Alliance leader Jamie Wood published an op-ed in The Daily Sentinel of Grand Junction discussing the impacts of data centers to our farmers, families, and limited resources on the West Slope:
Artificial intelligence may be the latest tech boom, but agriculture remains the foundation of our community. The Western Slope is one of Colorado’s most productive agricultural regions. The orchards, vineyards, ranches, and vegetable farms here feed communities across the state. Massive data centers come with real-world consequences for our agricultural future. Before Colorado rushes to welcome tech facilities into our area, we need an honest conversation about what they mean for rural communities.
Because the reality is this: the families and small businesses who live here pay some of the highest electricity rates in the state. Many Western Slope communities are served by electric cooperatives that purchase power from Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, and while those co-ops do an incredible job keeping the lights on across large rural territories, the costs of serving sparsely populated areas are higher. The result is something most rural Coloradans know all too well—higher monthly power bills than many people along the Front Range.
Tri-State is already in the middle of a major transition to cleaner energy. Colorado law requires utilities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from their Colorado electricity load in 2030 by at least 80 percent of 2005 levels. That transition will stabilize long-term energy costs and reduce dependence on volatile fossil-fuel markets.
But massive new electricity demand from data centers could complicate that effort.
A single large data center can require as much electricity as a small town. When that kind of demand shows up quickly, utilities respond the fastest way they know how—by building new generation. Too often, that still means natural gas plants that can be built quickly but lock customers into fuel costs and pollution for decades.
For rural electricity customers who are already paying high rates, that’s a real concern.
There’s also the issue of who actually pays for the infrastructure needed to power these facilities. Across the West, utilities like Xcel Energy have offered lower electricity rates to large industrial customers to lure development to the area.
Those deals may attract investment, but they also shift risk onto everyone else. If a new data center requires new power plants, transmission lines, or grid upgrades, rural ratepayers should not be left covering the costs while global tech companies benefit from discounted power. The development of increased power supply should be the investment of the large industry users, and it should prioritize building up clean energy sources like solar and wind that align with Colorado’s energy emission goals.
Water is another resource data centers put at risk.
Most large data centers rely on water-based cooling systems to keep their servers from overheating. In some regions of the country that may not raise eyebrows. But here in Colorado—especially on the Western Slope—water is already scarce.
Farmers depend on it. Communities depend on it. Our rivers depend on it. After years of drought and increasing pressure on the Colorado River system, approving major industrial water demands without careful scrutiny is irresponsible. Any large project must keep potable and agricultural water accessible, and push data centers to use non-potable or recycled water, or utilize cooling systems that don’t threaten our limited water resources.
Lately, we’ve heard a lot of talk from tech companies about voluntary pledges to manage their energy use or support clean power. Those pledges may sound reassuring, but voluntary promises are not enforceable protections.
The families and small businesses in rural Colorado need more than a billionaire’s pinky promise. We need clear rules that protect the water and energy systems that sustain agriculture and community.
If the federal government is going to rely on voluntary commitments from companies building the next generation of AI infrastructure, then Colorado policymakers need to step in and set firm expectations.
Large new electricity users should be responsible for paying the full cost of the infrastructure required to power their facilities. Data centers should bring new clean energy resources onto the grid instead of building new fossil fuel plants. Any proposal that relies heavily on water needs to be evaluated carefully in already strained watersheds.
None of this means Colorado should shut the door on data centers entirely. With the right policies, these facilities could help finance renewable energy projects and accelerate the transition to cleaner power.
But that will only happen if state leaders set clear guardrails from the start. We need our policymakers to ensure our existing rural economies are not pushed aside for large tech projects.
Western Colorado communities are already working hard to build a more affordable and reliable energy future. Rural families, farms, and businesses shouldn’t be asked to sacrifice that progress—or our limited water—just to support the next wave of the tech economy.
