Data center developers wanting to build in Rifle will likely have to deal with a sweeping set of new regulations, following the city council’s unanimous initial approval of the rules last week.
The proposed regulations would limit data centers’ noise, water use, light pollution and heat emissions, among other rules, Zach Higgins, Rifle’s community development director, told council members.
The regulations still have to go before council members one more time for a second reading before being finalized. That reading is expected to come as soon as the council’s next meeting on Nov. 18, barring rescheduling.
The rules lead a movement of communities across Garfield County exploring how to address data center concerns before applications start flowing in. Similar rules have advanced through Parachute’s town government over the fall, and Garfield County commissioners have expressed plans to address data centers in the county’s land use codes.
Leading officials of local energy providers expect that developers of the controversial data warehouses will want to start building on the Western Slope within five to 10 years, as demand for artificial intelligence and rapid data crunching is anticipated to only grow.
“This isn’t in reaction to an application or somebody coming in,” Councilwoman Alicia Gresley said. “This is because this is very prominent in many communities.”
By approving the regulations, the council was not automatically greenlighting any future data center that might comply with them, Gresley said. The council will retain the right to deny or approve any application.
The regulations apply to any commercial, industrial or institutional development that is expected to consume more than 20 megawatts of electricity during peak demand — enough to power up to 20,000 homes at any given moment
Such a proposed development will trigger a public notice to all residents within a 2.5-mile radius so they can voice concerns at public hearings. Rifle would also require data center developers to hold a town hall meeting with residents before going to council.
Any developer will have to provide several studies of their proposed data center’s impact, including its feasibility, noise production, heat emissions, resource demand and water use. They’ll also have to define where their power will come from and how it’ll be paid for.
Across the country, communities have pushed back on data center developments near residences, specifically expressing concerns around the warehouse’s ability to guzzle high amounts of water and electricity, as well as their constant noise production.
Higgins said he feels that — between the city’s proposed regulations and statewide rules — all those concerns will be addressed in Rifle.
Data centers in the city will have to cool themselves using water on a closed-loop, non-evaporative system, or using similar water conservation technology.
A large-scale data center could still use over 200,000 gallons of water per day, even on a closed-loop system. Project Taurus — a currently proposed data center in Colorado Springs — projects it will demand as much, as well over 50 megawatts of continuous power, which is equivalent to the constant power usage of over 40,000 homes.
Regarding noise, data centers would not be allowed to produce more than 45 decibels when heard from the property line of a home, school, park or hospital during the day, and no more than 40 decibels when heard from those property lines at night. Those levels are around the loudness of an average dishwasher.
Rifle will also regulate the low-frequency hums that can’t always be heard by the human ear, but can still cause physical stress if too loud. Measured from the nearest residential property line, those hums are allowed to go up to 60 dBc’s during the day, which one online advocacy organization called Community and Environmental Defense Services estimates is about the noise equivalent of an idling semi truck heard from 1,600 feet away.
Any data center would be required to sit at least 1,500 feet away from any residential, school, park or hospital property line, Higgins said, adding that the rule makes most of the city off limits.
If an existing data center wants to expand its energy consumption by more than 10% or 25 megawatts — or increase any of its water consumption — it will have to come back to council for permission.
Data center operators will be required to fund verifications of compliance to the regulations. Noise will be tested quarterly for the first two years of operations, and annually after. Heat emissions will be tested at startup, then annually in the peak of summer. Lighting and water will also require recurring verification.
All those factors will be included in an annual report to council. Violations will have to be promptly addressed or risk the city council pursuing a revocation of a data center’s permit.
Council member Karen Roberts said the regulations should show residents “how much we care and how forward-looking we are in preparing for things in the future.”
City Attorney James Neu said that creating these regulations now prevents the need to put in place a moratorium (a temporary ban on data centers) in the future.
“[Moratoriums] can only be for six months, a year tops, so that you can draft your [regulations],” Neu said. “We drafted our [regulations]. We don’t need a moratorium.”
Drew Shaw is a Report for America corps member covering public lands and other items of interest in Garfield County for the Aspen Daily News.
