CoreSite is pushing a 60 MW, three-building AI-capable data center in north Denver that would ultimately use up to 805,000 gallons of water a day, triggering intense neighborhood backlash over power, water, diesel emissions, and cumulative pollution.
The city responded with a proposed data center moratorium, but it only pauses CoreSite’s two future buildings, not the 180,000-square-foot facility already under construction, which is what residents want stopped right now.
CoreSite skipped a packed community meeting citing “safety” concerns, leaving city officials, Xcel, and Denver Water to absorb anger over a project many say advanced with minimal community engagement and no clear zoning framework for data centers.
Neighbors are pushing for either outright cancellation or a “good neighbor agreement” that demands cleaner backup power, full transparency on power and water usage, funding for health studies, and restrictions on AI workloads tied to surveillance and policing.
From an infrastructure lens, this is a textbook clash between AI data center scale (DIA-level power draw, golf-course-level water consumption per building) and urban communities already burdened by pollution and skeptical of promised tax benefits.
The outcome in Denver will be an important signal for how cities rewrite code around siting, power density, cooling, and community input for future GPU-heavy builds.
The full article is worth reading to understand how local resistance is reshaping the real-world operating envelope for AI data centers.
