A massive USD 66 billion data center project could be taking shape near Lost Cabin, turning a quiet corner of Fremont County into a flashpoint for Wyoming's tech boom.

Aethel Energy is nearing completion on a small 1-megawatt data center about 60 miles northeast of Riverton, but at a Fremont County Commission meeting Tuesday, officials said the company could have bigger plans in mind.

The larger project would include several buildings, possibly phased in as separate campuses, and run on about 500 megawatts of natural gas power generated on site.

A Colossal Project on the Horizon

If it happens, the project would be the costliest data center in Wyoming to date. For comparison, a proposed 5,300-acre data center on the border of Goshen and Platte counties is estimated at USD 26 billion, and the planned Project Tembo on 716 acres south of Cheyenne is estimated at USD 17 billion.

But because Fremont County has no zoning regulations, commissioners have limited power in how the buildout might take shape and little ability even to learn what is being planned.

'Mind-Boggling' Lack of Involvement

Commissioner Clarence Thomas said that the county not only lacks say on the project, but commissioners don't even know what's happening with it.

Commissioners first learned of the project through a courtesy notice from the company, which said it might seek state permits for a project in the Lost Cabin area, about 30 miles northeast of Shoshoni.

"It's mind-boggling," Thomas said. "We can't have any involvement because we don't have anything in the sense of government responsibility or regulations to do anything."

Thomas said the question of whether to adopt zoning is one he has seen play out over two decades as a commissioner. The county tried to address it twice during that period, and both times received a resounding "no" from the community.

"The constituents of Fremont County didn't want anything to do with zoning," he said. "We have a lot of ranchers and a lot of farmers who don't benefit from zoning because things have never happened like this before. This is a new step into people learning what can occur if you don't have zoning."

Without county involvement or regulation, Thomas said he fears data centers might start popping up like weeds. "It's been happening everywhere," he said. "Look at Cheyenne. One day they had no data centers, now they have a huge data center and nobody had any say in it."

The absence of county oversight also leaves the public with little chance to weigh in, because county hearings and permit reviews are typically where residents get their say.

Community Advocates Raise Concerns

Donna Birkholz, executive director of the Powder River Basin Resource Council, said that the potential USD 66 billion project adds to a list of situations she has heard about from members across the state, in which communities learn about large projects only after plans are well underway.

"It's time for the people of Wyoming to make their concerns heard," Birkholz said. "This is just another example of a development where the process is proceeding without input from the community."

A Neighbor's Optimism

Lost Cabin is a remote, unincorporated community in the high-plains desert, about an hour northeast of Riverton and a few miles from Lysite. The area is sparsely settled, with oil and gas pipelines running through it and a large natural gas plant nearby.

Its best-known landmark is the J.B. Okie Mansion, the 1901 sandstone home of Wyoming's "sheep king." Zane Fross has lived in the mansion since 2009, has spent years working to restore the historic home, and has served on the executive board of the Wyoming Historical Society.

While devoted to preserving a piece of Wyoming's past, Fross said he wouldn't mind seeing a data center from his front yard.

"It seems kind of exciting," Fross said. "My goodness, this has been such a good old field out here. This whole world just keeps on producing."

Fross said he believes the project will bring money and economic development to the area and that those dollars will ultimately go back into local schools and roads. He noted his years on the school board, when the district was always wanting more money.

"I think it'll be good to help the community and keep jobs," he said. Though he has heard fear and skepticism about artificial intelligence, Fross said having a son who works in the tech industry helps him see the upside.

"It's kind of the future, you know," he said. "I'm more like Joshua and Caleb, not like those other ten spies going onto the promised land who were scared."

State Permits, Not County Review

Fremont County Planning Director Steve Baumann said that the project is moving through the same process as any other industrial development in the county, with the state, not the county, handling the permits.

"It's not like the county doesn't know what's going on," Baumann said. "With the process that's in place, the folks who are asking for the permit don't have to tell us what their plan is."

Plans for the larger site would go through the state, Baumann said, with agencies such as the Department of Environmental Quality, the Industrial Siting Council, and Wyoming Game and Fish weighing in on different pieces.

To get the ball rolling on those state permits, which Baumann described as a lengthy process, Aethel Energy asked the county for a courtesy notice, the step through which commissioners first learned of the project.

As the situation stands, the county finds itself largely on the sidelines of what could become the largest data center investment in Wyoming history, with the question of local land-use control remaining one that residents have twice declined to answer.

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