The circus can stay home because Coloradans are more than capable of having a mature conversation about data centers all on their own. 

We don’t need clowns, or elephants or giraffes or kangaroos or men throwing knives at pretty girls.    

We don’t need paid agitators, purple hair or “pot-smoking kids with nose rings and no life experience” weighing in on Palestine. 

And we don’t need former football players whose only real claim to fame was being big and fast making anti-data center videos depicting their filling a canning jar with urine singing, “we want your pee to cool data centers”.   

What we need is a serious conversation about real issues. 

In this case, the real issues around data center development are laid neatly before us as

• scale
• noise
• water consumption
• electric consumption
• environmental impacts
• money
• need 

Scale.  Taurus has been labeled as a hyperscaler data center.  It’s not. 

Hyperscaler data centers measured in miles are planned in other states.  Taurus is a microscaler measured in mere square feet.    

Microscaler data centers, because they are small, don’t create the same policy issues that come with hyperscalers. 

When antagonists understand that fact, the controversy mostly disappears.    

If you want a scale and size comparison, think of the difference between a full grown Denver Bronco football guy and a Ken Doll.  Literally. 

Noise.  Taurus has a noise mitigation plan and has posted a bond the city can collect to pay for any unforeseen deficiencies in the plan.  

The actual computer bank will be buried deep inside the building surrounded by hallways and three stories of floor above.  The noise issue is a non-start.

Water.  The excess water argument is easily answered when it’s asked, “compared to what”. 

Taurus will use the equivalent of 2 families annual water consumption, once.

For comparison, there is a bottling plant located near the airport which will consume roughly twice that water every day forever! 

Electric.  The electric consumption and concern over rising utility bills is unfounded because the electricity used by Taurus will be specially purchased from the grid, sold for a profit to Taurus, and  ultimately reduce utilities costs.

Environmental Impact.  The data center will be housed inside a 25 year old building designed for industrial use.  Because the building is preexisting, it is a fact that there is no new negative impact on the environment, the flora or fauna, or the goats.       

Money.  The money flowing from Taurus is significant.  It will generate use tax in the range of $115,000,000 up front.  That’s call a windfall.  And like a perennial flower in grandma’s garden, it will generate property tax in large numbers every year.   

Taurus is Colorado Springs pulling the winning lottery ticket on Saturday night. 

Need.   All modern devices use data centers.  They are how Facebook and Google stay up.  They are how NOAA is moving weather models into the cloud so a fire-weather forecast does not take all afternoon.  

They are how a city that lives next to the Air Force Academy, Space Force bases, and a Front Range fire season gets maps, banking, 911, and the app you used to read this.  

We already decided we want the service.  The only live question is whether we will host any of the hardware, on our terms, or import the circus that now travels with it.

Tim Leigh is a Former Colorado Springs City Councilor and Former Board Member, Colorado Springs Utilities Company.