companies, LLC is listed as the company's contact in the project’s draft plan. Colorado Plains Ranch, LLC's ownership has not been verified.On Nov. 5, the Elbert County Planning Commission voted 6–2 to recommend approval of the Colorado Plains Ranch Planned Unit Development. The Board of County Commissioners is scheduled to hold a hearing and make a final decision on the proposed rezoning and development Nov. 18 at 1 p.m.Type of story: NewsBased on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. To read more about why you can trust the journalism of Rocky Mountain PBS, please visit our editorial standards and practices page.</div></body>

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KIOWA, Colo. — More than 100 Elbert County residents attended a county planning commission meeting Nov. 4 about a proposal to develop a massive ranch that could include Colorado’s largest data center. Developers are seeking to rezone Colorado Plains Ranch — a 5,672-acre parcel of land in eastern...

Elbert County’s Eastern Plains Ranch could include Colorado’s largest data center

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KIOWA, Colo. — More than 100 Elbert County residents attended a county planning commission meeting Nov. 4 about a proposal to develop a massive ranch that 

Elbert County’s Eastern Plains Ranch could include Colorado’s largest data center

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